First of all, yes, most cranberry sauce is vegan. Even the canned kind is usually vegan. BUT there’s a reason I wanted to share this recipe with you. You see, this is the best easy vegan cranberry sauce out there. Not only is it super simple to make- just 4 ingredients and takes just 15 minutes to whip up, but it is also the perfect combo of sweet and tart, with a final touch of lemon zest for the perfect zing.
This easy cranberry sauce tastes SO much better than that canned stuff (isn’t homemade always better)?
Better yet, this vegan cranberry sauce is best made ahead of time and will keep for up to a week (or even a little longer) when stored in an air-tight container in the fridge. Talk about a perfect stress-free addition to your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday feast!
I’ve actually shared this recipe before in my post of 8 Traditional Thanksgiving & Christmas Sides Made Vegan, but since that post is super old and multiple recipes were combined into the same post, the recipe was a little difficult to track down on my blog. I love this recipe and make it every year, so I wanted to bring it to your attention again.
I also plan to do the same for many of the other recipes in that post. Which ones would you like me to refresh?
How to make the best easy vegan cranberry sauce:
Add the cranberries, sugar, water, and lemon zest to a medium saucepan.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and it looks all saucy and delicious. It will be thin when the sauce is hot, but will thicken up as it cools.
This cranberry sauce goes with other vegan holiday favourites such as my puff pastry wrapped lentil loaf, stuffed butternut squash, vegan creamed corn, cheesy scalloped potatoes, stovetop stuffing, or my lentil shepherd’s pie (to name a few).
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Just 4 ingredients and 15 minutes to make. It's best made ahead of time making this the perfect stress-free addition to your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday feast.
- 12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 lemon, zested
- Add all of the ingredients to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and it looks all saucy and delicious. It will be thin, but will thicken as it cools.
Vegan cranberry sauce is perfect made ahead of time and can be stored in an air-tight contianer in the fridge for up to one week, or can be frozen for later.
Nutrition
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Hi Sam! I am a vegan teen, and I cannot express to you how much I love you and your blog. Your recipes and enthusiastic personality bring me joy and I love to try your recipes out in the kitchen. I made this cranberry sauce as a part of my family’s vegan Thanksgiving feast this year, and it was a crowd favorite! I would 100% make it again. I wrote about our feast here on my blog: Thank you so much for all of your amazing recipes, and for inspiring me to be the very best chef that I can be! ❤️
Aww thrilled you enjoyed it so much!!
Happy Thanksgiving, Sam!
And thanks for rolling out all of these traditional side dish recipes. Whenever folks say to me “you’re vegan and don’t eat turkey, what do you eat at Thanksgiving?” My response is “everything else!” Yay, for veggies, and homemade vegan stovetop stuffing (om, nom nom). 🙂
Thank you, Karen!! And you’re most welcome! So happy my recipes are helping people make delicious feasts 🙂
I do this but add a diced tart apple and some corset chopped walnuts.
Oooh sounds lovely 🙂
Thank you for having a cranberry relish recipe without orange! This is so tasty and took me no time to make! Absolutely delicious!
Thrilled you enjoyed it!
Love your blog, but the title of this recipe confuses me. Why not just call this Cranberry Sauce? Vegan Cranberry Sauce definitely implies that other cranberry sauces are not. I’ve never even had one that’s not vegan.
Hi Michelle, yes you’re correct most cranberry sauce is vegan (hence the opening line of this post). I call my recipe “vegan cranberry sauce” because I noticed that ut was a search term people were looking for and I wanted to make sure anyone looking to prepare a vegan-friendly holiday feast would have some great recipes to work with 🙂
Whenever i am looking up recipes online i always type the word vegan in front of it! Even if it is normally vegan i still type it in anyways. I love this recipe by the way! I could never bring myself to eat that red blob from the can lol
Haha! Glad you enjoy, Shannon 🙂