For years now, we have simply plopped down one of those blobs of canned Cranberry Sauce on our Holiday Table and called it good. Well, NO MORE! This year I actually made a homemade Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce and it's a whole lot easier than you think!
Not only does it taste OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD.....you get to listen to the little cranberries POP when you cook them!
I know - it doesn't take much to entertain a food blogger.
Fresh cranberries, sweet cherries, a few dates, a cinnamon stick, some spices, and a little orange juice and zest - and you have the simplest holiday recipe ever.
And it tastes SO GOOD compared to that blob of jelly in a can. And did I mention it's sugar-free???
I looked at a few traditional recipes on the big, wide, interweb and good lord the amount of sugar they use in their recipes! I could feel my insulin spike just reading about it!
This recipe uses NO refined sugar, but rather the natural sweetness from the dates, the cherries, and the orange juice. It's got plenty of natural sweetness this way but yet has just enough tartness leftover for a little pucker.
My wife said it was so good it could be used for pie filling! Lol, maybe in another recipe.
So are your Holiday Plans set in stone yet? Got room for a homemade sugar-free Cranberry Sauce that everyone will be sure to love? It only takes about 15 minutes to whip up a batch...so why not?
But....you will have to soak some dates....so be prepared for that. Whoops...looks like I'm getting ahead of myself.... so let's quit yammerin' and go make some Cranberry Sauce...
Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce
As I was saying, you're gonna need a handful of dates. I like the Medjool Dates, so grab about 6 of them and toss them in some hot water for about an hour or so to let them soften. The longer the better. And if they have the pit, be sure and remove them eventually.
Next, rinse a 12oz bag of fresh cranberries, in case there's any bog left on them, and toss them into a large pan.
Next, I added about 1 cup of frozen Dark Sweet Cherries. I buy the Private Select brand from our local Fred Meyer (Kroger).
Next, use a zester tool to collect about 1 tablespoon of Orange Zest. I chose an organic orange just for this purpose. We'll also need about 1 cup of orange juice, so feel free to squeeze the juice from this orange as well, but we'll probably need to add a little store-bought orange juice too.
Here is a really cool zester I found on Amazon. It makes the really long strips of zest and I'm truly thinking of ordering one for myself. And as always, as an Amazon Associate, I do earn from qualifying purchases but at no extra cost to you.
Add the zest to the pot with the cranberries and cherries but save the cup of orange juice for later.
Now we just add a few spices, the entire list of which is down below in the recipe box but feel free to tweak them or add your own.
So we have the cranberries, cherries, orange zest, and spices in the pan. All that's left now is the orange juice and the soaked dates. I added the dates and juice to my blender and pureed it until it was super smooth, then added that into my pan.
Bring the heat up to med-high and you will soon hear the little cranberries pop as they split. Again, I thought it was kind of fun to watch. Just don't put your face down too close...one might pop out at ya. 😉
One they begin poppin' and rockin', turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and let that go about 10 minutes. It will look a little thin but trust me it will thicken up as it cools.
After 10 minutes or so you can remove the pan from the heat and taste for any adjustments. A pinch of salt may be all it needs, or if you like your Cranberry Sauce a little bit sweeter, you could maybe add another pureed date or a few more cherries - up to you.
That's it!
Super easy, super tasty, homemade Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce - just in time for the Holiday Table.
Be sure and comment to let me know how it went and in the meantime, I'll be here working on at least one more Holiday Recipe before the big day.
Can you believe it's almost here? Yikes! See ya soon!
Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce Recipe with Sweet Cherries
★★★★★5 from 7 reviews
Author:Brand New Vegan
Prep Time:1 hr
Cook Time:10 min
Total Time:0 hours
Yield:2 cups1x
Category:Holiday, Sauce
Method:Stovetop, Blender
Cuisine:American, Vegan
Print Recipe
Description
Why open a blob of canned jellied Cranberry Sauce when you can make your own? ThisSugar-Free Cranberry Sauce has no refined sugar, tastes delicious, and is a lot easier to make than you think!
Ingredients
Scale
12 oz cranberries
1 cup frozen dark sweet cherries
6 medjool dates
1 cup orange juice
1 Tbs orange zest
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
Instructions
Simply cover your dates with hot water and allow them to soak until softened, at least an hour or so.
