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Break out of the cranberry sauce rut with this Spiced Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce! Cranberries are simmered with brown sugar, apple cider, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and tangerine zest!
Some days flavor combinations work themselves into every fiber of my being and, try as I might, I can’t shake them. Just me?
But who wants to shake them when you end up with things like Spiced Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce with star anise, cardamom and cinnamon?!
I’ve already professed my undying love for Cranberry Sauce, so I won’t bore you with it again, but I just have one teenie tiny anecdote that demonstrates just how much I adore cranberry sauce (and how much of a moron I was in college).
My mom sent me care packages in college and occasionally she included jars of homemade Cranberry Chutney. One time the lid shattered in transit. Did I throw it away because it is highly inadvisable to eat glass?
No, this crazy person picked out all the visible shards and then ate very carefully so as not to ingest or chew any glass. This is probably on the list of the dumbest culinary things I’ve done, but I lived to tell you about it.
The takeaways here: I take my cranberry sauce very seriously and don’t ship cranberry chutney in glass jars to college freshmen who loathe cafeteria food. Mmmk?
But this is not Nana’s cranberry chutney. This is Spiced Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce, and it is so good, it would be a tragedy to limit it to the Thanksgiving Feast Table.
And it’s so easy that there is absolutely zero excuse not to make this for a weeknight dinner. Hello store bought rotisserie chicken, I’m lookin’ at you! When served with homemade cranberry sauce it will seem decadent and the opposite of mundane!
Oh come on, I buy rotisserie chickens too. Don’t let’s pretend that we haven’t all been there.
This tantalizing sauce starts the usual way with fresh cranberries simmering in a pot with brown sugar, but now we break out of the cranberry rut and amp up the flavor with apple cider, star anise, cardamom, a generous amount of cinnamon and tangerine zest.
Oh. Yes. I. Did.
Tangerine zest.
There are times when even lemon zest and orange zest lose their star power in my eyes and I go searching for something new and different. And the flavor is incredible! Just a little zest provides a subtle tangerine flavor and scent that is irresistible.
And if all that wasn’t enough, I’ve got big, out of the box, plans for this sauce! Even beyond Wednesday night rotisserie chicken. Stay tuned.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Spiced Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz bag of fresh cranberries or you can use previously frozen fresh cranberries
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup apple cider natural
- 1 small granny smith apple pealed and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 whole star anise
- 5 cardamom pods or more, just make sure you count so you can find them all!
- ½ teaspoon fresh tangerine zest bright orange parts only
Instructions
- In a small sauce pot heat the cranberries, sugar, and apple cider over medium-high heat until the cranberries pop.
- Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the star anise. You could stop cooking it at this point but I like to cook my cranberry sauce at least an hour.
- After an additional 30 minutes remove your cardamom pods (make sure you get them all!!) and allow to cool or serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef-tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed Thanksgiving recipes! Or, amp up your apple cider obsession with this apple cider donut recipe!
love this spin on cranberry sauce!!! and cinnamon + star anise = magic. love this!!!
Thanks, Alice! I agree – totally magic! 🙂
I LOVE the sound of this, Lindsey, and I too take my cranberry sauce very seriously! The star anise sounds wonderful in here, and I’ve never simmered it in apple cider. This I have to try! Pinned. 🙂
I hadn’t either but the apple cider was there and it sounded good in my head…and it was. I hope you try it! Thanks for the pin!
Cranberries with cinnamon, anise and tangerine zest.. great flavors in one sauce. Delicious! Pinned it:)
Thanks for the pin Ilona!
Oh my gosh, this cranberry sauce looks amazing, Lindsey! I am so loving the apple cider addition to this. And tangerine zest? Love it! I can’t wait to see what other recipes you come with using this sauce!
Thanks, Gayle! I am so obsessed! I’ve been eating it in my yogurt even 🙂
Can you believe that my husband and two boys have chosen canned cranberry jelly over homemade! This is the first year that I am cooking for my in-laws. I asked if they wanted me to make grammy’s famous homemade cranberry jelly or canned. They chose the can! My husband grew up with Cool Whip also. I don’t even offer to buy that. It’s homemade whipped cream. That is the only choice.
NOOOO!!! That is just…I am so sorry. You should just make some homemade cranberry sauce just for you and hopefully they will decide that it tastes so much better without the added can flavor. 🙂
I am 100% with you on Cool Whip. My husband also grew up on it and I refuse to buy it. Once I told him it was made with vegetable oil and not cream , he has never looked back. Plus, as you know, nothing tastes as good as sweetened whipped cream! Btw – I hosted Thanksgiving for my in-laws last year for the first time and I didn’t even ask if they wanted the usual canned cranberry sauce! lol. So much easier to ask for forgiveness later 😉
Apple cider sounds like a great flavor to enhance cranberry sauce! And I love all of the spices that you put into this. Beautiful photos! (And rotisserie chicken? Um, totally a lifesaver sometimes!)
Amen to rotisserie chicken! Isn’t it the worst when you have your last minute meal all planned around them and they are out!?!?! Crisis
What a beautiful sauce! I am always up for trying new recipes for cranberry sauce. Love the spiced flavors!
Thanks, Ashley!
Girl – your pictures are GORGEOUS! And tangerine zest – why that’s freakin BRILLIANT! So brilliant that it covers up the mind boggling fact that you ate cranberry chutney from a broken glass container!!! GAAAHHHHHH!!!!
Looking forward to your “big, out of the box, plans” for this delectable apple cider cranberry sauce – specially if it involves gifting it to a fellow Atlanta Blogger! 😉
Thanks, Shashi!!! Eating glass is no bueno. It wasn’t exactly an experience that I would repeat. 🙂 I can’t wait to share my latest creation!!! Patience.