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Cranberry syrup puts the tart flavor of fresh cranberries on the pantry shelf all year. It’s a sweet-tart syrup that pours over pancakes or cheesecake and stirs into seltzer or a holiday cocktail. A few jars keep cranberry season going long after the fresh berries leave the store.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Ingredients for Cranberry Syrup
- How to Make Cranberry Syrup
- Canning Cranberry Syrup
- Altitude Adjustments
- Storage and Shelf Life
- Ways to Use Cranberry Syrup
- Yield Notes
- Cranberry Syrup FAQs
- Cranberry Canning Recipes
- Cranberry Syrup Recipe
- Fruit Syrup Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Raw cranberries are too tart for most people to eat out of hand, and that’s what makes them so good in a syrup. Sugar softens the sharp edge without hiding it. The finished syrup still tastes like cranberries, not candy.
It’s a different thing from the cranberry cocktail at the grocery store, which has just enough cranberry in it to make it red. This is real juice, strained from whole berries the same way I make cranberry jelly and canned cranberry juice.
I use the cranberry juice method from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving as the base. Then I sweeten the juice cup for cup with sugar, so it pours like a syrup instead of setting like a jelly.
Cranberries only show up in stores for a few weeks in the fall, but frozen berries work just as well here. A bag pulled from the freezer in March makes syrup every bit as good as fresh berries bought in November.
If you have more cranberries to put up, the full list of cranberry canning recipes goes from cranberry apple jam to a really unique cranberry salsa. There’s also a whole berry cranberry sauce for the holiday table.
Notes from My Kitchen
I tend to buy cranberries whenever they go on sale, usually right after the holidays when stores are clearing them out. Canning them as syrup means I can stock up without filling the freezer, and a shelf of half pints takes up a lot less room than bags of berries crowding out everything else.
We grow our own cranberries too, and I can a lot of them as plain, unsweetened juice. I don’t drink it by the glass, just a dash at a time in plain seltzer. This syrup goes into seltzer the same way, only with the sweetening already done.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Cranberry Syrup
- Recipe Type: Fruit Syrup
- Canning Method: Water Bath Canning
- Prep Time: About 20 minutes active, plus at least 2 hours straining time
- Cook Time: About 20 minutes
- Canning Time: 15 minutes for pints or half pints
- Yield: About 3 pints or 6 half pints
- Jar Sizes: Pints or half pints
- Headspace: 1/4 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Cranberries, water, and sugar, with the juice and sugar in a 1:1 ratio
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (Cranberry Juice method)
- Difficulty: Easy. The straining takes time but requires no attention.
- Similar Recipes: Making cranberry syrup starts the same way as other fruit syrups, like Blackberry Syrup, Raspberry Syrup, or Rhubarb Syrup. If you have more cranberries to put up, try other cranberry canning recipes like cranberry jelly or cranberry orange sauce.
Ingredients for Cranberry Syrup
Cranberry syrup takes just three ingredients, and one of them is water.
The real choices are fresh or frozen berries and how sweet you want it. Cranberries bring plenty of acid on their own, so neither choice changes whether it’s safe to can.
- Cranberries: Fresh or frozen both work. Look for firm, deep red berries and pick out any that are soft or shriveled. Frozen berries go into the pot without thawing, and I’d actually suggest freezing fresh ones for a week first. Freezing cuts the pectin roughly in half, so the sweetened juice is less likely to thicken toward jelly.
- Water: A measure of water roughly equal to the berries gets the extraction going and keeps the fruit from scorching before it pops. It all ends up in the juice, so don’t add extra.
- Granulated Sugar: Plain white sugar, matched cup for cup to the strained juice. That 1:1 ratio gives the syrup its body. The sugar is for flavor and texture, not preservation, so you can use less for a thinner, more tart syrup without changing whether it’s safe to can.
No lemon juice goes into this one. Cranberries are acidic enough to water bath can on their own, and lemon would only make a tart syrup sharper.
How to Make Cranberry Syrup
The process is just as important as the ingredients in this recipe, mostly because of one rule. Once the sugar goes in, the juice never boils.
It breaks down into four short steps: extract the juice, strain it, sweeten it, and fill the jars. Most of the time is hands-off while the juice drips. You can also let it drip overnight in the refrigerator and finish the syrup the next day.
Extract the Juice
Rinse the cranberries and pick through them. Combine them with the water in a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, using roughly equal measures of berries and water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries pop and burst, about 10 minutes.
You’ll hear them popping as they cook, and the liquid turns a deep red. Once most of the berries have split open, give them a light pass with a potato masher to free the last of the juice. Then take the pot off the heat.
Strain the Juice
Set a dampened jelly bag over a deep bowl, or line a colander with several layers of dampened cheesecloth. Pour in the cooked cranberries and let the juice drip through undisturbed for at least 2 hours. Don’t squeeze the bag if you want a clear syrup, though a slightly cloudy one tastes every bit as good.
Measure what you have, since that number sets how much sugar goes in. The strained pulp still has flavor, so stir it into muffin batter or oatmeal rather than tossing it.
Make the Syrup
Pour the strained juice into a clean saucepan and add an equal measure of sugar. Heat it over medium heat, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves.
Then bring it to 190°F on an instant-read thermometer and hold it there for 5 minutes, turning the heat down as needed. Don’t let it boil.
Cook it as little as possible once the sugar is in. Cranberries are high in natural pectin, and sweetened cranberry juice starts turning to jelly quickly if it boils.
