Fans Say They Make Alex Guarnaschelli’s 15-Minute Cranberry Sauce For Thanksgiving Every Year

While it’s possible to prepare Thanksgiving dinner all in one day, it doesn’t leave the host much time for gathering and gratitude. Take it from us: If you can start making food ahead, you definitely should. Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli undoubtedly agrees. From her impressive game plan to regular Q&A’s, she’s giving her Instagram audience all the tips they need to be prepared for the upcoming turkey fest.

Just last Friday, Guarnaschelli posted a video of her delicious make-ahead cranberry sauce recipe to her page. In the video, she shows us the exact moment she’s done cooking the cranberries which had just bursted, bubbling a beautiful deep red, and fans are raving. One commenter wrote, “I double it and make it every year. I’m obsessed and so is my family! We put it on leftover turkey sandwiches too.” And many other commenters are sharing the same feedback. Here’s how to make this fan-favorite cranberry sauce for your holiday meal.

Guarnaschelli’s Cranberry Sauce recipe is very simple. She says you just need the following ingredients:

• 1 bag cranberries, fresh or frozen
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 small orange, zest & juice

To start, combine all the ingredients in a medium pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the cranberries just start to burst. You don’t want to overcook the cranberries, or they might turn bitter and mushy. So, Guarnaschelli advises  straining out the cranberries from the sauce at this point and returning only the liquid to the pot to continue cooking..

After simmering over medium heat for about 3 to 5 minutes until syrupy, you can stir the liquid back into the perfectly cooked cranberries. At this point, you should have a nice thickened cranberry sauce with lots of sweet, tart cranberry bits to slather over Thanksgiving dinner favorites like our Herb-Roasted Turkey and Cornbread & Oyster-Mushroom Stuffing. According to Guarnaschelli, you can let the sauce cool and refrigerate a few days ahead in an airtight container until ready to serve.

This is such an easy condiment to check off your list early this week, and it shows just how much you can get done earlier in the week for a less stressful Thanksgiving day. Try Chef Guarnaschelli’s recipe or make our own highly-rated and flavorful Homemade Cranberry Sauce.