Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Sauce: fresh apples and zesty lime give this classic Thanksgiving side dish staple a yummy makeover!
Hello November, so nice to eat you! Now bring on the cranberries!!!
RECIPE REVIEWS
★★★★★ “I’m back again to make this recipe for like the 4th, 5th? (Maybe more…) year in a row! Best ever. Also, Garden State. 2nd favorite movie ever. ♥️” – Tera
★★★★★ “Like Tera, I, too, am making this for at least my 4th Thanksgiving! The first year I also used it as a layer in a white cake with orange buttercream frosting. 🫠 I am thankful again for such a quick, easy, and delicious addition to our Thanksgiving feast!” – Rachel
First off, we have a few things to address here today.
Ok well, maybe just one thing: the strawberries. They’re in my cranberry sauce.
“Oh, are you freaked out? You’re like so freaked out. You’re like running for the door…”
Name that movie and we can be best friends forever.
After plowing through my entire freezer stash of my usual crock-pot cranberry sauce, I got fancy. I have a thing for trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to my own recipes. They’re typically ones I can make blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back and not a measuring cup in sight. I know my way through these recipes like I do the halls of my own home, actually these recipes ARE home. So from time to time, I rearrange. A little spring cleaning here, a new rug there, and sometimes, like today, I rearrange the furniture.
Though instead of moving couches I’m adding new ingredients to my cranberry sauce.
So strawberries, eh?
They’re AMAZING in this sauce. Once you taste it you’ll totally agree obnoxious all caps were beyond necessary. Add too many and you’ve got a pot full of jam on your hands, but add just a little and you’ve got a recipe for a baller berry sauce that will keep everyone guessing while they lick their plates clean! Now strawberries are typically the furthest thing from our minds as Fall blusters on and Winter gains momentum, but that’s why we have freezers! Berries frozen at harvest’s peak make a perfect addiction to this sassy sauce. I could go on but once I hit 400 words you start to get twitchy on me, so let’s dive face-first into the recipe instead.
SLOW COOKER APPLE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Recipe yields approx 1 quart (4 cups) of sauce, so feel free to scarf some now and freeze the rest for later!
While we’re talking freezers, you can prep this sauce in advance and save time on the big day! Simply store it in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze it and defrost when ready. It reheats marvelously and tastes good on everything!
Of course you don’t have to freeze the leftovers!
My all-time favorite uses for leftover cranberry sauce are my cranberry cheesecake streusel bars and the most out of this world cranberry walnut cream cheese spread that’s fantastic on bagels, croissants, celery, and sandwiches galore! I make extra sauce just so I have a bounty of leftovers to make both recipes. Tis tradition!
Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh cranberries (12 oz)
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 10 large ripe strawberries (frozen)
- 1 large red delicious or honey crisp apple (peeled + diced)
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- ½ lime, juiced
- lime zest (to taste)
- 3 TBSP honey
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Add all of the above ingredients to your slow cooker on high for 2 hours.
- Once the majority of the berries have popped and the house smells AMAZING, allow sauce to cool.
- Next puree using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender.
- Give it a taste and feel free to sweeten a bit more if desired, this sauce has my ideal ratio of sweetness and tartness and I’m beyond in love with the flavor, but won’t be offended if you add a pinch of brown sugar or a little extra honey.
- The final step? Slather it on everything!
- It’ll keep in the fridge for up to four days and can be frozen for several months and reheated whenever the craving strikes!
- In a rush? This stellar sauce can absolutely be made on the stove top over medium heat in a fraction of the time. In about 10-15 minutes your’ll have a gorgeous cranberry sauce that thickens as it cools. I’m just hopelessly addicted to recipes I can toss in the slow cooker and walk away from, especially since I’m usually multi-tasking my face off. Plus when you’re cooking up a huge holiday feast, oven and stove-top space are prime real estate, yo!
- Regardless of the method you choose, the results will be fantastic! Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
You should totally make this saucy appetizer too. Amazing.
