Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe with Canning Instructions

For me, one of the biggest joys of any season is canning with my mom.

From the time that I was 15 my mom and I have always canned together. It’s always such an enjoyable experience that I look forward to as each crop comes into the height of it’s season. Potatoes, apples, green beans, peaches, strawberries…

Recently she joined me for a full day of canning cranberries.

We canned 22 pints over the course of about 5 hours (though there were many breaks in there to rest our backs and enjoy a glass of tea) and now we are all set for holiday meals.

It’s been a staple at every holiday meal for the last 6-7 years. One taste and you will be absolutely hooked!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe with Port Wine and Cinnamon Sticks

This cranberry sauce recipe features port wine and whole cinnamon sticks in every jar. It’s very fast to make, and the canning is quick as well!

First, make sure you have everything. Even with 7 years of making this recipe under our belts, we still forgot that we needed red wine vinegar. (You really do need it as it makes the PH level of this recipe appropriate for canning).

Next, combine the sugar, water, and red wine vinegar in a large pot.

Set the pot to high heat, stirring the sugar to avoid burning while it dissolves. Once the sugar is at a rolling boil, add the cranberries.

Turn the heat to medium and set a timer for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Note: The berries pop as the cook and you may get splattered a bit. Splatter is hot. So you may not want to let the kids help with this step.

If the timer goes off and your sauce doesn’t look like the next picture, wait until it does!

It should have this nice thick pink foam bubbling up all around the berries. If you skip this important step, your sauce will not set up! Ask me how I know ;-)

Next, you’ll prepare the jars as outlined in my Water Bath Canning Guide.

Once those are ready, ladle the sauce into the clean jars and process as outlined when we canned strawberry jam.

Once they are done processing, step back and enjoy your hard work! I tried to get a picture of all 22, but nothing seemed to look as nice I wanted! So here is just a taste…

Now put these aside and enjoy them at your leisure!

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Cranberry Sauce with Port Wine and Cinnamon Sticks

The perfect homemade cranberry sauce recipe to compliment any holiday meal! Make it fresh, or can it for a quick side dish any time!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Cranberry Sauce Recipe, Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 2 Cups

Ingredients

Small Batch (2 cups):

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 2.5 Cups Cranberries washed and sorted
• 1/2 Cup Port Wine
• 2 Cinnamon Sticks

Canning Batch (4-6 pints, 8-12 Cups):

• 4 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cup Water
• 4 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 10 Cups Cranberries washed and sorted
• 2 Cups Port Wine
• 8 Cinnamon Sticks
• 4-6 Pint Canning Jars
• 4-6 Lid and Ring Sets

Instructions

1. Combine water, sugar, and vinegar in large pot.
2. Heat on high, stirring the whole time.
3. Once sugar is at a rolling boil, add cranberries.
4. Reduce heat to medium, return to boil, boil for 5 minutes.

5. Remove from heat, add port. Stir well.

To Can:

1. Add two cinnamon sticks to the bottom of each jar.
2. Follow water bath canning instructions to prepare jars and process sauce for 15 minutes in a water bath canner. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.

Recipe Notes

If you are not canning, add the cinnamon sticks to the bottom of the container in which you will be storing or serving the cranberry sauce.

This is one of my favorite ways to save time on big holiday days, what’s yours? Tell me all about it!

More Canning Posts You May Enjoy:

Dill Pickle Recipe for Canning

How to Can Peaches in Syrup

How to Pressure Can Potatoes

Roasted Tomato Sauce for Canning