This Easy Cranberry Jelly recipe is sure to put your Thanksgiving menu over the top. Fresh cranberries, apple juice, and liquid pectin make cranberry jelly that’s way better than canned!
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If your family is anything like mine, cranberry sauce is a must-have Thanksgiving side dish. Once you realize how easy it is to make sweet-tart jellied cranberry sauce on the stovetop. You’ll never want to buy the canned stuff again!
This jelly has a real fruit taste and you can present it in any adorable shape you like. There’s no denying that this recipe is way better than Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Classic Holiday Side: Cranberry sauce is served at every holiday meal at our house, and it could very well become a family favorite at yours!
- Easy Recipe: Homemade cranberry sauce really is very easy. It’s such a simple recipe.
- Great Taste: I think this sauce is a big improvement over the taste of store-bought cranberry sauce!
Recipe Ingredients
- Fresh cranberries
- Apple juice
- Sugar
- Liquid pectin
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Easy Cranberry Sauce
- Wash the cranberries, discarding any bad ones.
- Cook the berries in the apple juice on the stove until soft.
3. Run the cranberries through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. If you don’t have a food mill, you can also purée the mixture in a high-speed blender and push it through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon. This is the key to a smooth, delicious jellied cranberry sauce.
4. Next, pour the strained cranberries back into the saucepan. Sweeten those tart berries with sugar and add the liquid pectin.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil one minute so the pectin can do its magic and start to thicken the cranberry sauce.
6. Let the sauce cool slightly in the pan and then pour it into whatever mold you’d like to use. Spray your mold with nonstick cooking spray for easier unmolding.
7. Once the sauce has cooled to room temperature, refrigerate until set, preferably overnight, or a day or two ahead of time. Unmold, and voilá: perfectly gelled, sweet, and sliceable homemade jellied cranberry sauce!
Originally when I posted this recipe, I used fun individual turkey molds, but they’re no longer available, so for the updated pictures, I used a half-size, 6 cup bundt pan.
Of course, you can just serve your homemade jellied cranberry sauce from a pretty bowl, too.
Where to Find the Ingredients
You’ll need fresh cranberries and liquid pectin for this sauce. You can usually find beautiful bags of fresh ruby cranberries in the produce section of grocery stores around Thanksgiving time. Pick up two bags to make this recipe.
Secondly, you’ll need liquid pectin. This is usually in the canning aisle of well-stocked supermarkets, where they keep the mason jars and other canning supplies.
Unmolding Jellied Cranberry Sauce
When your cranberry jelly is fully set and ready to be served, there are a few tricks to unmolding it perfectly.
First, fill a pot or large bowl with very warm water in the sink. Dip your chilled jelly mold in the water bath for at least 5 seconds. Then immediately invert the mold directly onto your serving platter. If it doesn’t release, reheat the mold in the water bath.
If you plan to move the jelly after unmolding, it’s best to unmold it onto a wet surface (just splash some water on your plate), which will keep the jelly from sticking.
If you have an electric pressure cooker, cranberry jelly is even easier to make in the Instant Pot. Give our Instant Pot Cranberry Jelly recipe a try from Pressure Cooking Today.
What to Serve with Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Here are my family’s favorite savory holiday dishes to enjoy with bright homemade cranberry sauce:
- Favorite Dinner Rolls are light, fluffy, and the perfect accompaniment to a hearty holiday dinner.
- Instant Pot Stuffing from Pressure Cooking Today saves some oven space and ensures extra crispy edges (everyone’s favorite part!).
- Roasted Green Beans with Almonds bring some crunch and green to your Thanksgiving table with a deliciously savory and nutty side.
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Easy Cranberry Jelly
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 bags 12 oz each fresh cranberries, about 6 cups
- 1 cup apple juice
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons liquid pectin*
Instructions
- Wash and pick over cranberries. Add the cranberries and apple juice to a medium-size saucepan.
- Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until cranberries all popped and soften, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the cooked cranberries in a food mill over a large bowl to separate the cranberry puree from the skins and seeds. (You could also use a blender to puree the berries and then use a strainer to strain the skin and seeds.) Rinse out and dry the saucepan.
- Put the cranberry puree back in the saucepan and add the sugar and the liquid pectin. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Boil one minute.
- Allow mixture to cool slightly and then pour cranberry jelly into a bowl or a mold coated with nonstick cooking spray. Chill until set.
- To unmold, dip mold in warm water for 5 seconds, then invert jelly onto serving platter.
Notes
- Use two tablespoons of dry pectin. Mix the dry pectin with the sugar before adding it to the puree.
- To unmold the sauce, fill a pot or large bowl with very warm water in the sink. Dip the chilled jelly mold in the water bath for at least 5 seconds. Then, immediately invert the mold directly onto your serving platter. If it doesn’t release, reheat the mold in the water bath.
- You can use fun-shaped molds, a bundt pan, or even just a bowl to set and serve the jelly!
- Fresh cranberries can be found in the fresh produce section of most grocery stores around the holidays. Pectin can be found in the canning section.