If a batch does overcook and thicken up, it’s still fine safety-wise. It just pours more like a soft jelly than a syrup. Otherwise, it looks thin while it’s hot and thickens a little as it cools in the jar, which is what you want.
Fill Jars
Ladle the hot syrup into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean with a damp cloth, center the lids, and apply the bands fingertip tight.
A canning funnel makes filling quick and keeps the rims clean, which matters for a good seal. Half pints are a nice size here, since a little cranberry syrup goes a long way. An opened jar gets used up before it has time to languish in the fridge.
Canning Cranberry Syrup
Get your water bath canner heating while you make the syrup. Lower the filled jars into the canner, covered by at least 1 inch of water. Bring the canner back to a full boil.
Process pints or half pints for 15 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet, adjusting for altitude with the chart below.
Turn off the heat and let the jars stand in the canner for 5 minutes before lifting them out. Set them on a towel-lined counter and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
Altitude Adjustments
For water bath canning, the processing time for pints and half pints goes up at higher elevations:
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes
- 1,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes
Storage and Shelf Life
After 12 to 24 hours, press the center of each lid. A sealed lid is firm, slightly concave, and doesn’t flex.
Take the rings off before you store the jars, since a ring can hold a failed lid down and hide a jar that never sealed. Sealed jars keep their quality for 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark place.
A jar that didn’t seal goes in the fridge, or you can reprocess it with a new lid within 24 hours. Once a jar is open, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks.
You don’t have to can it at all. Cranberry syrup keeps for several weeks in the refrigerator, or up to 6 months in the freezer. Use straight-sided, freezer-safe jars and leave 1 inch of headspace.
Ways to Use Cranberry Syrup
At breakfast it goes over pancakes and waffles, or onto plain yogurt and oatmeal. It also cuts through rich desserts. Try it on vanilla ice cream or cheesecake, where a little sharpness is welcome.
For drinks, a splash in sparkling water makes a quick cranberry soda, and a little in sparkling wine makes a holiday aperitif. It also stirs into a vodka or gin cocktail, and it’s good warmed in hot tea or mulled cider.
On the savory side, brush it onto roast turkey or pork during the last few minutes of cooking. It caramelizes into a tangy glaze.
Yield Notes
This recipe starts with about 1 1/4 pounds of cranberries, a little less than two 12-ounce bags or roughly 5 cups, simmered with 4 cups of water. That gives about 4 cups of strained juice. With 4 cups of sugar, it makes about 6 cups of syrup, enough for 3 pint jars or 6 half-pint jars.
Your yield depends on how much juice the berries give up, so measure the strained juice and match the sugar to it cup for cup. For a more tart syrup, use about 3 cups of sugar to 4 cups of juice. The recipe doubles cleanly for 6 pints, with 2 1/2 pounds of cranberries and 8 cups of water, and the processing time stays the same.
Cranberry Syrup FAQs
A few quick answers before you start, from frozen berries to cutting the sugar.
Yes, and they may work better than fresh. Freezing breaks down the cell walls, so the juice comes out more easily. A week in the freezer also cuts the pectin roughly in half, which makes the syrup less likely to thicken toward jelly. There’s no need to thaw them first.
Cranberries are high in natural pectin, and sweetened cranberry juice starts turning to jelly quickly once it boils. Heating it to 190°F without boiling dissolves the sugar and gets it hot for the jars while keeping it pourable. If it does thicken up, it’s still fine safety wise, just closer to a soft jelly.
No. Cranberries are acidic enough to water bath can on their own, so there’s no added lemon juice. Lemon would only make an already tart syrup sharper.
Yes. The sugar is for flavor and body, not preservation, so using less doesn’t change whether it’s safe to can. Less sugar makes a thinner, more tart syrup that’s closer to a sweetened juice.
Sealed jars keep 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark place. Once a jar is open, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks. Without canning, it keeps several weeks in the fridge or up to 6 months in the freezer.
Cranberry Canning Recipes
If you came home with more cranberries than one batch of syrup can use, here are more ways to put them up.
If you tried this Cranberry Syrup recipe, or any other recipe on Creative Canning, leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know what you think in the 📝 comments below!
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Cranberry Syrup
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
Extract the Juice
- 1 1/4 lbs cranberries, fresh or frozen, see notes
- 4 cups water
Make the Syrup
- 4 cups cranberry juice, strained, from above
- 4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner, jars, and lids.
- Rinse and sort the cranberries, removing any soft or shriveled berries. Frozen berries go in without thawing.
- Combine the cranberries and water in a large, deep stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries pop and burst, about 10 minutes. Crush lightly with a potato masher.
- Pour into a dampened jelly bag or a colander lined with several layers of dampened cheesecloth, set over a deep bowl. Let drip undisturbed for at least 2 hours. Don’t squeeze the bag if you want a clear syrup.
- Measure the strained juice and pour it into a clean saucepan with an equal measure of sugar.
- Heat over medium heat, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves. Bring to 190°F and hold at 190°F for 5 minutes. Do not boil.
- Ladle the hot syrup into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, center the lids, and apply the bands fingertip tight.
- Process pints or half pints in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude (see notes).
- Turn off the heat and let the jars stand in the canner for 5 minutes. Remove and cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours, then remove the rings and check the seals.
Notes
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes
- 1,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Most fruit syrups start the same way, with strained juice and sugar, so once you’ve made this one the rest come easy. If you have the canner out anyway, there’s a long list of water bath canning recipes to work through.
Fruit Syrup Canning Recipes
More fruit syrups to keep on the pantry shelf.
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