The Best Homemade Vegan Cranberry Sauce

Fresh cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, and brandy are slowly simmered into a thick and tangy sauce. From the vibrant red color to the autumnal aroma, this homemade vegan cranberry sauce hits all the right notes!  

For me, no holiday feast is complete without some sweet and tangy cranberry sauce. This year, instead of opening up a can of jellied cranberries, why not try something new and make your cranberry sauce from scratch? 

Though that old-fashioned canned cranberry jelly that pops out perfectly-shaped still pulls at my nostalgic heartstrings, nowadays, I love to make this homemade version. By making my own cranberry sauce, I can control the type and quantity of sugar that goes into it (avoiding any potentially non-vegan refined sugars) as well as ensure that there are no gelatins, food dyes, or other unwanted ingredients in the mix. 

My homemade cranberry sauce's tart and earthy taste is the ideal complement to mashed potatoes, vegan roasts, steamed corn, roasted vegetables, herby stuffing--you name it! The bright red color is a beautiful addition to your holiday table and it always makes the house smell wonderfully festive for the rest of the day.  

Plus, it freezes beautifully! I like to make a double batch and keep some in the freezer for last-minute get-togethers, or to get a head start on my holiday meal prep. 

Vegan Cranberry Sauce Ingredients

• Fresh cranberries - I most often see 12-ounce bags of cranberries at my grocery store, but truthfully, using anywhere between 12-16 ounces of cranberries will turn out just fine. I like to use fresh cranberries (found bagged in the produce department) but if they are out of season or unavailable, check the freezer aisle--frozen cranberries work out ok too! You may notice a variation of colors in the bag--ranging from red to pink to maroon to white. Go ahead and use every single cranberry! The variation in the colors is exactly what you want.
• Orange juice - Works as a base liquid to give your cranberry sauce the right balance of flavor and moisture, plus, the acuity of the oranges helps the cranberries to break down during cooking. You only need about ½ cup of juice here, so I usually take a few extra minutes to make freshly squeezed orange juice as I find it adds a nicer flavor. About 1 ½ to 2 large oranges should yield the ½ cup of juice you need. 
• Maple syrup - Adds sweetness and an earthy, autumnal taste to your cranberry sauce. Use any maple syrup that you like! 
• Brandy - I find that a splash of brandy adds a complex fruity, floral taste to this cranberry sauce that makes it unlike anything else out there! You could use bourbon instead, or omit the alcohol entirely--it will still taste great! 
• Coconut sugar - The sauce could be sweetened entirely with the maple syrup as mentioned above, but I find it comes out better add in a crystallized sugar such as coconut sugar too, as it provides some thickening power. Instead of coconut sugar, you could use date sugar, organic cane sugar, or raw sugar. 
• Ground cinnamon - Brings a slight warmth and subtle spice to the cranberry sauce, nicely balancing all of the sweetness. 
• Cornstarch - Though cranberries are high in pectin (a natural thickener), I find that a bit of cornstarch helps to thicken and set this homemade cranberry sauce more quickly 

How to Make Vegan Cranberry Sauce

1. Combine ingredients. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients: fresh cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, brandy, coconut sugar, ground cinnamon, and cornstarch. Stir to mix evenly. 
2. Simmer and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring so that the ingredients don't stick to the pan. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often. The cranberries will pop as they heat up and burst. After 10 minutes, check the consistency--it should be lumpy but cohesive and slightly thickened. If you’d like the sauce to be thicker, you can continue cooking it over medium heat. Just keep in mind that it will thicken up a bit as it cools. Also, the longer you cook it, the more likely it will be to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn so keep a close watch on it! 
3. Cool and serve. Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool. When it has cooled enough to taste--give it a try! Depending on how tart your batch of cranberries is, you may want to make it a bit sweeter by stirring in some additional maple syrup, 1 tablespoon at a time. Once the flavor is just right, serve it while warm or cool it down to store. 

Chef Tips 

Cook your cranberry sauce in a non-stick pot or saucepan to reduce the risk of scorching. Anytime you are working with a fruit + sugar mixture--whether it be a jam/jelly recipe, fruit compote, or thick sauce such as this--the high sugar content and viscosity will make the mixture more likely to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Non-stick cookware helps to avoid this, but you will still need to stir your sauce often and adjust the heat as needed. 

How to Store 

Refrigerating. Refrigerate any leftover cranberry sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. 

Freezing. Place cranberry sauce in a freezer-safe container and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Hard-sided freezer containers with tight-fitting lids work great, or pack your sauce into zip-top freezer bags and lay them flat to freeze. 

Thawing. Thaw frozen cranberry sauce in the fridge overnight. If you have frozen your sauce in bags, I advise placing the bag on a plate or dish in the fridge to defrost in case any small tears have developed in the plastic.

Reheating. To reheat, place the desired amount in a microwave-safe dish and heat on high for 30-60 seconds, stopping to stir occasionally, until warmed through. You can also reheat it on the stove over low-medium heat. You may need to add a splash of water if the cranberry sauce is too thick.

📋 Recipe