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Slow Cooker Homemade Cranberry Sauce + VIDEO

This slow cooker homemade cranberry sauce only has 5 ingredients but will impress any crowd. Holiday season is here and cranberry sauce is a staple at most holiday dinners. Making fresh cranberry sauce is easy when you use your crockpot! Starring fresh cranberries and bosc pears, this simple cranberry pear ginger sauce recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and tart. Make this holiday side dish with minimal effort due to the wonders of the slow cooker or Instant Pot! 

overhead shot of homemade cranberry sauce in a white bowl

How do you like your cranberry sauce? Sweet or tart? Smooth or chunky? There are tons of different homemade cranberry sauces out there; this recipe is very dear to my heart – it’s my Mother’s recipe. My Mom makes her version of this cranberry sauce on the stove-top. All I did was clean her recipe up a bit (her uses sugar, mine maple syrup) and converted it to the slow cooker. Thanks Mom!

Ingredients For Slow Cooker Homemade Cranberry Sauce

  • Cranberries
  • Bosc Pears
  • Fresh Ginger
  • Maple Syrup or Honey
  • Water

collage of ingredients for homemade crockpot cranberry sauce

How To Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce In The Crockpot 

Rinse & pick over cranberries, discarding any blemished berries.

Slow Cooker

  1. Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. Add all the ingredients to the pressure cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure for 3 minutes. When cook time is complete, natural release 10 minutes then quick release remaining pressure.

 

Frozen or Fresh Cranberries

Use fresh or frozen cranberries in this recipe, it does not matter. I always use fresh because I find them to be cheaper this time of year but frozen works perfectly well. If you are using frozen whole cranberries, no need to thaw them first you can add them directly to the slow cooker or Instant Pot frozen. Just do not use canned, jellied cranberries.

overhead shot of uncooked homemade cranberry sauce in a black slow cooker

before

Bosc Pears & Ginger

I understand if you are skeptical about adding pears and ginger to your homemade holiday cranberry sauce. I was too but trust me, it works. Bosc pears have brown skin and a spicy-sweet flavor. They’re also firm with makes them the pear of choice when it comes to cooking. Their firmness allows them to hold their shape better during the cook time compared to other pears. If you’re going to substitute another pear I would recommend using Anjou pears. There are a few different ways to add the ginger element to this recipe:

  1. Cook a large piece of fresh ginger in the sauce but remove it before serving.
  2. Cook chopped fresh ginger in the sauce.
  3. Cook ground ginger in the sauce.

The original recipe uses option 1 – cook a large piece of fresh ginger in the sauce but remove it before serving. 

No Sugar! Maple Syrup or Honey Instead

My Mother’s original recipe along with most cranberry recipes I have seen online include white sugar. Sugar is the one ingredient you will not find on this blog. In place of granulated sugar, I almost always use a all-natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey. You can use either in this recipe; having made it both ways, I honestly believe it all depends on your personal preference. If you want to keep this side dish vegan, you will need to use maple syrup.

overhead shot of cooked homemade cranberry sauce in a black slow cooker

after

Re-Use This Cranberry Sauce

Do you always have leftover cranberry sauce after the holidays? I do. I hate wasting food here are some things you can do to re-use your leftover sauce.

  1. Use it as a topping – this cranberry sauce is great on top of pancakes, waffles, crepes, or ice cream.
  2. Add it to your smoothies – since all the ingredients in this cranberry sauce are all natural, a couple of tablespoons of this cranberry sauce to your morning smoothie will quickly provide a sweet touch.
  3. Pair it with meat – cranberries pair well with poultry, red meat, and seafood. Mix some leftover cranberry sauce with bbq or make a quick marinade using some.

Storing Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Cover and store leftover homemade cranberry sauce in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. You can also freeze the cranberry sauce for up to a year.  You can also freeze fresh cranberries for up to a year as well. I like to grab a few bags now while they’re cheap and easy to find and freeze them for when I want fresh cranberries in the off-season.

close up shot of homemade cranberry sauce in a white bowl

FAQs & Tips

  • The cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
  • If you like your cranberry sauce smooth, blend it down with blender, food processor, immersion blender, or even a potato masher when it is done cooking.
  • Make this homemade cranberry sauce ahead of time! Prepare it a day or two in advance and store in the refrigerator.
  • If your cranberry sauce comes out too thick, thin it down with a bit of water.
  • This homemade cranberry sauce is best served at room temperature. 

Holiday Side Dishes 

Turkey Recipes 

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overhead shot of homemade cranberry sauce in a white bowl

Slow Cooker Homemade Cranberry Sauce

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

is slow cooker homemade cranberry sauce only has 5 ingredients but will impress any crowd. Holiday season is here and cranberry sauce is a staple at most holiday dinners. Making fresh cranberry sauce is easy when you use your crockpot! Starring fresh cranberries and bosc pears, this simple cranberry pear ginger sauce recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and tart. Make this holiday side dish with minimal effort due to the wonders of the slow cooker or Instant Pot!

  • Total Time: 3 hours 10 mins
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1216 ounces fresh cranberries
  • 4 large Bosc pears, cored & diced (unpeeled)
  • 1 cup maple syrup or honey
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger

Instructions

Rinse & pick over cranberries, discarding any blemished berries.

Slow Cooker

  1. Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. Add all the ingredients to the pressure cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure for 3 minutes. When cook time is complete, natural release 10 minutes then quick release remaining pressure.

Notes

Cool & refrigerate. Remove ginger prior to serving.

Sauce with thicken overnight.

  • Author: Shannon Epstein
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 hours

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 176
  • Sugar: 33.4 g
  • Fat: 0.2 g
  • Saturated Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 44.5 g
  • Fiber: 4.2 g
  • Protein: 0.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg

 

 

 

 

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[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”9spfqUBC” upload-date=”2019-11-22T20:29:10.000Z” name=”Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce” description=”There are only 5 ingredients in this homemade cranberry sauce with pears and ginger. Make this holiday classic in your slow cooker or Instant Pot.” ]

Slow Cooker Homemade Cranberry Sauce + VIDEO
Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Renee Ligouri

Friday 22nd of November 2019

I made this in my slow cooker last year for Christmas Eve dinner and loved it. I will make the Instant Pot version for Thanksgiving!

Heather Leikin

Tuesday 22nd of November 2016

mmmmmmmm....... This is amazing for the holidays

Fit SlowCooker Queen

Tuesday 22nd of November 2016

It is! I'll bring you some tonight:-)