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Cranberry canning recipes are the best way to make the most of the short winter cranberry season. From cranberry sauce and jelly to chutney, salsa, and mustard, there are so many creative ways to stock your pantry shelf for the year.
Cranberries only show up for a little while here in late fall, usually in November and December, so I try to make the most of them while they are in season. I love that you can turn them into so many different pantry staples, from whole berries and cranberry juice to jelly, sauce, and pie filling.
I am always looking for unique cranberry canning recipes because these tart berries work so well in both sweet and savory preserves. Cranberries bring natural pectin and bright flavor to mixed-fruit recipes, which makes them perfect for pairing with apples, pears, grapes, and oranges. They also work surprisingly well in savory canning recipes like cranberry chutney, cranberry salsa, and cranberry mustard.
Freezing cranberries is an option, but I prefer canning cranberries whenever I can. Freezer space is always tight on our homestead with garden produce, beef, and pork all competing for room, and winter power outages are common here in Vermont. Canning lets me store cranberries safely on the pantry shelf, and it helps preserve more of their natural pectin too, which makes a big difference in preserves like jam and jelly.
(These are all water bath canning recipes, so you won’t need a pressure canner. If you’re not familiar with water bath canning, I’d recommend reading my beginner’s guide to water bath canning before getting started.)
Canning Whole Cranberries
The simplest way to can cranberries is to put them up as whole fruits. Most berries can be canned in water, fruit juice or syrup, and cranberries are no exception.
They’ll sit on our pantry shelf right beside my home canned peaches, and they work just as well in homemade muffins.
I love using our home-canned whole cranberries in my mom’s cranberry orange bread recipe, and they work just as well as fresh or frozen fruit.
Cranberry Juice
Cranberry juice is another good pantry staple, especially if you like having unsweetened or lightly sweetened options on hand. It can be canned for shelf storage and used for drinking, mixing, or turning into jelly later.
This is also a nice way to preserve cranberries without making everything into spreads. A few jars of juice can go a long way in winter.
Cranberry Sauce
Probably the most popular cranberry canning recipe, homemade cranberry sauce is absolutely spectacular on your holiday table.
It’s best at room temperature, so making cranberry sauce ahead and canning it saves a lot of time when you’re trying to get the big meal on the table.
It’s easy to make at home, either as whole berry or jellied cranberry sauce, or mix in other fruits to suit your taste.
(Be aware though, that if you’re using frozen cranberries you’ll need to make whole berry, as they don’t set quite right in the jellied version.)
Cranberry Jam
If you want to get technical, whole berry cranberry sauce is, in fact, cranberry jam. Just because you eat it on turkey, instead of on toast, doesn’t mean it’s not strictly speaking a jam.
That said, regular cranberry sauce just isn’t all that good on toast. These cranberry jams, however, are spectacular.
They mix in other fruits, spices and flavors that balance out the tart cranberries. While they’re still full of cranberry flavor, they’re nothing like the cranberry sauce you slather on your thanksgiving bird.
- Christmas Jam with cranberries, strawberries, orange, and warm spices.
- Cran-Raspberry Jam
- Cranberry Apple Jam
- Cranberry Pear Jam
- Cranberry Orange Pear Jam
- Cranberry Grape Jam
Cranberry Jelly
Cranberry jelly is a classic because the fruit gives you strong flavor and a reliable gel. You can make a clear cranberry jelly from juice, or go with a more traditional jellied cranberry sauce if you want that holiday texture.
A bit like jam, but with out the seeds and skins. Cranberry jelly comes together without added pectin and gives you all the cranberry flavor without the pesky tiny seeds.
If you like smooth spreads, this is one of the best cranberry canning options. It is great on toast, but it also works as a glaze for meat or stirred into sauces.
Cranberry Marmalade
Cranberries are a natural fit for marmalade because they pair so well with citrus. The tartness of the berries balances the sweetness, and the citrus peel adds that classic marmalade texture and flavor.
If you like preserves with a little more bite and a brighter flavor than standard jam, cranberry marmalade is a great choice. It is especially nice on toast, biscuits, and scones, and it also makes a really good glaze for roasted meats.
Cranberry Conserves
Cranberry conserves are an old fashioned type of preserve that usually includes another fruit, and sometimes raisins or nuts, which gives them a richer texture and a more old time feel than a simple jam.
