It isn’t a proper Thanksgiving meal without cranberry sauce! Forget the sugar-laden canned version and make your own 2-Ingredient Easy Cranberry Sauce! It truly levels up the entire Thanksgiving meal. If you’re looking for more healthy dishes to bring to Thanksgiving, check out Vegan Shepherd’s Pie, CREAMIEST Vegan Mashed Potatoes, and Roasted Veggies with Tahini Sauce.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Simple: When Thanksgiving rolls around and cooking gets chaotic, you need more simple recipes on your menu. This cranberry sauce is just 2-ingredients and only takes 20 minutes!
- Low Sugar: Most cranberry sauce, especially the canned version, is sugar-laden. It’s actually pretty gross! This homemade version is refined sugar-free.
- Flavor Enhancer: Cranberry sauce truly completes the Thanksgiving meal–don’t go without it. It’s a delicious palette cleanser and pairs well with all of the delicious (and heavy) sides.
Need an ingredient substitution?
Ask an AI for recommendations!
Jump to:
Notes on Ingredients
- Cranberries: Fresh are ideal but frozen will work too! Get organic if you can.
- Maple syrup: An unrefined sweetener to add sweetness to the cranberry sauce! You can substitute for any other liquid sweetener (honey or agave). Be sure to use 100% pure maple syrup.
- Water: Thins out the sauce and helps it to cook down. You’ll need 2 cups.
Please take note that this is important information about the ingredients used in this recipe and the FULL recipe with measurements and details can be found DOWN BELOW (scroll to it) in the recipe card.
How do you make 2-Ingredient Easy Cranberry Sauce?
- Add cranberries, water and maple syrup to a pot and bring to a boil, once boiling, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a container in the fridge. It will thicken more as it cools!
- Serve and enjoy!
- Step 1: First, add all of the ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil.
- Step 2: Then, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
Save this for later?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Commonly Asked Questions
Sure! Cranberries, like any fruit, vary in sweetness. Also, some people prefer a more tart cranberry sauce than others. Feel free to add more maple syrup (or another sweetener of choice). Do so in increments of 1 tablespoon so you don’t add too much at once.
For a main course, make Vegan Shepherd’s Pie or One Pot Pumpkin Orzo. For dessert, you obviously need Vegan Pecan Pie and The BEST Healthy Pumpkin Pie.
Definitely! Cranberries are widely available during Thanksgiving time so you shouldn’t have a hard time finding fresh, but if you do or if you prefer frozen, go ahead. Cooking time will increase by 5-10 minutes or so.
“Perfect recipe…my entire family enjoyed it, even my husband who doesn’t like cranberries! I took your advice and added a bit more maple syrup. Making a second batch now as the first one was gone in three days.”
– Kathleen
Extra Helpful Tips
- Store leftover sauce in the fridge for up to a week or store in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- If it’s not sweet enough for your liking or if your cranberries are more tart, add more maple syrup or sweetener of choice until it’s sweet enough for you. This recipe is very customizable.
- Use leftover sauce to make a delicious PB&J the next day!
- Optional but delicious: add a couple tablespoons of orange juice or orange zest for more flavor!
If you tried this 2-Ingredient Easy Cranberry Sauce or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 5-star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
2-Ingredient Easy Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- 1 pot
Ingredients
- 2 bags fresh cranberries 24 oz
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 2 cups water
- orange juice or orange zest optional
Instructions
- Add cranberries, water and maple syrup to a pot and bring to a boil, once boiling, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a container in the fridge. It will thicken more as it cools!
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Store leftover sauce in the fridge for up to a week or store in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- If it’s not sweet enough for your liking or if your cranberries are more tart, add more maple syrup or sweetener of choice until it’s sweet enough for you. This recipe is very customizable.
- Use leftover sauce to make a delicious PB&J the next day!
- Optional but delicious: add a couple tablespoons of orange juice or orange zest for more flavor!
Jazmine says
My mouth is watering just thinking about making this one!!!
Kathleen M Hammond says
Perfect recipe…my entire family enjoyed it, even my husband who doesn’t like cranberries! I took your advice and added a bit more maple syrup. Making a second batch now as the first one was gone in three days 🙂
Jordan Stacy says
Why use store-bought sugary canned cranberry sauce when you can make this super easy homemade version?! I love that it’s refined sugar free and so easy to make.