The Liquid Swap For Amping Up Your Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a quintessential part of holiday feasts in the United States, particularly during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most of us are familiar with that gelatinous, wobbly, can-shaped blob of cranberry sauce (indentations and all) that typically gets cut into disc-shaped slices. The United Cape Cod Cranberry Company originally came up with the canned variety back in 1912 before refrigerated trucks existed, which made cranberry sauce more widely available. But these days, most people can find fresh cranberries at their local supermarket, so homemade cranberry sauce is much more accessible than it once was.

Some people prefer to keep things traditional around the holidays with the canned kind, and we don't blame you if you do. But if you're making your own homemade sweet, tart cranberry sauce this year, we have a genius liquid swap that will amp up your recipe. Instead of boiling the cranberries in water, use cranberry juice to double down on the flavor.

This hack is pretty flexible, too. For different flavor profiles, you can use a juice that combines cranberries with other fruits (we're curious to try it out with this cranberry watermelon juice from Ocean Spray) or mix it with a separate juice like orange or mango.

Using cranberry juice instead of water is a tested and approved recipe variation recommended by several folks who know their way around a kitchen, like Ree Drummond and Alton Brown. Plus, using cranberry juice brings all sorts of added vitamins and minerals to the mix. However, to keep your recipe balanced, avoid anything labeled as a "cocktail," as these often have added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. For the best results, choose drinks that are labeled "100% juice," or double-check the ingredients list.

Also, keep in mind that many of these store-bought drinks are cranberry blends, meaning they have different juices like apple, grape, and pear mixed in with the cranberry. If you want to stick with the real deal, check the label to ensure it's pure, like this Ocean Spray pure unsweetened cranberry juice.

Orange juice is also a popular addition to cranberry sauce recipes because its sweet flavor helps balance out the cranberries' tartness. Incorporating other sweet juices like apple and pineapple can similarly round out the profile. Using juice instead of water is also a great way to fix cranberry sauce that's too thick without watering down the flavor. For even more tweaks to take your recipe up a notch, check out our list of delicious add-ins to make cranberry sauce the star of your meal.