This is my mother’s recipe for bourbon-infused cranberry sauce. She would prepare it for an auction every year. Her 8-ounce jars of sauce normally cost $10.00 each. To boost the ante, bourbon is baked in the oven with tart cranberries that have been sugar-sweetened. Tastes finest after sitting for a while, like two weeks. The tastes get stronger the longer they sit. The perfect accent to your Christmas spread!
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
Ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
- 4 cups white sugar
- ½ cup bourbon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Stir cranberries, sugar, and bourbon together in a baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 1 hour.
Reviews
I make this every year. I use brown sugar instead of white. I cut up an entire Granny Smith apple and add it. I increase the bourbon to 3/4 of a cup. My family, who would only eat the jellied cranberry from a can, now only eat mine!
I used JB Tennessee Honey for the bourbon and kept everything the same. The flavor is fantastic, but there is a LOT of liquid. I left it in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes, since the directions say ‘until thickened’ – but it really did not thicken until it had chilled. Like I said, the flavor is great, but there’s too much liquid and it is now like a very thick, sticky syrup. It’s far too sweet to use as a dinner accompaniment, but I think it would be amazing as a dessert topping!
My family loves it. However I add orange zest and a little orange juice to taste. This has been a hit for 10 years at least. Also easy to make ahead of time.
I can’t help but wonder if I did something wrong because I followed the recipe exactly and I baked it, but it did not come out well at all. It came out with the texture of almost still being semi raw as opposed to a little chunky and soft. Are you supposed to pre-cook the cranberries on the stove and THEN bake the cranberry sauce ? I did manage to salvage it by cooking some regular cranberry sauce on the stove and then mixing it with the other and then it was pretty good. Can anybody advise me if they had any problems as well ?
My new go to cranberry recipe. Delish! I used 1/2 cup brown and about 1.5 C of white sugar. I also added a bit of cinnamon. Yummy
I added toasted pecans & orange marmalade. It was a hit!
A real family hit!
I used a bit less sugar, and a touch of cinnamon…. but it was a HIT!!! I have made the basic Ocean Spray recipe in the past, and though good… always had a lot left over.This year, folks “gobbled”this up and there was barely enough left for the leftovers. I am making it again for Christmas dinner, by request. Thank you for sharing your mother’s recipe!
My son is a distiller and I wanted to use his whiskey in a recipe for Thanksgiving. This was very easy and so tasty. I think it will become a regular at our Thanksgiving table.
This is a primo recipe. BUT it’s waaay too sweet. And with blood sugar issues in our house I’ve altered it. I made it as shown for a couple of years and then decided to “fix” it. I use 1 Cup of white granulated sugar and it’s wonderful! Oh, due to an over abundance, I use Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel in it. It’s soo good on turkey and beef! I make to gift too and am always referring people to Allrecipes for the recipe with the caveat to reduce the sugar!
It’s almost Thanksgiving and I am so tired of the canned cranberry sauces, so I thought I’d give it a try a few days ahead of time. I used only one cup of white sugar, maybe a third of a cup brown sugar, a quarter cup bourbon plus a splash more. I cooked it in the oven in a cast iron pot. Stirred every 15 minutes and at about an hour took it out to check. I love it! It’s a definite keeper!
Tried this recipe last year for a nicer version of cranberries versus opening a can.. Everyone loved it. I am back again to make sure I had the recipe correct. This is the new go-to for cranberries !!
Bourbon & cranberry converted my mother. My mother swears by and only eats canned cranberry. I used a variation of this recipe and now she makes my version every year. Actually the whole family has stolen it… I used 1 package of fresh cranberry, 1-1/4C of sugar and 1/4C (or more) of bourbon. Since it is usually Thanksgiving, I sprinkle some nutmeg and cinnamon in too. Super easy to make, the house smells great and even the kids loved it.
It was way too sweet for us (family). But, I loved the flavor, and the ease! So, I am going to try it with less white sugar and some of suggestions from the other reviews. Will let you know the changes I make and the results.
Love this recipe. It is SO easy and delish! Like the author suggests, it definitely tastes better if it “ages” for a week or two, but don’t expect to have much left at that point. I used 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup dark brown (adds a little richness to the color). It is great on toast, turkey sandwiches, etc. Warning – your whole house will smell like bourbon while this cooks!
I used half the sugar, some brown sugar (combine less than 2 c, and washed pecans. Very popular!
Good flavor, but too runny for me.
Delish!
This has always been one of my favorites. Sometimes I cut the sugar to 3 cups for a slightly tarter flavor. Also works with brandy if you’re out of bourbon.