15 Leftover Cranberry Sauce Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How many people does 1 can of cranberry sauce feed? ›

One 12-ounce bag of cranberries makes about 2 1/4 cups of basic cranberry sauce—in my house, that's enough for about five people. Going the canned route? You'll need at least one can for six people.

When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.

How Do I Make Canned Cranberry Sauce Better? It all comes down to the add-ins. My favorite add ins are cinnamon, orange juice, and brown sugar. Orange zest, maple syrup, frozen mixed berries, and simmering the sauce with a cinnamon stick in it are all popular additions, too.

Should cranberry sauce be served warm or cold? You could, of course, serve it straight out of the pot, but I think it's best after it's chilled in the fridge. Chilling it helps it firm up some more in the fridge, plus, serving it this way means you can make it days ahead of a holiday.

While there are potential benefits to eating cranberry sauce at your Thanksgiving dinner, the popular topping is high in sugar. Just 1/4 cup serving of canned cranberry sauce has 22 grams of sugar, many of which are added sugars in the form of high-fructose corn syrup.

One 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries yields about 2 1/4 cups of cranberry sauce, which should be enough for about 8 to 10 people, Hartigan says, adding that you can half that amount of cranberries when making a cranberry-apple or -orange sauce since the alternative fruit will bulk up each serving.

When calculating how much sauce for pasta per person, generally about 2 to 4 ounces (1/4 to 1/2 cup) of sauce for each 2 ounce (about 1 cup cooked) serving of pasta would be needed.

But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.”

Signs of spoilage include cans that are leaking, rusting, bulging, or severely dented. If the top of the can is rounded instead of flat, the cranberry sauce has most likely gone bad. If you open the can and anything is brown or black, throw the cranberry sauce away without a second thought.

Unopened canned cranberry sauce can last a year in the pantry but make sure to check the "best before" date to make sure it hasn't expired, and once open, it can be stored in a container with a tightly fitting lid for up to two weeks.

Can dogs eat cranberries? ›

Both fresh and dried cranberries are safe to feed to dogs in small quantities. Whether your dog will like this tart treat is another question. Either way, moderation is important when feeding cranberries to dogs, as with any treat, as too many can lead to an upset stomach.

Adding a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or orange zest, a tablespoon of chopped candied peel, or even a splash of juice to your canned sauce will brighten flavors and bring in some homemade flavor.

Cranberry sauce can be served either as a gooey liquid or as a solid jelly. The jellied version is solid enough to retain the shape of the container in which it's placed whereas the sauce version is much more fluid.

Try A Softer Sweetener

If you don't have maple syrup (pancake syrup WILL NOT do, y'all), try honey or a more neutral sweetener like agave syrup, brown rice syrup, or even simple syrup. All of these syrupy ingredients are a perfect quick fix for bitter cranberry sauce.

You open the can, slide the contents onto a plate, and either slice it into neat rounds, or break it into chunks to serve it. I have known people to eat it with a spoon straught out of the jar. Some people arrange round slices of cranberry sauce on lettuce leaves and top them with mandarin oranges from a can.

Top with dried or fresh fruits

Sure, you can go all meta with some dried cranberries or sliced fresh raw cranberries, but I also like to think about complementary flavors — dried cherries, dried mulberries, golden raisins, chopped apricots. All work great with cranberry sauce.

To help offset some tartness in the fruit, both the Native Americans and pilgrims used maple, honey and other natural sweeteners to make the cranberries more palatable. According to Wick, the tart fruit became popularly used to create cranberry sauce for turkey and other types of meat in the late 17th century.

The November 2002 issue of Bon Appétit had a few cranberry-sauce recipes, but one caught my attention, not because it had orange or mint or ginger but because it was uncooked. Yes, raw! Since then, it's been the one constant on my Thanksgiving table. It's got zip and acidity and tames all those big flavors.