Rinse and drain your cranberries and then add them to a large soup pan
Add the dark cherries, orange zest, and spices
Finally, blend the dates with the 1 cup of orange juice until smooth and pour into the pan
Adjust the heat to med-high until the cranberries begin to pop, then reduce the heat to a slow simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionaly.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. The sauce will thicken as it cools.
Adjust seasoning to taste. If you like it sweeter you can add a few more cherries or blend another date.
In lieu of granulated sugar, try genuine maple syrup. It's already liquid so it will stir right into the cranberry sauce, lending it a gentle sweetness. If you don't have maple syrup (pancake syrup WILL NOT do, y'all), try honey or a more neutral sweetener like agave syrup, brown rice syrup, or even simple syrup.
Obviously, we can't lose the cranberries, but you can swap out the water for orange juice, apple cider or grape juice. The sugar, while necessary, doesn't need to be granulated. Maple syrup, brown sugar and even honey can make your cranberry sauce more dynamic.
Eating them with a meal, even if they're sweetened as in cranberry sauce, causes a smaller increase in blood sugar levels than eating the same meal without cranberries.
The sauce acts as a cleansing port in a tumultuous storm of fat and salt, but the effect is lost if the sauce is too sweet. Luckily, there is a very easy way to fix an over-sugared homemade sauce: You just need a little citric acid. Sure, you could add lemon, but that brings its own, cranberry-obscuring flavor.
How Do You Neutralize Sour Taste in Food? If a dish is too sour, add a little bit of sugar! Sweetness balances out sour flavors, so if something makes your mouth pucker, a dash of sugar may help soften the blow of the sour food.
Try reducing the sauce down even further so more of the liquid cooks off and the mixture thickens. If that doesn't work, add a thickener like gelatin, pectin or a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch whisked into juice or water). Let the sauce cool before refrigerating to completely set.
Cranberries are high in pectin, which helps them set naturally into a jelly without the need for any other thickeners. Orange zest and cinnamon are natural flavor pairings for cranberries, enhancing and complementing their tartness.
If you'd prefer, you could use simple syrup, coconut sugar, cane sugar, sugar-free sweetener, maple syrup, or raw honey. You could also omit the added sugar and make an unsweetened cranberry juice if you'd prefer. Fresh Citrus: oranges and lemons add sweet and acid to balance the cranberries tartness.
Although all fresh fruits make a healthy choice, certain fruits, like berries, avocados, citrus fruits, apples, and pomegranates, may offer specific health benefits for people with type 2 diabetes, such as improving post-meal blood sugar levels and lowering blood pressure.
Berries are rich in antioxidants and the Arthritis Foundation notes that blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries, raspberries and boysenberries all provide arthritis-fighting power.
So, sweet foods taste sweeter with a splash of lemon or a bit of orange zest. Blend zest, juice, or both into sauces, dressings, baked goods, or drinks. Use any that you like (lemon, orange, grapefruit, lime, etc.), or combine them.
How to Make Food Less Sweet. Add an acid or seasonings such as vinegar or citrus juice; chopped fresh herbs; a dash of cayenne pepper; or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or espresso powder.
Anything from a drizzle of honey to agave, maple syrup, or molasses will also fare well. After a few minutes of maceration, the sour fruit juices will mix with the sugar and alleviate some of the cranberries' natural tartness.
To start, we add a little salt. The salt helps to make the sugar taste sweeter, masking a little of the bitterness. Some suggest that adding a small pinch of baking soda helps by limiting the acid in the sauce.
Similar to the baking soda method, you can try adding a small pinch of sugar to your finished tomato sauce to help mellow out any unsavory or bitter notes. Natural Gourmet Institute suggests starting with just ¼ teaspoon of sugar at a time until the sauce reaches your desired acidic level.
If your tomato sauce is too acidic and verging on bitter, turn to baking soda, not sugar. Yes, sugar might make the sauce taste better, but good old baking soda is an alkaline that will help balance the excess acid. A little pinch should do the trick.
How to Make Food Less Acidic. Add a fat such as butter, heavy cream, sour cream, cheese, or olive oil to coat the tongue and physically block some of the acidity from your taste buds. You might also try adding a sweetener such as sugar, honey, or maple syrup.
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