Step up your holiday feasts with homemade Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce! Sweetened with pure maple syrup and spiced up with cinnamon, orange zest and bourbon, this cranberry sauce recipe only takes about 10 minutes to make and is ultra flavorful!

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with cinnamon and orange zest - a flavorful unique approach to homemade cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving feast!

It wasnโ€™t until I began making homemade cranberry sauce that I took any interest in it. My family always served the canned cranberry sauce at our holiday gatherings, which never tickled my fancy.

For years, Iโ€™ve been making my Cranberry Sauce with Ginger and Maple, and it wasnโ€™t until this year I had a bright idea: boozy cranberry sauces. Queue the drool ๐Ÿ˜‰

This Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce has the perfect sweet and tart balance with some warm cinnamon, a little zest and plenty of bourbon to make it extra tantalizing.

The best part about this recipe is it takes no more than 10 minutes to make.

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce is a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving Feast! Full of cinnamon and orange zest flavors, this naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is amazing

Ingredients for Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce:

Cranberries: the key to an amazing cranberry sauce is using whole fresh or frozen cranberries. This ensures the sauce is nice and tart and adds refreshing flavor to your Thanksgiving Turkey.

Apple Cider: used to cook and soften the cranberries, apple cider adds lovely fall flavor and sweetness to the sauce. You can replace it with orange juice or water.

Orange Zest: Adding citrus flavor to the sauce, orange zest is a great way of stepping up the appeal of cranberry sauce. You can also use lemon zest or lime zest.

Pure Maple Syrup: sweetened with pure maple syrup instead of sugar, this cranberry sauce has that perfect balance of tang to sweet. You can adjust the amount you use to taste, or replace it with brown sugar.

Ground Cinnamon: a key ingredient in making a recipe taste like fall exploded all over it, ground cinnamon is a simple and easy way of bringing warmth to the sauce.

Bourbon: Gifting that belly-warming effect to the meal, this bourbon-infused cranberry sauce has unique boozy flavor to make you swoon. You can also use whisky or rum if it’s what you have on hand.

Vanilla Extract: A little warmth to offset the tang and acidity, vanilla extract gives a well-rounded richness.

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce is a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving Feast! Full of cinnamon and orange zest flavors, this naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is amazing

How to Make Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce:

Simply toss all the ingredients in a saucepan, cover the pan, and bring it to a boil. Remove the lid and use a fork to mash the cranberries.

How to make homemade cranberry sauce

Cook until the sauce has thickened and the cranberries have lost much of their shape, about 5 to 8 minutes.

How to make homemade cranberry sauce

Remove from the heat. Stir in the bourbon and vanilla extract (note: if you want all of the alcohol to cook off, add the bourbon during the cooking process). Store the cranberry sauce in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

This sauce can be made up to 1 week in advance! A great way to minimize stress on the day of your feast is to make as much in advance as you can. Cranberry sauce is a great one to make ahead of time.

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with apple cider, cinnamon, and orange zest. A flavorful, healthy homamde cranberry sauce recipe perfect for your holiday feasts

More Healthy Holiday Side Dishes:

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with cinnamon, apple cider, and orange zest for a healthy homemade cranberry sauce recipe

My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!

If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with cinnamon and orange zest - a flavorful unique approach to homemade cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving feast!

Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

4.18 from 17 votes
Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with apple cider, cinnamon, and orange is an amazing healthy homemade cranberry sauce recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 2 cups

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Add all of the ingredients except for the bourbon and vanilla extract to a saucepan. Bring to a full boil. Mash the cranberries with a fork and continue cooking at a gentle boil, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened and cranberries have lost much of their form.
  • Remove sauce from heat and stir in the bourbon and vanilla extract (Note: if you want all of the alcohol to cook off of the bourbon, add it while you're cooking the cranberries). Transfer to a storage container. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 12 ยท Calories: 112kcal ยท Carbohydrates: 25g ยท Fiber: 2g ยท Sugar: 20g
Author: Julia
Course: Condiment, Sauce, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: apple cinnamon, bourbon, cranberries, cranberry sauce, pure maple syrup, thanksgiving
Did You Make This Recipe?I want to see it! Tag @the.roasted.root on social media!
Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce with orange zest, cinnamon, and vanilla. Refined sugar-free and delicious homemade cranberry sauce recipe!

Julia Mueller
Meet the Author

Julia Mueller

Julia Mueller is a recipe developer, cookbook author, and founder of The Roasted Root. She has authored three bestselling cookbooks, – Paleo Power Powers, Delicious Probiotic Drinks, and The Quintessential Kale Cookbook. Her recipes have been featured in several national publications such as BuzzFeed, Self, Tasty, Country Living, Brit.co, etc.

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4.18 from 17 votes (17 ratings without comment)

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Questions and Reviews

  1. Hey Julia – We made this and the flavor is amazing! It will replace our traditional cranberry sauce from here on out! We had a problem with soupy consistency and hoping you might be able to solve the dilemma? Thanks, Kathy

    1. Hi Kathy! Were your cranberries fresh or frozen? If you used frozen cranberries, they tend to contain more moisture than fresh so that could be the culprit (unless you used fresh). I haven’t had any issues with the sauce being too liquidy but it sounds like adding more cranberries may help with that.

  2. I made this for Thanksgiving. It was so easy and delicious. My husband said this will be our new go-to cranberry sauce! Thanks!

  3. I have a maple syrup aged in a bourbon barrel, if I use that do I need to compensate a 1/4 cup of some other liquid for the 1/4 cup of bourbon? Thanks so much!!

    1. Hi Francis!

      You don’t need to add more liquid to compensate! Unless of course you want the sauce to be thinner, but it’ll be great without the bourbon ๐Ÿ˜€ xoxoxo

  4. This is so yummy. I make basically the same recipe…..except I use 1 C orange juice and 1/2 fresh apple, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, 1 cup maple syrup, fresh ginger (thumb size-chopped) and cook for about 20 to 25 minutes. I just love all the variations.
    Thank you for all your delicious recipes. The Morning Glory cookies are just the best. Hearty and fulfilling any time.

    1. Ooooh, I love that – orange juice and a fresh apple sound amazing! So thrilled you’re rocking the morning glory cookies! xoxoxo

  5. Just to make this clear for those who are keeping gluten out; most alcohol is grain based; so leave the yummy bourbon out.

    1. Sorry about that Mindy! That’s correct – add them both at the end, or add the bourbon earlier in the cooking process if you want all the alcohol to cook off ๐Ÿ˜€ xoxo