This cranberry sauce with ginger is deliciously sweet, tart and has a fun zing from the spice. It's so easy to make as a homemade refined sugar free cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with just 5 ingredients!
Making this ginger cranberry sauce is so simple to do, and I know my family love it far more than the canned jelly-type sauce from the store! Adding the spice gives such a nice depth of flavor and the sweetness is delicious with other holiday side dishes.
I like to make my cranberry sauce without white sugar and use maple syrup instead. It's deliciously sweet, has the zing of ginger and tartness of the fresh (or frozen!) cranberries.
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⭐ Why This Recipe is So Good
- Fresh and fruity! No gloopy sauce from a can texture here, it's made fresh on the stovetop.
- Deliciously spiced. Add as much ginger and spice as you enjoy!
- Quick and easy. Just a few simple steps and you have homemade cranberry sauce with ginger in 15 minutes.
🍒 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Cranberries - I like to use fresh cranberries (check they are firm, round and don't have wrinkles on the skin), but have also made this sauce with frozen cranberries too.
- Maple syrup - used for sweetness as a swap for white sugar, it has a lovely flavor. Adjust the amount used if you have a sweet tooth!
- Ginger - I tend to opt for ground ginger, but you can always use fresh grated ginger root too. Simply peel the skin and grate, using about a half a teaspoon (or more if you like a lot of zing!)
- Cinnamon and cardamom - for extra spice. If you're a low histamine reader, please see note on cinnamon in the recipe card below.
🔪 How to Make Cranberry Sauce with Ginger
The beauty of making homemade cranberry sauce is how simple it is to do with fresh cranberries and some pantry staples. Plus it's made on the stovetop, saving valuable oven space for all the other holiday recipes!
Step 1
Add all the ingredients to a pan, including the water. Give it a stir so the spices combine with the fruit.
Step 2
Bring the cranberries to a boil, then reduce the heat to a light simmer. Stir occasionally and use the back of a spoon to press any cranberries that haven't broken down. Add a touch more water if the sauce feels too dry. The sauce will thicken a little as it cools down to room temperature.
🥣 How to Use Cranberry Sauce
While cranberry sauce is traditionally served as a holiday side dish, it's delicious for other recipes too. Perhaps you may like to use it for my festive turkey cranberry cream cheese sandwich or served up in my cranberry crostini as a fun holiday appetizer!
📋 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use frozen cranberries. You may want to add a touch of water to the pan when you first heat them through to prevent sticking.
No, you can leave out if you prefer just fruit.
Cranberry sauce goes so well with fresh cheese, so enjoy on a cracker or breads!
Yes, it's very easy to freeze cranberry sauce. Simply allow to cool completely, spoon into freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. My low histamine readers may wish to see the SIGHI advice on food storage.
🍽 More Holiday Recipes
Find lots of fun and tasty holiday recipes, including sides to go along with this cranberry ginger sauce such as my ginger Brussels sprouts and honey roasted vegetables. Some recent recipes:
I’m always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ and comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Sauce with Ginger (No White Sugar)
Equipment
- Pot
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cups cranberries
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (more if you prefer it sweeter)
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional if low histamine
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Add the cranberries, maple syrup, water, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom to a pot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to a very light simmer, and cook for 8-10 minutes. The cranberries will pop, but you can help them along with the back of a spoon. Stir occasionally.
- Allow the sauce to cool, then enjoy!
Notes
- Adjust the amount of maple syrup to taste preference for sweetness. You may wish to add another tbsp.
- Fresh grated ginger can also be used. Simply peel, grate and add about ½ to 1 teaspoon to the pot, depending on how much spice you enjoy.
- Note - cinnamon isn't always tolerated on a low histamine diet, so leave out unless you know you tolerate well.
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- ginger, which scores 1.
- cardamom scores 0, but has a note that some varieties may not be well tolerated.
- cinnamon scores 0 on the SIGHI list, but other lists rate it as higher.
Melissa says
I just made this as written for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm glad I doubled it! It's delicious! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Claire says
Oh lovely to hear you enjoy it! Have a fun Thanksgiving dinner 🙂