Wine Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel
A festive cranberry sauce made with red Zinfandel, warm spices, and fresh citrus. The perfect sweet-savory side for holiday meals or cheese boards.
Equipment
- - Medium saucepan
- - Fine mesh strainer
- - Spoon or whisk
- - Airtight container for storage
Ingredients
- - 12 oz fresh cranberries
- - 1¾ cups red Zinfandel
- - 1 cup granulated sugar
- - 1 cup brown sugar
- - 6 whole cloves
- - 2 cinnamon sticks
- - ¼ tsp ground allspice
- - Peel from ½ an orange
Instructions
- Combine wine, sugars, spices, and orange peel in a saucepan.
- Heat gently until sugars dissolve.
- Simmer 15 minutes over low heat until slightly reduced.
- Strain through mesh sieve and discard solids.
- Add cranberries to strained wine base.
- Simmer 10 minutes until berries pop and thicken.
- Cool to room temp, then refrigerate for 2+ hours (or overnight).
- Stir before serving.
Notes
- Use frozen cranberries if fresh aren’t available—no need to thaw.
- Maple syrup or honey can replace sugar (reduce wine slightly).
- Keeps well for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months frozen.
- Maple syrup or honey can replace sugar (reduce wine slightly).
- Keeps well for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months frozen.