Have some extra sauce handy? Check out my collection of Recipes to Make with Leftover Cranberry Sauce!
Questions & Reviews
Can I use another kind of apple, for instance Fuji?
Yes absolutley!
Like Tera, I, too, am making this for at least my 4th Thanksgiving! The first year I also used it as a layer in a white cake with orange buttercream frosting. 🫠 I am thankful again for such a quick, easy, and delicious addition to our Thanksgiving feast!
I’m back again to make this recipe for like the 4th, 5th? (Maybe more…) year in a row! Best ever. Also, Garden State. 2nd favorite movie ever. ♥️
Can you can this recipe in a water bath canner? If so how long should you process it?
Hi Sonya! LOVE this recipe and I’m sure it can be canned amazingly much like other cranberry sauces. I’m in the middle of a big move so while I can’t play around with canning at the moment it’s on my list for 2022 so I can provide y’all with all my tips and tricks and canning adventures! I feel like America’s Test Kitchen may have some good canning resources in the meantime? Also my friend Cassie has oodles of canning tips and such on her blog Wholefully. Both should help fill in the blanks until I get to formally immerse myself in all things canning! xoxo
This is the best cranberry sauce I’ve found! I love the addition of all the other fruits and berries!
Thank you! Thank you!
This cranberry sauce looks soooo good! I love that you added strawberry and apple. What a great twist, it would be perfect for this Thanksgiving.
Can you use frozen strawberries for the cranberry recipe?
Hi Margaret! Of course! I used frozen strawberries in this recipe 🙂 They add a nice layer of natural sweetness to the tart cranberries, I love it!
How many ounces of frozen strawberries did you use?
I skipped the scale for this one and used 10 large strawberries. If your strawberries are teeny tiny you could use a few more as needed, feel free to eyeball it 😉
Can you use more cranberries instead of the craisins?
Hi Alexus! Yes absolutely! When I originally wrote the recipe I ran out of fresh and added some dried to the mix to make a larger serving. I’ve made it with all fresh and even with frozen and it’s marvelous all ways. Since the dried cranberries are a little sweeter you may want a smidge more honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup in the sauce if you find it super tart. It’s suuuuper customizable and I hope you adore it as much as my family does! 🙂
Thank you! I LOVED this cranberry sauce and even converted my dad (who is loyal only to the jellied, canned variety – yuck). I froze a few batches, so I can quickly thaw and enjoy long after Thanksgiving 🙂
Yum! I am actually going to make a pear cranberry sauce this year. Love this idea using the slow cooker.
I’m totally digging the addition of strawberries in this, and since I just so happen to have a freezer full of them, this will be happening. Love it.
It tames some of the bite of the cranberries but still let’s the tartness shine through a bit; I love it!
I love your original cranberry sauce, but I’m willing to try something new!
I love how this has more than just cranberry! What a fun and unique way to make it!
Garden State!!!
I am most certainly NOT freaked out. This sounds amazing! Can’t wait to make it and freak my mom out at Thanksgiving though 🙂
Yesssss!
OMG!!!!!!!!! I’M SO MAKING THIS CRANBERRY SAUCE AND THOSE CRANBERRY STREUSEL BARS THAT I’VE BEEN EYEING SINCE LAST YEAR, AND I FLIPPING ADORE THAT FLIPPING SPOOOOOOOOOOON! And I’m done yelling.
Haha “I’M SO EXCITED! I’M SO EXCITED! I’M SO SCARED!!!!” =)
I love cranberry sauce all year long and I love the new spin with this one! Looks fantastic!
OMG Jen can I just say I’m in love with your blog name! =) The best!
I can just hear that line being said but I can’t for the life of me remember where it’s from!! I’m not usually a fan of cranberry sauce but this stuff looks delicious!
Thanks Melissa!!!! =) It’s from Garden State and I quote it entirely too much haha!
That looks like some wonderful cranberry sauce! I always loved that part of the Thanksgiving meal. 🙂
Thanks!!! Me too!