Save this Orange Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner! It’s fast, easy and a refreshing take on the boring red jelly taking up room on your dinner table.
Sure, you could keep doing the traditional canned stuff because it involves zero work and that’s what you’ve been doing forever. Or you could take a ten minutes to make this sauce with fresh chunks of cranberry and oranges and a hint of maple bourbon. It goes great with turkey, pork, chicken, lamb, etc.
This recipe serves four but you could easily double it for your Turkey Day feast. Follow along and let me know if you think you can handle this. Heat 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup real maple syrup, 1 ounce bourbon in a medium pan. When it starts to simmer add the cranberries. The cranberries will start to pop and break down and thicken the sauce. Cook on medium heat for about five minutes stirring occasionally. You could set this aside for a half hour to cool or, like I did, pour it on a clean sheet pan and place it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Zest, peel, and divide the segments of an orange removing as much of the white pith as possible. Cut in to small chunks. Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl and combine the orange zest and chunks.
I didn’t really like any of the serving bowls I had for such a remarkable side dish. To add to our already festive Thanksgiving dinner table, I thought I’d serve this Orange Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce in an Acorn Squash. I sliced a small amount from the bottom of the squash so it would sit flat on the table. The safest and easiest way I could think to evenly slice the top off the squash was to place it in a bowl. This allowed the knife a solid surface to guide it along the circumference of squash. Place the knife on the edge of the bowl placing the sharp edge against the skin then just turn the bowl. It takes hardly any effort and you get a perfectly flat top! If you’re going to double this recipe, either use two acorn squashes or maybe a small pumpkin.
I really hope you try this recipe and let me know how it turns out. Happy Thanksgiving!
Orange Maple Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz. bag fresh cranberries washed
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 1 ounce bourbon
- 1 medium orange zested and diced
Instructions
- In a medium pot over medium high heat, add orange juice, maple syrup, and bourbon. Bring to a simmer then add the cranberries. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally. Cranberries will begin to pop and release their juice making the sauce thicker.
- Transfer sauce to a clean sheet pan and place in the freezer to cool for 10 minutes.
- Zest the peel of an orange and set aside. Peel and segment the orange removing as much of the white pith as possible. Dice the orange.
- Combine the chilled cranberry sauce with the orange zest and chunks in a serving bowl.
- Enjoy with turkey, pork, lamb, or chicken.
