Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce for the Slow Cooker

A reader recipe! What first attracted me to this recipe: the convenience of cooking whole cranberry sauce in a slow cooker. What keeps me coming back: it fills the house with a sweet aroma of cranberries, fresh ginger and orange zest! More good news: this easy cranberry sauce may be sweetened with either maple syrup (my favorite natural sweetener) or regular sugar. It works beautifully!

Fresh & Seasonal, Perfect for Thanksgiving and Winter's Cranberry Season. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. Great for Meal Prep.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Why a Reader Shared Her Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Last fall, reader Karen Grosvenor responded to my complaints about slow cookers (see Easy Chicken or Turkey Tortilla Soup), suggesting her favorite slow cooker cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

She even gave a head start by recommending the Overnight Steel-Cut Oatmeal (excellent!), Ratatouille, Applesauce, the Salsa Chicken (excellent!) and Easy Cheesy Ravioli Casserole, which she says, believe it or not, is better in the slow cooker than the oven.

Karen also sent along this easy way to make cranberry sauce in the slow cooker, explaining, “My mother and I found this recipe for Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce in Parade Magazine years ago. Even those who don't like cranberry sauce like it, including children, my mother-in-law and (formerly) me."

She went on. "In theory, cranberry sauce is easy. But it always seems to take longer than I think and requires lots of stirring and wondering if it's done. Now I just throw everything into my slow cooker and let it go while I prepare my other Thanksgiving dishes."

Thanks, Karen, your recipe for Homemade Cranberry Sauce recipe is a winner!

Why This Recipe Is Special

• POP! The sauce thickens but most of the cranberries turn soft but remain whole. That makes for great texture.
• SCENT! While the cranberry sauce simmers away, the house fills with this lovely scent of cranberry, orange and ginger. Just lovely!
• CONVENIENCE! Toss the ingredients in the slow cooker and zip-zap, you've got whole cranberry sauce.
• USEFULNESS! Whole Cranberry Sauce is good for Thanksgiving but I keep it on hand all winter long, it's easy to use up along the way.
• MAKE-AHEAD! Make this cranberry sauce a day, even a week ahead of time.

Experimenting with Different Sweeteners

I love Karen's recipe! In fact, it's become my go-to cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, sure, but also throughout the winter months which, if you join me in loving cranberries, can also be called "cranberry season". It's great to have on hand, cranberry-fresh, slightly tart, just wonderful.

And once I have a go-to recipe, I start to play with it, making small and large variations to see how it might work in other kitchens. Naturally, I started playing around with the sugar, checking both amounts and alternatives.

• SUGAR White sugar is the usual sweetener for cranberry sauce. The purpose of sugar is not only to sweeten but also to thicken the cranberry sauce. Still, could I do better?
• LESS SUGAR? I've made Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce with a single cup of sugar, the taste is great but unfortunately, the sauce just doesn't thicken as well.
• STEVIA? Stevia is a no-calorie plant-based sugar substitute. I tried making Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce with stevia and was unimpressed. The taste was “chemical-y” and the sauce didn’t thicken, bummer.
• MAPLE SYRUP? The real excitement? Finally an excellent substitute for processed sugar! Call me delighted that Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce adapted so easily to maple syrup! On the first try, I used a half cup of maple syrup instead of white sugar, that's the right amount of sweetener. I really love the maple-y touch, it really works with orange and ginger. This is my new first-choice sweetener for Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce.

Pick the Right Slow Cooker

The size of your slow cooker matters here.

SMALL SLOW COOKER I use a small red stoneware slow cooker from Hamilton Beach. Unfortunately, it's no longer easily available. I picture it above, as of 2019 it's still possible to find both new and used versions on E-Bay and other sites.

That pretty red stoneware "party" crockpot is small. Officially, it's a 1-1/2 quart slow cooker, designed for small batch slow cooking, especially for one or two. That equates to 6 cups but really, it maxes out at about 4 cups. I mention all this because it's a useful size and may help readers judge which slow cooker to use.

LARGER SLOW COOKER But I have the idea if you were to make this recipe (as written, with 12 ounces of cranberries) in a larger slow cooker, it could well burn quickly because of more surface area for the same volume. To counteract this, just double the recipe.

EXTRA RESOURCES

• Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, Karen's favorite slow cooker cookbook, the original 2004 edition which I've owned since 2011
• Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, Revised and Expanded: 400 Perfect-Every-Time Recipes, revised and expanded in 2016
• Affiliate Links My Disclosure Promise

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Just updated! First published way back in 2013.

HOMEMADE WHOLE CRANBERRY SAUCE for the SLOW COOKER

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours
Makes 2-1/2 cups (made with sugar) or
2 cups (made with maple syrup),
fits a small slow cooker, double the recipe for a larger slow cooker

• 12 ounces (340g) fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1-1/2 cups (300g) sugar or 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon orange zest (from about 2 oranges)
• 3/4 cup (200g) fresh orange juice (from about 2 large or 4 small oranges)

Finger through the cranberries under running water, seeking out soft or shriveled or unripe berries to discard.

Combine the cranberries and remaining ingredients in a smaller slow cooker (2 quarts or under). Cook on high for 2 – 2-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Avoid letting the slow cooker run longer, as the cranberries lose their beautiful color and begin to decompose. After cooking, the mixture will “appear” to be quite liquid but will thicken slightly once it's chilled.)

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Keeps several days, even a couple of weeks, it's great to have on hand during the holidays for odds 'n' end uses both savory and sweet. Freezes well.

ALANNA’s TIPS If you like, cook the cranberry sauce a day (or several days) ahead. But then again, it really makes the kitchen smell good so consider putting it in the slow cooker early Thanksgiving morning. I love how this cranberry sauce leaves the cranberries soft and juicy but still, mostly whole. Use a lemon zester for the orange zest and a large-holed rasp for the fresh ginger. The orange and ginger flavors stay in the background but somehow they make the cranberries taste more like cranberries! I make this a couple of times each year, it's just nice to have on hand! I also use it to make Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Cranberry Sauce and Cranberry Orange Spread, a great holiday appetizer. The food blog Farm Fresh Feasts added beets and fresh ginger to make a Cranberry, Orange & Beet Salad. Creative!

NUTRITION INFORMATION
Made with Sugar (makes 2.5 cups) Per Four Tablespoons: 63 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 0mg Sodium; 16g Carb; 2g Fiber; 13g Sugar; 0g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 3 & MyWW green3 & blue3 & purple3

Made with Maple Syrup (makes 2 cups) Per Four Tablespoons: 83 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 2mg Sodium; 21g Carb; 2g Fiber; 16g Sugar; 0g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 4 & Freestyle 4 & MyWW green4 & blue4 & purple4

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More Ideas for the "Cranberry Course"

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more cranberry recipes ~
~ more Thanksgiving recipes ~

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This Week, Elsewhere

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from Sunset 44 Bistro
~ more St. Louis Restaurant Recipes ~
My Weekly Column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

~ Pioneer Woman's Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole ~
~ more Recent Recipes ~
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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ cranberry recipes ~
~ maple syrup ~
~ orange recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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