Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

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By: Rachel GurkPosted: 11/11/2015

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Don’t settle for cranberry sauce from a can! This flavorful cinnamon apple cranberry sauce is super easy to make and can even be made a day or two in advance.

Recipe Overview

Why you’ll love it: Homemade cranberry sauce is far superior in flavor than commercial sauce. It’s very easy to make and you can adapt the recipe as you like it.

How long it takes: 20 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large saucepan
Servings: makes 4 cups

Table of Contents close

  • 1 Recipe Overview
  • 2 About this cinnamon apple cranberry sauce
  • 3 Ways You Can Change This Cranberry Sauce
  • 4 More Cranberry Recipes
  • 5 Storage Tips
  • 6 More Thanksgiving Recipes
  • 7 Get the Recipe: Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce may be one of my favorite things on the table at Thanksgiving. It doesn’t trump stuffing (obviously), but I really love its tart flavor alongside all the other rich, savory dishes.

Once I made homemade cranberry sauce, I won’t ever go back to the canned sauce. The flavors of this cinnamon apple cranberry sauce are bold, sweet, and sassy, just perfect to spoon over roasted turkey. And isn’t it gorgeous?

Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2)

About this cinnamon apple cranberry sauce

The sweetness of the apples perfectly complements the tart cranberries and the cinnamon gives the warm spiciness that goes so well with apples. This is a cooked sauce, not cranberry relish which is made with fresh cranberries that are ground up, not cooked.

There are only a few ingredients: fresh cranberries, apple cider or juice, apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice.

And this cranberry sauce is SO easy to make! All you do is throw everything together in a pan and cook it down until it is nice and thick. Watch out for splatters, stir often, and you’re all set.

Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (3)

Ways You Can Change This Cranberry Sauce

  • Use white sugar. I like brown sugar because it adds another layer of flavor but white sugar is just fine, too. If you’re looking to cut back on sugar, try one cup instead of 1 ½ cups. The sauce will be a bit more tart but I often make it that way because we like the tartness.
  • Substitute water. If you don’t happen to have apple cider or apple juice, water works well, too.
  • Omit the allspice. The recipe can be made with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of the combination of spices.

More Cranberry Recipes

  • Orange cranberry sauce with cardamom
  • Cranberry sauce with roasted grapes, apples, and shallots
  • Cranberry clafoutis
  • Cranberry pecan pie
  • Cranberry coffee cake

Storage Tips

  • Refrigerate: Cover or store cranberry sauce in an airtight container. It will keep 7 to 14 days in the refrigerator. Sauce that has been left out on the counter more than 2 hours should probably be discarded.
  • Freeze: Cranberry sauce can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for at least a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

PS: If you’re looking for an easy Thanksgiving dinner for four, try a sheet pan Thanksgiving dinner with turkey breast, stuffing, potatoes, and asparagus all baked on one pan. You’ll love it! Or cook a turkey breast (even if it’s frozen solid, I kid you not) in your Instant Pot. Perfectly done, flavorful, and fast!

More Thanksgiving Recipes

Homemade Green Bean Casserole RecipeHerb Roasted Turkey BreastCrockpot Carrots with Cinnamon GlazeHomemade Pumpkin Pie

Browse All

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (8)

Recipe

Get the Recipe: Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce

4.36 from 34 votes

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 20 minutes mins

16 servings

Don't settle for cranberry sauce from a can! This flavorful cinnamon apple cranberry sauce is super easy to make and can even be made a day or two in advance!

Ingredients

  • 5 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
  • ¾ cup apple cider (or apple juice)
  • 2 cups finely diced apples (about two medium apples) (2 medium apples)
  • 1 ½ cups tightly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Sauce tends to spatter so choose a larger pan than you might think.

  • Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until apples and cranberries are soft and sauce is thickened.

  • Cool before serving. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to serve.

Notes

  • Works best with a firmer apple like Granny Smith, Gala, or Honeycrisp. Softer apples like Macintosh don’t hold their shape.
  • If desired, omit allspice and substitute an additional ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 0.25cup, Calories: 106kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 0.2g, Fat: 0.1g, Saturated Fat: 0.01g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 7mg, Potassium: 81mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 24g, Vitamin A: 28IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 22mg, Iron: 0.3mg

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© Author: Rachel Gurk

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Reader Interactions

Leave a Review

  1. Jenifer says

    Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (16)
    Made this last year for the first time and it was amazing! Just came back to find….and save…this recipe for years to come. SOOO good and so easy to make. Thank you!

    Reply

    • Rachel Gurk says

      So happy to hear that! Thanks for leaving a review, it means a lot!

      Reply

  2. Taylor See says

    Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (17)
    This was an AWESOME base recipe, and thank you so much for this idea! I’ve done it now for two years in a row for thanksgiving (soon to be three!) with some small tweaks to create a more robust fall flavor and to add a touch of thickness (as written was just a little too tart/ thin in texture for my Southern family). If you ever try it with my personal touches, I hope you like them!

    • 5 cups fresh cranberries, washed and drained
    • 3/4 cup apple cider
    •1 cup apple (peeled and diced)
    •1 cup pear (peeled and diced)
    • 2 cups tightly packed brown sugar (light or dark, either is fine)
    •½ cup white sugar
    • 1 teaspoon allspice
    • 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
    •1/3 to ½ TBSP of cardamom
    •Pectin (follow label instructions until you get desired thickness)

    *Serving is not super large. Two batches recommended for events/gatherings.

    Reply

    • Rachel Gurk says

      So glad you like this recipe! THank you for sharing your spin on it!

      Reply

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Easy Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

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