I really like conserves for holiday boards and breakfasts because they feel a little special without being difficult to make. They are excellent spooned over toast, pancakes, or yogurt, and they also pair well with cheeses and roast meats.
Cranberry Pie Filling
Cranberry pie filling is a smaller category than jams or sauces, but there are a few good options, especially mixed-fruit versions. Cranberries bring tartness and structure, so they pair really well with apples and pears in pie fillings and holiday baking jars.
You may not find many plain cranberry pie filling recipes, but mixed-fruit versions are often even more useful. They are great for pies, crisps, turnovers, and spooning over ice cream.
Cranberry Salsa
Cranberry salsa is a really unique sweet heat recipe that gives you something savory and a little unexpected for the pantry shelf. It still has that bright tart cranberry flavor, but with peppers, onions, and spices it turns into a condiment that works way beyond the holiday table.
I like to keep a few jars on hand for easy appetizers and quick meals. It is great spooned over cream cheese with crackers, but it also works really well with roasted pork, turkey leftovers, grilled chicken, or tucked into wraps and sandwiches.
Cranberry Ketchup
Cranberry ketchup is a fun old-fashioned preserve that gives you a savory, tangy condiment with a lot of personality. It is usually made with cranberries, vinegar, sugar, and warm spices, so it lands somewhere between a fruit ketchup and a chutney, with a sweet-tart flavor that works really well with roasted meats.
It is especially good with turkey, pork, meatloaf, and sausages, and it makes a really nice spread for sandwiches when you want something a little different from regular ketchup or mustard.
This is also a great way to use cranberries in a preserve that feels practical all winter long, not just during the holidays. If you are building a pantry with a mix of sweet and savory cranberry recipes, cranberry ketchup is a really nice one to include.
Cranberry Fruit Butter & Sauce
When you think of fruit butter, most people go right to traditional apple butter, but you can make fruit butter out of any type of fruit.
The View from Great Island, one of my favorite food blogs, has dozens of fruit butter recipes…including three different cranberry butter versions.
They’re all amazing…
- Cranberry Applesauce
- Crabapple Jucie Cranberry Butter
- Crock Pot Cranberry Butter
- Cranberry Apple Butter
- Maple Cranberry Butter
Pickled Cranberries
While most people opt for sweet/tart cranberry sauce, why not play up the tart a bit more?
Pickled cranberries are still plenty sweet, but they have a zing from the natural tartness of cranberries combined with apple cider vinegar.
Spiced with warm spices like cinnamon, ginger and star anise, they’re perfect as a dressing on your holiday table or adding intrigue to a charcuterie plate.
They also make a great topping on holiday leftover sandwiches!
Cranberry Chutney
Cranberry chutney is a great savory-sweet option, and there are some very good tested recipes out there.
These recipes are honesty a lot like pickled cranberries, but everything is diced fine. The spicing can vary, but it’s most often warm fall spices. You’ll usually find onions in there, as with most chutney, but they’re also often apples, raisins, orange and other fruits to round out the flavor.
This is where you want to look if you want something for roasted meats, sandwiches, cheese plates, or a unique holiday gift.
- Cranberry Chutney with orange and ginger
- Cranberry Chutney with pineapple, ginger, cinnamon and cayenne
Cranberry Mustard
Cranberry mustard is one of those pantry recipes that sounds a little unusual at first, but it is incredibly useful once you try it. The cranberries add tartness and a little sweetness, while the mustard gives it a bold, savory kick that works really well with holiday meals and everyday sandwiches.
I like this one because it feels a bit more special than a standard cranberry sauce, but it is still easy to use. It is excellent with ham, turkey, pork, and sausages, and it also makes a great addition to cheese boards or leftover sandwiches the day after a big meal.
Winter Fruit Canning Recipes
Looking for more fun winter canning recipes to keep your canner running all year long?
It all sounds delicious and the start of a great plan! Thank you!
You’re quite welcome!
Hi Ashley!
I have been a follower for some time.. i found you on Pinterest years ago and subscribed to your emails.
I appreciate all the wisdom and recipes you share with us =)
They have been very helpful and inspiring.
I wanted to ask a question… The pics on this page have a “P Save” button, when scrolled over them… if clicked on, it will open the Pinterest page where i can pin your blogpost to any of my boards, which i do, for future reference.
