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Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce

This Slow Cooker Cranberry sauce is tart with a hint of citrus. The amount of sugar can be adjusted to suit individual tastes. Since it’s made in a slow cooker, this cranberry sauce is an easy ‘set it and forget it’ Thanksgiving Day side dish.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

You guys are going to think I’m crazy when I admit this… but I really love the jellied cranberry sauce. You know the kind I’m talking about… the deep red, can-shaped, jello-esq kind. It jiggles, it wiggles, it makes a weirdly satisfying gloopy plopping sound as it slides out of the can and hits the plate. As a kid, I shunned any cranberry sauce that had any kind of chunky berry in it. Give me the canned jellied stuff all day err day.Then I grew up and my tastes changed. I realized that whole berry cranberry stuff wasn’t so bad after all. And I also decided homemade whole berry cranberry sauce trumps the canned stuff. Growing up, we always had the canned whole berry cranberry sauce, the jellied cranberry sauce and a homemade one. Now, we stick with the homemade kind and we still include the jellied sauce for our Thanksgiving Day spread.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

Yes, I still eat the jellied kind. There’s a special place for it right next to the homemade version. I feel like I’d be excluding an old friend. Or throwing out a favorite childhood memento if I no longer had the jellied cranberry sauce next to my turkey. So if you didn’t think I was crazy before, you probably most certainly do now. It’s cranberry sauce for crying out loud. To each their own, right?

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

Since the canned cranberry sauce is perfectly fine as is (for me), I wanted to make my own whole berry kind since I didn’t love the canned version of that. I’ve been making it on the stove top for a few years now but this year I wanted to test it out in the slow cooker. You guys, this slow cooker cranberry sauce is so easy it’s not even funny. There are only a few ingredients and you just mix them together in your slow cooker, set it, forget it and it’s done.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

Actually, don’t forget it. You don’t want to burn your cranberries. Yes they will burn. I actually did set it and forget it one day. I had a well-deserved nap calling my name. My cranberry sauce cooked an extra hour and a few of the berries that were touching the edges of the slow cooker burned. So don’t be like me! Don’t literally forget about your cranberry sauce. Set your timer and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce

Preparation 5 min Cook Time 3 hr Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes
Serves 2     adjust servings
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Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

Ingredients

  • 12 oz fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 C water
  • 1/4 C orange juice
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 3/4 C granulated sugar
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

  1. Rinse cranberries and remove any mushy or dried up cranberries.
  2. Add cranberries and all of the remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 3 hours.
  3. When cranberry sauce is cooked, use a spoon to mash up the berries a bit. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Recipe Notes

The cranberry sauce will thicken slightly when chilled.


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 This recipe is linked to Merry Monday, Inspiration Monday, Made by You Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Totally Talented Tuesdays, Create Link Inspire, You’re Gonna Love It Tuesday, Time to Sparkle, Handmade Tuesdays, Tickle My Tastebuds, The SITS Girls, Create & Share DIY and Recipe Party, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, What’s Cookin’ Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Show and Share Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, A Little Bird Told Me Link Party, Full Plate Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Create it Thursday, Pin It Thursday, Your Turn To Shine, Pin Junkie Pin Party, Gluten-Free Fridays, Pure Blog Love, Link Party Palooza, Foodie Friday, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday, Foodie Friday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Show Stopper Saturday, Saturday Night Fever, Weekend Bites, Weekend Wind-Down, The Weekend Social,  Weekend Potluck, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Recipe Link Party and Sweet & Savoury Sunday.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce from What The Fork Food Blog

 

 

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Comments

  1. My grandpa prefers that canned kind too so I still have to serve it every Thanksgiving 🙂 I have made my own cranberry sauce in the past but it was too tart for everyone else (tried to be too healthy & I didn’t add enough sugar). Pinning your recipe so I can ensure it is a success this year, haha!

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  3. I love me a good cranberry sauce! It looks so EASY too. I love to dip my turkey into the cranberry sauce instead of drowning it in gravy. It is so much brighter, instead of sleepy turkey covered in fat. I save all my gravy for the mashed potatoes!

    Reply

  7. Thank you so much for attending week 8 of #PureBlogLove and linking your fantastic blog post. This cranberry sauce looks wonderful! And using the slow cooker makes it even better. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for our party next week Thursday 8 PM EST- Sundays at midnight. Your post has been added to the #PureBlogLove Pinterest board for all to see 🙂 Have a great day!
    Nicole
    http://picnicnz.blogspot.co.nz/

    Reply

  11. To date, I’ve still never successfully made anything with fresh cranberries! I may venture out and try this–I love crockpot recipes, and this would be awesome for Thanksgiving! :]

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  12. Homemade cranberry sauce has such great memories for me! It’s one of the few things my mom cooks, and she always makes it for Thanksgiving. I think the addition of some orange sounds like a fantastic idea! Visiting from SNF. =)

    Reply

  14. Thanks for coming and linking up at #TheWeekendSocial. Please be sure to come back this week starting Thursday at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there! Pinned

    Reply

  15. Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share next time!
    -Cindy

    Reply

  17. My husband prefers the jellied kind, too! I always have to make sure I have a can on hand for him! It would be great if you’d share this recipe on freedible.com too! We have a community of almost 200 bloggers sharing their recipes and posts, and you’d be a great fit! Plus, we’re getting ready to launch into our Thanksgiving campaign this Fri! We’d be thrilled if you’d join us!! 🙂

    Reply

  18. Your Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce looks so good and is just in time for the season. Hope you are having a great day and thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply

  21. I’m thinking I’ll need several slow cookers this Thanksgiving! Sounds perfect and I bet it smells divine!

    Reply

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