In this Cabernet Roasted Cranberry Sauce, whole fresh cranberries and citrus juice and zest is roasted with sugar, cinnamon and wine for a festive and delicious cranberry sauce! Yields 3 cups.
What if I told you, that all you had to do is throw everything in a baking dish, into the oven and in 25 minutes you’ve got one classy cranberry sauce?
It’s true!
Last year I shared my classic cranberry sauce. But did I share that it boiled over, spattered and somehow managed to burn my neck? Then, lucky me, it took a good 30 minutes to scrub my cook-top. Something you DON’T want to do the day before, on or after a holiday. Actually never..
With this method, you don’t even have to worry about that. It does sputter and splash a bit in the baking pan but it definitely will not boil over. The best part is you could make it 2 to 3 days in advance and it will be out of the way and ready to go on the holiday.
To Make This Cabernet Roasted Cranberry Sauce You Will Need:
- fresh cranberries – Usually found in the produce section. 1 bag is typically 12 ounces.
- lemon (zest and juice) – Adds bright, distinct citrusy flavor.
- lime (zest and juice) – Adds bright, distinct citrusy flavor.
- orange (zest and juice) – Adds bright, distinct citrusy flavor.
- dark brown sugar – For sweetening and flavor and adds subtle caramel notes.
- granulated sugar – For sweetening and flavor.
- cinnamon (ground) – Lends a distinct warm and woodsy flavor.
- fine salt – Use either sea salt or pink himalayan.
- water – Need to make this cranberry sauce saucy.
- cabernet sauvignon – Adds subtle wine flavor. Click here a non-alcoholic cranberry sauce.
Preheat your oven to 425°.
Add the fresh cranberries to a colander and rinse well and drain.
Add them into an 8 x 11 oven-safe baking dish.
To the cranberries, add 1 teaspoon each of orange, lemon and lime zest. Then measure and add 3/4 cup dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated (white) sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (or more to taste) and 1/8 teaspoon fine salt.
Pour in a 3/4 cup of water.
1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lastly, cut the citrus fruits in half and squeeze in half of each.
Stir once more before sliding the whole thing into a preheated oven for 25 minutes. If you start to hear the cranberries popping don’t freak out.
Once roasted, the cranberries will be all soft and shriveled and smell deliriously delicious!
Use your spoon or spatula to smash the cranberries to a desirable consistency. The sauce will thicken considerably as it cools.
Really wish you could smell this.
I like a warm cranberry sauce so I like to reheat it before serving but room temperature is also fine.
This sauce is like sangria for your turkey (roast pheasant, quail or duck). It’s bright, and the citrus and wine both stand out but not overly so. It still has a classic cranberry sauce taste – just sangria’d.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy! And if you give this Cabernet Roasted Cranberry Sauce recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Cabernet Roasted Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, plus half of its juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, plus half of its juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest, plus half of its juice
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or more to taste
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 3/4 cup of water
- 1/2 cup cabernet sauvignon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°.
- In an 8x11 oven-safe baking dish, throw in the rinsed cranberries, zest, sugars, cinnamon, salt and stir to combine.
- Squeeze in the juice from half of a lemon, a lime and an orange.
- Pour in the 3/4 cup of water and the 1/2 cup of Cabernet, stir once more before sliding it into the oven.
- Roast the cranberries for 25 minutes. Remove and carefully smash up the cranberries with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Let cool, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken as it cools.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week if not longer.
Notes
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“Whoops, I tripped and poured a whole bunch of wine into the berries” — Ohhh darn!! I am so on board with this!
“Ohhhh lookie there… now I’ll just have to sip it from the sauce bowl” darrrrn!
This looks amazing!! The wine is the perfect addition!
Love the idea of wine in this! I always keep mine so boring but I definitely have to try this!
This looks delicious, I am definitely going to try it!
happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Thanks Jane! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Totally digging the addition of the wine!
Thanks Rina!
Now this beats any cranberry sauce! LOVE IT!!! Pinning!
Thanks Anna!!
That is one saucy sauce! YUM! I’ve been deciding if I want to make my own homemade cranberry sauce or just get the canned stuff like my family enjoys….I think I might have to try this one for my Turkey Day!
Such a great idea to give the traditional cranberry sauce this boozy update!
This sounds lovely. Making your own cranberry sauce takes about twelve seconds more effort than opening a can. I don’t think people realize how simple and wonderful it is. I’ll definitely be trying this recipe.
So, I’m thinking I’m going to make this for Thanksgiving. I have a ton of Zinfandel’s on hand, so wish me luck… I’m gonna try it with Zin!
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So, I had my mother in law bring cranberry sauce this year. When you posted this, I thought “what the heck? I will give her this recipe!”. Well I forwarded it, she brought it, and it was amazing. Thanks!
Sounds really great! Thinking about cooking a pork loin and pouring this over it, does that sound like it would be good? Also if i wanted to leave the wine out of it could i just substitute water or maybe some sort of juice?
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I made a “trial” run of this a couple of days before Thanksgiving. OMG, it is hands down the best I’ve ever tasted! I had some girlfriends over the night I was making it and ended up making 3 extra batches for them all to take.
The perfect hit of citrus and sweetness and the wine gave it wonderful depth.
Thank You!!
This was THE best cranberry sauce I’ve ever made! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi,
I just made this cranberry sauce today but it turned out to be way too citrusy. I doubled the quantity for 24 ounces. Citrus taste is overpowering and I don’t taste the Canberry taste at all. Have I done anything wrong? Is there a way to fix this? Pls help.
Hi Shenya, Wow! I’m surprised it’s too citrusy. It’s hard to say what went wrong and where without being there when you made it. But my only suggestion would be to make a small batch without the zest and mix it in. I hope this helps!
Could I can this? I want to make it, but like this week to free up time next week.
I haven’t tried it so sadly, I cannot say. Let me know if you try it!