Kim Beaulieu
Barbara these are so adorable. I need to try these. I’m going to save this recipe for Christmas. It’s so adorable. It would never have occurred to me to use molds.
BB
Thank you so much for your prompt reply!
BB
Do I need to spray my metal mold with non-stick spray?
Barbara Schieving
It probably depends on how intricate the design of the mold is. If you have used it in the past and things have released easily, I suppose you could skip that step. Thanks for the question.
Kathy - Panini Happy
I love these little jelly turkeys!! I’ve never made anything other than whole berry sauce but you’re now giving me reason to branch out to something new. 🙂
Angie@Angie's Recipes
I can eat this as the dessert! Looks beautiful and festive!
Laura @ Lauras Baking Talent
These look great and so cute! Thanks for sharing 🙂
cheryl
Put the cranberry juice back in the pressure cooking pot and add the sugar and the liquid pectin.”Select saute and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil one minute. Remove the pressure cooking pot from the pressure cooker”. I am confused about the saute statement. I have a pressure cooker but it does not have a saute feature. Help me to understand please and thank you.
Barbara Schieving
If you have a stove top pressure cooker, just use it like you would a normal pot and bring it to a boil over medium high heat and boil one minute.
Letty Flatt
Love the turkey molds. Perfect!
Monique
Hi Barbara,
Love this idea but can you substitute powder pectin for the liquid, and how much?
Barbara Schieving
Yes, you can use powdered pectin. I would suggest using half the box.
Carol
FUN! I love those turkeys………what a super idea. My son in law is a cranberry-sauce-from-the-can kind of guy too. I won’t have time to make this one this year-and I don’t have liquid pectin, darn it, so I’m saving this for another time.
Thanks Barbara, I can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Melissa B
I love the Turkey shape! ( and your pretty plates! )
– Your recipe sounds delicious!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Melissa! Those are my mom’s plates, so extra special to me.
Claire @ Claire K Creations
I love the shapes Barbara. Adorable!
Totally unrelated but since I got my bundt tin I’ve made two cakes in it and each one makes me think of you!
Savannagal
How would I make this without a pressure cooker? Could I just cook the cranberries in a pot on the stove until they are all broken down, and then follow the rest of the directions – only swapping my stove for your pressure cooker?
Barbara Schieving
Yes – If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just cook it on the stove for 10 to 15 minutes until cranberries have softened and popped.
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel
ridiculously cute!! now to find that mold 😉
Barbara Schieving
I just ordered it on Amazon 🙂
Jen in VA
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Silicone-Cakelet-Stencil/dp/B00576AWFA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1385419587&sr=8-5&keywords=turkey+molds
Looks like these, agree they are adorable for individual cranberry servings, although I could eat all of 8 of them!
Amanda
This is such a wonderful idea!!! You are genius. 🙂
Patrick M.
Does the recipe fill the 8-turkey mold with no extra? This is so adorable I’m thinking I have to steal your idea.
Barbara Schieving
It only filled 7 of the 8 molds. If you wanted 8 you could add a bit more apple juice or fill them not quite as full. Have fun!
Gayle
This sounds great. I love to be able to cook things like this in my pressure cooker — it makes life so much easier. I’m going to try this for Thanksgiving. I wonder if I can halve it since there will only be 3 or 4 adults and one toddler at the table. But 1/2 cup apple juice doesn’t seem like it would be enough liquid. I have a 2 qt pressure cooker so maybe it would work in that.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Gayle – I think 1/2 cup juice may work because the berries release juice as well. You could also freeze half for another day?
Gayle
I made the half batch in my little 2 qt Cooks Essentials pressure cooker and it worked like a charm. It doesn’t have saute so I used brown but then thought it was getting a little too hot so switched to the steam function for the last minute or two. My only observation is that it was a little two sweet for us. Next time I’ll use 3/4 cup sugar rather than a full cup and see how that is.
I didn’t have any cute little molds so I just put it into a large cereal bowl and it was just fine that way.
Thanks for giving me the incentive to try making my own — it was very good.
One question. How long with and opened pouch of liquid pectin last in the fridge?
Gayle
Forgot to mention that I didn’t put the cooked cranberries in a blender or food mill or anything like that. I used a silicone spoon that has a lot of flex to it and just smushed the berries in the pot. Then I put them into a sieve and again smushed (spell check thinks that isn’t a word but I’ve used it so long that I think it’s grandfathered into the dictionary) them through that. I was left with less than 1/8 cup of skins. It was pretty easy though a little time-consuming to do.
Barbara Schieving
So glad you enjoyed it. I wonder if some cranberries are sweeter than others? I don’t use pectin enough to know how long it will last. Google probably knows 🙂 thanks for the update.
Rosa
Pretty and delicious! A great idea.
Cheers,
Rosa
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
I think I need an electric pressure cooker. I’ve never even seen one!
Your turkey jellies are adorable. I’ve made lots of cranberry sauce but I’ve never made the jellied sort before. Well done for giving it a go! Now I want to try it.
Traci
Your recipe turned out beautiful. I do not like canned cranberry jelly, but your recipe looks incredible! I love the turkey shape, adorable!