Slow Cooker Cranberry and Pomegranate Sauce compliments your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner in the perfect way! Tart, sweet, and infused with cinnamon and orange, this delicious sauce also makes your house smell amazing!
Anyone here a fan of the canned cranberry sauce? I am guessing no, but if it happens to be yes, keep reading. As a kid, the canned stuff was all I knew of cranberry sauce. I kind of hated it. It only took me graduating to adulthood to realize that the REAL cranberry sauce is an absolute must have on the Thanksgiving table!
Not the jelly like stuff that is shaped like a can. NOPE. This one is tart, sweet, refreshing, citrus-y, and the perfect amount of holiday flair!
Cranberry sauce can come in several different flavors, and what I’ve done here is combine it with one of my favorite fruits: pomegranate. They go really well together in this recipe, combined with an orange flavor. The entire dish just smells and tastes like everything you love about the holidays.
Some people opt for the canned stuff because it is so easy, but I have just taken that argument away. Insert the SLOW COOKER.
It’s so stupid easy. And you don’t have to worry about using the stove top to prepare another side dish. Everything can be thrown in the slow cooker and forgotten about.
How to make Slow Cooker Cranberry and Pomegranate Sauce:
Gather up these ingredients:
- fresh cranberries
- pomegranate arils
- orange juice (can be fresh squeezed from oranges, or store bought orange juice)
- granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- vanilla extract
- orange zest
- cinnamon sticks
This recipe comes together so easily by tossing all of your ingredients in the slow cooker, and cook on low for 3-4 hours. That’s it!
You’ll know that it’s ready when the cranberries pop and soften.
Serving and Storing:
You can serve the cranberry sauce warm or hot, or wait until it cools down a bit. It pairs well with turkey (obviously), but this cranberry sauce also makes a perfect topping for a baked brie as an appetizer!
Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce will also store for up to a week in the fridge. This makes it so easy to make ahead!
Another option is to freeze and pull out the morning you want to serve. I have already made mine over 10 days in advance for Thanksgiving, just so it’s one less dish I have to make on the big day!
Hungry for More? Subscribe to get new recipes delivered straight to your inbox! And be sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Slow Cooker Cranberry and Pomegranate Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
- 1 pomegranate de-seeded about 1 cup of seeds
- 1 cup orange juice*
- 1/2 cup sugar**
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
-
Place all ingredients into your slow cooker and give it a good stir.
-
Turn your slow cooker to low, and cook for 3-4 hours (depending on your slow cooker). Cranberries will pop and soften. Remove cinnamon sticks.
-
Sauce will be runny, but will thicken up once it cools.
Recipe Notes
*I used the juice of 2 oranges, but you can also use store bought orange juice.
**You can use 1/2 cup coconut sugar or 1/2 cup honey for a Paleo version!
I LOVE this recipe. It is super easy and so delicious. I crave it year round.
This hasn’t thickened after 3 hours. I’m now cooking it with the lid off. I’m sure hoping that’ll work.
It won’t thicken until you refrigerate! While it’s hot, it stays runny.
5 Ginormous Gold Stars. BEST RECIPE EVER!
Every year, our guests ask: “How did you make this?! This is the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever had!” Thank you Amy!!!
(P.S. The ding-a-ling above who only gave this 2 stars didn’t read the recipe. Geez.)