Unfortunately, Pinterest has decided that me Pinning this page, in particular the last picture that is obviously edited for Pinterest (the one that reads 12+ Cranberry Canning Recipes) is infringing on your copyright.
Is this true? Do you not want us to pin your blogposts under our personal Pinterest boards for future reference? If so, it would be helpful if the “P Save” buttons were not on the Pictures, bc the messaging is confusing.
If this is incorrect and you have no problem with us pinning your blogposts for future reference, then please let Pinterest know… bc they are deactivating pins alleging “plausible claim of infringement”, but it seems ridiculous that we now can’t use Pinterest for what it was created and intended for in the first place: A visual bookmark of things we like that we find online, or repining things we find within Pinterest.
I’m just wondering if you are ok with them deactivating the pins that contain links to your blog. If so, you can ignore this message. If not, i think Pinterest is doing you a disservice.
I placed a complaint trying to reverse this by explaining your webpage has a P Save button on the particular picture linking to pin it on pinterest, but they are stubborn, and probably they don’t know or understand how to interpret these copyright claims.
Let me know if you need more info, in case you wish to communicate with Pinterst about the matter… if not, don’t worry, just ignore me… i know you have a busy life!
Thank you for reading.
Hi Erika!
Yes, pinterest is REALLY frustrating for creators right now. I do, of course, always want people to pin my stuff and save it to their boards. Always!
At the moment, pinterest is plagued by AI content and spam, which is really frustrating users, and they’re doing a “cleanup” where they try to delete that content, but in the process they are scraping up lots of real content. (Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as they say.). THey’re also sending out messages making it sound like it’s the creators (ie. me) not wanting you to pin posts, which isn’t the case.
It’s more complicated than I can reasonably go into, but yes, I am frustrated with them, and I am trying to work through their systems to ensure that you can still pin my content without issue…but it’s a work in progress. It’s not just me, it’s a lot of creators right now, and plenty of bloggers have just given up on them and removed their “pin it” buttons altogether in protest.
In the meantime, please do continue pinning things. If they take down a pin, you can re-pin it, that’s fine. I’m sorry you have to go through it, it’s frustrating, but they’re making strange decisions with their platform right now and no one’s happy with it.
Thank you for being patient with a system that’s clearly a kerfuffel right now. And, I’m so happy you’re enjoying my posts!
-Ashley
I just made the cranberry mustard recipe yesterday. I brushed it on some pork chops and baked them and it was heavenly!! Highly recommend trying out this recipe!!!
Lovely!
In the Cranberry Maple butter recipe, you say ‘one can of Maple Syrup’, what the heck is that in real measurements? Tomato paste can, tuna can, soup can? Help.
The cranberry maple butter recipe isn’t on my site, it’s a friend of mine’s at The View from Great Island. I just followed the link and it looks like she’s corrected it, and now it says “1 cup maple syrup”. Here’s the link to her corrected recipe: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/maple-cranberry-butter-recipe/
Have you tried making lingon berry juice to can like you do the cranberries (pouring boiling water over them in the jar with sugar and letting them sit)?
I haven’t, but I bet it’d be delicious!
this comment is a few years old, however, yes linong berries in a jam or juice or chutney are fantastic.
Thank you for this list! I have 20 pounds of cranberries to work thru. I’ve already made 8 quarts of juice (with 10lbs) and will likely make a few more quarts of juice with the berries left, but the maple-cranberry butter looks really nice to add to the mix.
Have you ever made cranberry pepper jam? I canned peach jalapeños jam this summer, and it was spectacular! I was gifted 10 lbs of fresh Wisconsin cranberries, and I’d love to make cranberry pepper jam. I’m looking for a recipe.
Thanks!
Oh wow, that sounds really amazing. I haven’t made a cranberry pepper jam, but I imagine it might be quite a bit like this recipe for cranberry salsa? https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_salsa/spicy_cranberry_salsa.html
The cranberries gel when cooked, so it comes out like a jam in texture even though it’s called salsa.
Since I prefer honey to sugar, did you ever try making syrup with honey? Normally I substitute 1 part of white sugar with 3/4 of honey when making e.g. jam. What I am aiming at is your extra medium syrup for my canned cranberries. Do you think this would turn out nice? Thank you very much,
Sabine
That should work out perfectly for canned cranberries. About 3/4 cup of maple in place of sugar is just what you want to do. Enjoy!