Tart and sweet, this homemade cranberry syrup recipe is perfect for the holidays! The festive colors and flavors will be a special touch to your breakfast and dessert.
Why You’ll Love This Cranberry Syrup
With simple ingredients and lots of holiday flavor, this homemade simple syrup is the best.
- Great for the holiday season – You can add fun, cranberry flavor to almost any dish or drink.
- So many uses – Syrup is usually used in ways that pure maple syrup is (breakfast foods,) but you can also use it in place of craft cocktail syrups.
- Perfect for gifting – You can make this syrup in small batches, add to glass bottles with a ribbon and gift during the holidays.
Ingredients
You can easily find all of the ingredients for this cranberry syrup at your local grocery store.
- Fresh cranberries – You want these to be coarsely chopped. They’re easy to find int he produce section during the holidays.
- Sugar – Although cranberries already have sugar, adding more sugar helps to sweeten it even more; because cranberries on their own are quite tart.
- Water – Regular simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar. So we use the same concept here to make make cranberry syrup.
- Fine sea salt – Adding a pinch of salt really helps to bring out the flavors of this homemade syrup.
- Lemon juice – Fresh squeezed lemon juice helps to round out the tart flavors of this syrup.
Variations
There are plenty of ways for you to make this cranberry syrup recipe your own. Here are a few suggestions.
- Spices – Try adding thins like star anise, a cinnamon stick or whole cloves to make this a spice cranberry syrup.
- Other fruits – Adding orange peel, fresh orange zest or even a splash of apple cider will complement the flavor of cranberry.
- Chunky syrup – Instead of running this syrup through a fine mesh sieve, you can leave the fruit for a thicker, chunkier syrup.
How to Make Cranberry Syrup
Making this homemade syrup couldn’t be easier. Follow these easy steps.
- Prepare cranberries. Chop cranberries. You can hand chop or throw them in a food processor for a few pulses.
- Combine ingredients. Combine chopped cranberries, sugar, water and sea salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil.
- Allow sugar to dissolve. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Lower heat to medium and allow to simmer.
- Simmer until thick. Simmer, stirring sporadically with a wooden spoon. Mixture will be thick and sticky.
- Strain. Place a fine sieve or colander over a bowl. Strain mixture through, pressing down lightly on solids to get excess syrup out.
- Chill. Whisk lemon juice into syrup and place in the refrigerator to cool slightly. Syrup will be ready for use in 10-15 minutes.
How to Use Cranberry Syrup
There are endless ways to use this simple cranberry syrup. Some of my favorite ways are to pour it over pancakes, french toast or waffles.
But you can also get creative with it! Use it as a cranberry simple syrup and add it to cocktails! Using it in place of traditional simple syrup is a great way to take your cocktails to the next level.
Pour it into your margarita for a cranberry margarita. Add a splash to champagne to make a cranberry mimosa. Add some to ginger beer and vodka to make a cranberry moscow mule.
You can even make non-alcoholic mocktails to add sweet cranberry flavor to regular drinks. It’s an easy way to add holiday flavor.
You can also add this syrup to desserts. Pouring it over ice cream or drizzling it over cake adds the best flavor.
Storage and Freezing
How to Store
You can store any leftover cranberry syrup in an airtight container like a mason jar for up to three days in the refrigerator.
Can I Freeze Cranberry Syrup?
You can also freeze your cranberry syrup. Place it in an airtight container and stick in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. Due to the sugar content, it may not freeze solid. But, it can keep frozen for up to a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but it will take on a slight molasses flavor.
This recipe really requires fresh cranberries. Juice will be too watery.
I don’t simply because I love the tart flavors of cranberry. I have heard of folks adding maple extract or vanilla extract and loving it. The choice is up to you.
More Easy Cranberry Recipes
Cranberry is the unsung flavor of the holidays. If you love it as much as I do, here are some of our favorite recipes.
Cranberry Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh cranberries coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/4 cup water
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine the chopped cranberries, sugar, water and sea salt in a heavy saucepan, brining to a low boil.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer.
- Simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring sporadically with a wooden spoon. Mixture will be thick and sticky.
- Place a fine sieve or colander over a bowl. Strain the mixture through, pressing down lightly on solids to get the excess syrup out.
- Whisk the lemon juice into the syrup and place in the refrigerator to cool slightly. The syrup will be ready for use in 10-15 minutes. You can freeze the syrup or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
- If you've tried this recipe, please come back and let us know how it went in the comments or star ratins.
Notes
Nutrition
Can you can this recipe?
Hi Cory- there is no reason why you couldn’t, but I am not a canning expert.
Yes, cranberries are high acid. You can treat this like jam, use the times from a canning recipe for jelly/ jam.
Simple recipe packed with flavor! I used oven roasted cranberries and added 1 teaspoon of ginger paste to the mixture. Before heating I blended the berries, sugar, water and ginger with a stick blender. I added lemon at the end as you suggested and the mixture set up beautifully. It did not require straining and was a beautifully savory treat drizzled over waffles with a little whipped cream. Festive treat!
Made this for an event and love it so much, it just became a family favorite. No more store bought cranberries for holidays at our house!
Perfect easy recipe for delicious cranberry syrup. It was sweet and citrusy. Now I have to make pancakes! 🙂
Glad you loved it~
Could this be made with a can of whole-berry cranberry sauce instead of fresh or frozen berries?
I don’t see why not!
I just wanted to come back to report how things turned out for me. I modified this into a savory sauce by putting in less sugar and by adding a bit more salt, the type of seasonings usually found in turkey stuffing, and some Liquid Smoke. I then spread it onto pizza dough, topped it with mozzarella, cheddar, leftover turkey, leftover stuffing crumbles, and diced onion. After baking, I added feta. Ta-da! Thanksgiving leftovers pizza! My family was skeptical through the whole process, but everyone except the three-year-old enjoyed it.
Wow! Now that is a customization I’ve never heard of, but I’m so glad it turned out well! Who doesn’t love pizza?
This syrup is so unexpected and so delicious! I have yet to find anything that it isn’t good on!
Hellooooo delicious! This is just what our pancakes and waffles have been missing – such a fun recipe!