Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
47 Comments Nov 08, 2023
Updated May 27, 2025
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You won’t believe how hands off this easy slow cooker cranberry sauce recipe is! Set the slow cooker and walk away. Made with fresh cranberries, orange marmalade and brown sugar. We make this the night before a special holiday.
Homemade cranberry sauce is a must along with slow cooker turkey breast and Crockpot ham. You can make the entire holiday dinner in slow cookers if you have a few.
If you grew up eating cranberry sauce from the can, you have no idea how delicious homemade cranberry sauce is. Using the slow cooker, this is a simple recipe that will take your holiday dinner to a whole new level. Once you make this recipe, you will never buy the canned stuff again! The whole berry cranberry sauce goes great over crockpot turkey and gravy.
Key Ingredients
Here are the fresh ingredients you will need. Find the full recipe in the card below the images.
Fresh cranberries– Find the cranberries in the produce section; they usually show up in stores in late October. You can use frozen cranberries with the same cooking time, for they quickly thaw. We also use fresh cranberries in my Christmas Jam Recipe and Cranberry Apple Butter.
Orange marmalade– Orange is the perfect complement to cranberry sauce, and the orange marmalade adds sweetness and flavor. The flecks of orange peel in the marmalade are what make this pop. Orange juice or apple juice is not a good alternative for it will make the sauce too runny.
Brown sugar– This gives a richness to the sweetness of cranberry sauce; use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. You can use white sugar in a pinch if you are out of brown sugar.
How to Make Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
This recipe is a hands off recipe thanks to the slow cooker. Here is how you do it:
Step One – Add the fresh cranberries to the crockpot and pour over the orange marmalade.
Step Two – Stir until the cranberries are coated with the marmalade. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
Step Three – After the cooking time is up, add the brown sugar.
Step Four – Stir and pop any un-popped cranberries with the back of a spoon. Stir until a thick and beautiful sauce forms.
How to use Cranberry Sauce:
Use on classic recipes such as crockpot spiral ham, or slow cooker whole chicken. You can also use this as a topping for my Thanksgiving Casserole or Crockpot Pumpkin Pie. Don’t forget the crockpot green bean casserole to round out the meal.
You can use the cranberry sauce in recipes such as Cranberry Chicken, Cranberry Meatballs, or our favorite Cranberry Pork Loin.
Other options are to use on a cold turkey sandwich, or top your toast or pancakes with it! Try my bourbon cranberry sauce for a fun twist on this recipe!
Cook’s Notes
If the cranberry sauce isn’t thick enough for some reason, you can take the lid off the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time and let some of the liquid evaporate. It won’t take much time at all.
Add a cinnamon stick and a pinch of cloves for a more Christmassy flavor.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
How to Video
Ingredients
- 24 oz. fresh cranberries, (two 12 oz. bags)
- 13 oz. orange marmalade, (I use Bonne Maman)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar , (add at the end of the cooking time)
Instructions
- NOTE – This is best served cold, make the day before or early in the day and refrigerate for a few hours.
- Add the cranberries and orange marmalade to the slow cooker, stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours. After the cooking time is up, stir and pop any un-popped cranberries with the back of a spoon. Add the sugar and stir.
Stove-top instructions
- Add the ingredients to a pot. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring often for 15 minutes.
- Once the cranberries start to cook and pop, turn down the heat to low and continue cooking for about 10 minutes until a thick sauce forms.
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Other great holiday slow cooker recipes:
Slow Cooker Turkey Breast pairs perfectly with cozy sides like Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Slow Cooker Butternut Squash for a complete fall or holiday meal.
Add a touch of sweetness with Slow Cooker Candied Pecans, or serve a comforting bowl of Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup alongside your favorite main.
If you’re cooking for a crowd, Slow Cooker Apple and Clove Ham makes a flavorful centerpiece that’s both easy and festive.
I didn’t read correctly and just put all ingredients into my Crock pot and turned it on. Hope it doesn’t ruin it by adding the sugar right away!!
It will be fine!
I made this last night for Thanksgiving dinner and was unable to find orange marmalade. So I made it from scratch and used ut for the recipe, canning the leftover marmalade for next time. It is very thick and has a beautiful color and texture and the taste is so much better than the canned variety! Very quick and easy. Popping the berries was the most time consuming part and I made it in my instant pot on the slow cooker setting. Thank you for sharing! This will be our go-to sauce for the holidays.
FAN-TAS-TIC!!
Tastes amazing. Doubled the recipe and had to use the stove as my crock pot was too small. Added in 1/4 cup extra brown sugar, some lemon, and some orange juice and it’s amazing. Even had a cranberry sauce hater try it and she actually liked it.
Excellent!!! Could you use s/f marmalade? I also added walnuts. I will not eat another canned sauce again. This was so easy and great to give a gift.
You can as long as your used to the flavor of sugar free flavor.
Wondering if I could spice it up? So easy and tastes great without, but just for a little something extra?
You could add cloves, or jalapeños or even a 1/4?9f bourbon.
Mine came out a little bitter but i squeezed some lemon in there and it was perfect!
Could you add walnuts to this?
Yes, walnuts will be great!
I’m allergic to oranges, any substitution ideas for the orange marmalade?
You can do Rasperry jam, I think that would be great!
Can you use frozen cranberries ? Tks
Yes, that will work fine!