Healthy Cranberry Sauce for your holiday table replaces the traditional sugar laden condiment! This four ingredient sauce cooks in less than 15 minutes!
Who is cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year? Do you have a huge feast that takes days to prepare or do you prefer to order pre-cooked meals?
The temptation to buy ready made meals from the grocery store is tantalizing, but there are some family favorite dishes that we make year after that can’t be replicated by any store!
Every year individual sweet potato casseroles are on the menu, and once I learned how simple it is to make cranberry sauce it has also become a staple on our Thanksgiving table.
Although making our favorite dishes have become a tradition, this year I tweaked an easy condiment turning it into a healthy cranberry sauce that is sugar-free and low carb!
A while back I bought a collection of lemon, lime, and orange citrus oils at a baking supply store. You can use them to enhance flavors in sauces, dressings, soups, and sweet treats like frostings.
The technique used to make the oil is pretty intense. The rind of these fruits are processed in a way that squeezes the natural oils out creating super strong natural flavors. It takes about 44 oranges to make one ounce of oil!
Luckily, when you use such a powerful oil, only a small amount is needed when adding it to foods.
Using essential oils (a great low carb hack) will give you all the flavor without the extra sugar that you get from fruit juices, which is ideal for a low carb side dish.
In this case, instead of adding orange juice to my cranberry sauce I substituted it with 1/4 teaspoon of orange oil and a cup of water. That small amount of oil with cinnamon is so darn fantastic with the cranberries!
Cranberries on their own can be quite bitter, so to sweeten the sauce up I used Swerve sugar replacement which adds sweetness without the calories like granulated sugar.
Win-win on this re-creation of a favorite traditional Thanksgiving cranberry sauce! Don’t limit this to sauce to just turkey. Top it on yogurt, on pork or try this baked brie with cranberry sauce!
Wash Cranberries and set aside. In a medium saucepan heat the water and Swerve over medium heat until the sweetener dissolves. Add the cranberries and cook until the berries start to burst and begin to soften (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and add orange essential oil and cinnamon until well combined. Cool in the pan at room temperature, then refrigerate. Adjust the sweetener to your preference. You may want to add up to a half cup or more if your berries are sour. Food grade citrus oils are much stronger than extracts. Adjust according to the manufacturer's recommendation.
Healthy Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 20 Total Fat: 0g Saturated Fat: 0g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 2mg Carbohydrates: 5g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 2g Protein: 0g
Healthy World Cuisine
November 7, 2017 at 5:54 pmHave not tried Swerve… Any after taste? Loving your bright and beautiful cranberry sauce!
shelby
November 12, 2017 at 4:37 pmI’m saving this! I can’t wait to try it!
Christie
November 12, 2017 at 5:01 pmFresh cranberry sauce is awesome. I wish more would make it from scratch.
Lisa@Lisa's Dinnertime Dish
November 13, 2017 at 6:50 amThis sauce sounds so easy and looks so delicious! I love that it doesn’t have any added sugar!
Madi
November 13, 2017 at 7:48 amI love the healthier spin on cranberry sauce! I looks so delicious!
Ashlyn
November 13, 2017 at 9:44 amThis is exactly the recipe I have been needing! I’ve never like the sugary cranberry sauce very much, so this one sounds perfect!
Justine
November 13, 2017 at 10:50 amIt’s such a vibrant color and sugar-free is a great option!
Julie
October 26, 2018 at 4:12 pmI’ve had cranberries on the brain and this is a delicious way to serve them. I don’t know why I don’t cook them more than once a year?
debi at Life Currents
October 27, 2018 at 6:26 amI always make my own cranberry sauce, and it’s nice to have a healthy option now. Some of them are just loaded with sugar. Thanks
Debra C.
October 28, 2018 at 2:21 pmHomemade Cranberry Sauce is so much better than canned and healthy too? Such a great choice!!!
Kathy
October 28, 2018 at 3:25 pmI am always looking forward cranberry sauce during theholidays. There’s nothing better than homemade for sure!
Sandra Shaffer
October 29, 2018 at 11:19 amIt’s simple to make, but boy is the flavor amazing!
Madi
October 28, 2018 at 3:31 pmCranberry sauce is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving spread! I can’t wait to try it for Thanksgiving!
Sandra Shaffer
October 29, 2018 at 11:20 amOur feast is not complete without cranberry sauce! Love it as a leftover too.
michele
October 29, 2018 at 5:25 amWe have cut way back on sugar in our house…. the tip to use orange oil instead of orange juice is one Im going to try with so many recipes! These cranberries sound delicious and so easy! I love easy for thanksgiving… or anytime of the year!
Jennifer Stewart
October 30, 2018 at 1:24 pmOMG I never used to eat cranberry because my mom always used it from a can. The full jellied one, not even the one with the berries in the jelly, so I wasn’t a fan. This version is SO much better and I can see myself eating it all the time!
Michaela Kenkel
October 30, 2018 at 8:04 pmI love cranberry sauce, your recipe is my favorite!! Tank you for sharing!