Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
Forget buying jars of super sweet cranberry sauce this Christmas and make your own, boozy bourbon cranberry sauce. You won’t regret it!
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Boozy berries
Cranberry sauce isn’t just for Christmas, in fact tonnes of the sweet yet sour sauce is eaten every year at Thanksgiving. When it comes to cooking up a feast for the family, us Brits can learn a lot from the way American’s do thanksgiving.
Now, I’m not suggesting we start putting mini marshmallows on our mashed potato but a swig of bourbon in our cranberry sauce wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Traditional cranberry sauce is often made with port, but this year I’ve decided to replace it with a more American tipple.
Bourbon isn’t too dissimilar to Scotch whisky. So if that’s all you’ve got to hand, don’t worry, pour a decent helping into your pan as the cranberries simmer.
The harsh alcohol of the bourbon is mellowed as the sauce cooks and then cools. The festive spices all add warmth and depth of flavour to this tasty side!
Make ahead
You can easily make this recipe ahead of time. I’ve noticed that cranberries (both fresh and frozen) are appearing in supermarkets earlier and earlier. This year I found them in mid October!
I’m a little bit dubious about how they are ripe and ready by then but on this occasion I’m not going to ask too many questions! I’m just happy that it means I can make big batches of this boozy bourbon cranberry sauce ahead of time.
I like to store it in small jars so that we can almost portion control ourselves and avoid a large jar going bad because it’s been open too long.
If unopened you can easily store the sauce for months, the alcohol and all that sugar are fantastic preservatives! But, once opened I’d recommend using within 3-5 days.
The recipe
Don’t have lots of time to prep in the run up to Christmas? Don’t worry, this recipe doesn’t take long so can easily be made on the day.
Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 350 grams cranberries fresh or frozen
- 150 grams jam sugar
- 100 grams brown sugar
- 200 millilitres bourbon
- 1 orange zest only
- 2 star anise
- 2 cloves
- 1 pinch nutmeg ground
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ground
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into a heavy bottomed pan.
- Place on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Reduce the heat slightly and allow to simmer until most of the cranberries have begun to burst (roughly 10-15minutes) and a thick, sticky liquid has formed.
- Transfer to a steralised jar and place the lid on tightly.
- Allow the sauce to cool in the jar – you will hear a “pop” when the jar has created an air tight seal and the sauce is cool.
- Store until required (up to 3 months).
Nutrition
There are so many uses for this stuff and I love it alongside this mushroom and walnut tart, or in a turkey sandwich once Christmas day has been and gone.
More sumptuous side dishes
If you’re planning on hell of a roast dinner then why not serve up some of these other delicious dishes.
THE ULTIMATE VEGAN CHRISTMAS DINNER
If you have been following this blog for a while you’ll know I am now vegan. Of course you can enjoy this cranberry sauce with turkey if you want but if you’d like to know how to have the best plant based Christmas ever, check out my post on the Ultimate Vegan Christmas Dinner. We’ve got everything from starters to desserts, cheese course and cocktails!
Just click the image above!
Wow, this is going to take my cranberry sauce UP a level! I love cranberry sauce with turkey, I always think the sides are better than the main event. I actually needed cranberries to test a christmas recipe a few weeks ago and had to hunt for the frozen ones but got there in the end!
Im a big fan of sides too! I can take or leave the turkey really!!!
Your cranberry sauce looks amazing and sounds really delicious too:-)
Thanks Camilla!
I always make my own cranberry sauce, but your version with bourbon looks absolutely lush. I just might have to try yours this year instead. Pinned & tweeted.
Thanks Choclette! Let me know if you do 😀 would love to hear ypur thoughts!
I’ve been cooking and baking with bourbon more lately. Totally want to try this!
I like the combination of spices that you have added to your cranberry sauce. I bet it must smell divine when you open the jar. Yum, yum 🙂
I love cranberry sauce with Turkey but I’ve never added bourbon to mine. Sounds so delish. I’m gonna try it soon.
Never added booze to my cranberry sauce before, but I can’t wait to try!
This looks absolutely delicious, I’d love this on Christmas day!