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Cranberry Sauce with Caramelized Onions is the best of both worlds — a lightly sweet, deeply savory, full-bodied sauce that complements turkey or any roasted meat. It’s easy, with only 5 ingredients.
The arrival of the first bags of fresh cranberries into grocery stores is cause for a celebration at my house. We can’t get enough of all things cranberry, including…
- Spiced cranberry sauce
- Fresh cranberry-ginger relish (uncooked and zippy!)
- Cranberry Rosemary Pine Nut Shortbread Cookies (omg you must try these!)
- A cranberry mimosa that uses leftover cranberry sauce!
Today I have a new cranberry sauce recipe for you. It is a deeply flavored sweet-sour-savory cranberry sauce, rich with caramelized red onions, tangy with balsamic vinegar, and just sweet enough with brown sugar. You’re going to put it on everything, I promise.
How to make Cranberry Sauce with Caramelized Onions
As always, first gather your ingredients. That way you know you have everything you need.
Cut the onions. It’s going to look like a ton of onions. Don’t worry, it is exactly the right amount.
Add the onions to a nonstick skillet. I just bought this light-colored skillet…how fun is that? This way I can easily see the color of things in the pan.
They’re about halfway done.
Onions are ready, after 15-20 minutes of cooking in the skillet.
Add the other ingredients to the skillet and stir to combine.
Simmer for another 15 minutes until everything pops and bubbles nicely.
The sauce will thicken up a bit as it cooks and then cools.
Spoon some into a serving bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours, until chilled.
Or store it in a jar in the refrigerator if you make it ahead of time. Yes, I did spell it “caramelizd” on the label because I ran out of room!
What to use Cranberry Sauce with Caramelized Onions on
–Roast turkey, chicken, duck, pork, or beef.
–Appetizer toasts with brie and a dollop of this sauce on top!
–Dolloped on a pizza crust, along with leftover steak pieces, a finely diced cooked potato, mozzarella cheese and arugula on top. Bake it at 475F for 13 minutes and voila! It’s a sort of impromptu steak and potatoes pizza (or use up what’s in the fridge pizza)!
Let’s go! There’s no time like the present to make Cranberry Sauce with Caramelized Onions!
Cranberry Sauce with Caramelized Onions is the best of both worlds -- a lightly sweet, deeply savory, full-bodied sauce that complements turkey or any roasted meat. It's easy, with only 5 ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
- 2 medium red onions (about 1 pound total, more or less)
- 2 tablespoons butter (or use olive oil)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
Directions
- Put cranberries in a colander, run water over them to wash, and allow to drain dry. Pick through them and discard any obviously rotten or mushy ones.
- Peel paper skin off onions, and cut each onion into 4 wedges. Then thinly slice the onions crosswise. It will look like a lot of onions; don't worry, it is exactly enough.
- In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter (or olive oil) over medium heat. Add onion and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are dark brown and tender. Your kitchen will smell wonderful! If onions begin to burn, turn the heat down a snitch.
- When onions are done, turn heat to medium-high, add cranberries, sugar, vinegar, salt and 1 cup water. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, 12-15 minutes, or until nearly all the cranberries pop and the mixture thickens a bit. Stir occasionally during this process.
- Remove skillet from the heat and spoon sauce into a serving bowl if you are using it that day, or spoon it into a jar to refrigerate if you are serving it another day. Refrigerate until chilled, 3-4 hours.
- You can make this up to a week ahead and store it covered, in the refrigerator.
- Makes about 2 1/2 cups. Serves 6-10, depending on how much cranberry sauce you like with your meal. We like plenty, so for us, this serves 6.
Notes
Recipe source: My mother, Helen Reinhold, gave me this recipe. I believe she got it from Good Housekeeping many years ago.
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Other Shockingly Delicious cranberry sauces for you to try
Best Ever Cranberry Sauce (my most-requested)
Fresh Cranberry-Ginger Relish (a finalist in the Sunset Magazine Thanksgiving contest in 2005!)
Hatch Chile Cranberry Sauce (just a little zip, not too hot)
Vanilla-Orange Cranberry Sauce (Dreamsicle, anyone?)
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This post was originally published Nov. 15, 2020. It has been refreshed and republished today.
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Welcome to my kitchen!
At ShockD, you’ll find scrumptious, tried & true, "scary good" recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook! Don't blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself away!
E-mail me: Dorothy.Reinhold@gmail.com
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
So much flavor in the bowl! And love the red color. So gorgeous.
I have to make this! I love the way you changed up cranberry sacue!
What a great idea of adding caramelized onions! I can’t wait to make this on Thursday! My family loves onions and cranberries so this will be a winner here.
I loved this!! So easy to make and so good!
This cranberry sauce looks absolutely amazing!
I love everything you have in this! I cannot wait to make it!
This cranberry sauce sounds so delicious, I love the addition of onions and it makes a perfect combination. Thank you for this! I can’t wait to make this next week.
This is perfect for Thanksgiving! I can’t wait to make this! My family is going to love this!
I love making different kinds of cranberry sauces and this one looks super good with all those onions and the mix of flavors.
I love your pizza topping idea! It’ll be a great twist on our Friday Pizza night. Love the sweet with the savory.
One of my favorites. Absolutely delicious. Using it on a pizza is fun and can’t wait to try that.