Cranberry Sauce

Michael Eisenwasser

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A cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving sweetened with plain white sugar and brightened with a little orange — no honey or agave.

Prep 5 min

Cook 15 min

Serves 8

Gluten-freeDairy-freeVegan

Ingredients

• 12 oz (about 3 cups / 340 g) fresh or frozen cranberries
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated white sugar, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (from about 1 medium orange)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 1 pinch fine salt

Instructions

Simmer

1. Rinse the cranberries and pick out any soft or bruised ones. If using frozen, don't thaw.
2. Combine the sugar, water, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon stick (if using), and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
3. Stir until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes, then bring to a gentle simmer.

Cook the berries

1. Add the cranberries and return to a simmer.
2. Cook uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the berries have burst and the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
3. Taste and add another tablespoon or two of sugar if you like it sweeter — cranberries vary a lot in tartness.

Cool and set

1. Remove the cinnamon stick. Transfer to a bowl or jar and cool to room temperature.
2. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools; chill for at least 2 hours before serving for a thick, glossy set.

Tips & Substitutions

• Skip honey and agave. Both are high-FODMAP even in small amounts. Plain white sugar is low-FODMAP and works well in cranberry sauce — no aftertaste. A lot of sugar can still bother some people, so start with a spoonful on the plate and add more if you want.
• Keep the orange proportional. A 1/4 cup of orange juice plus a teaspoon of zest divided across 8 servings keeps every plate well inside the Monash serve for oranges. If you double the recipe, keep the orange juice and zest proportional to the number of servings — don't triple the orange without tripling the servings.
• Fresh or frozen both work. Frozen cranberries go straight from the bag to the pot; they'll take an extra minute or two to burst.
• Add warm spices if you like. A pinch of ground clove, a strip of orange peel, or a grating of fresh ginger (1/2 teaspoon or less) can still be low-FODMAP in small amounts and give the sauce a warmer spice flavor.
• Add a little bourbon or Grand Marnier (optional). A tablespoon stirred in off the heat is fine — a small splash of distilled spirits or liqueur is usually fine for FODMAPs. Skip rum with added spice blends that may include high-FODMAP ingredients.
• For a smoother sauce, blend briefly with an immersion blender once cooled. Leave it rustic for traditional whole-berry texture.

Why This Works for Thanksgiving

Cranberries stay in bounds at normal portions. Monash tests fresh cranberries as low-FODMAP at typical servings, and a spoonful of cranberry sauce on a Thanksgiving plate is a modest portion — the whole pot divided across 8 plates comes out to roughly 40 g of berries each. You don't have to measure cranberry sauce the way you would apple or pear.

White sugar is the simplest sweetener. Sucrose is 50% glucose and 50% fructose in a 1:1 ratio, which means the fructose is absorbed alongside the glucose — no excess fructose, no FODMAP load. Honey (excess fructose) and agave (very high fructose) both fail that test, which is why this recipe skips them.

The orange stays in bounds. Monash lists orange as low-FODMAP at 1 medium fruit per serve, and juice at 1/2 cup. A quarter cup of juice plus a teaspoon of zest split across 8 plates works out to a tiny fraction of that — enough for brightness, nowhere near a trigger.

No onion, no garlic, no surprise ingredients. Most supermarket cranberry sauces and relishes sneak in apple juice concentrate, pear puree, or high-fructose corn syrup for sweetness. A from-scratch pot with four base ingredients lets you skip all of that.

Storage

Refrigerate in a covered jar or container for up to 2 weeks — cranberry sauce keeps beautifully thanks to the natural acidity. Freeze in 1-cup portions for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the fridge. Make it 2 to 3 days ahead of Thanksgiving so the flavor has time to round out, and pull it from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving to take the chill off.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.