last updated on October 29, 2026
For day 12 of my “12 Days of Thanksgiving Recipes” we are making jalapeño cranberry sauce! This is the perfect last minute thing to add to your thanksgiving menu. This cranberry sauce has a beautiful balance of sweet and spicy, making it the ideal pairing for all your Thanksgiving food!
Okay maybe it shouldn’t go on all your Thanksgiving food, but it tastes great with almost all of it! This sauce tastes great on turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, green beans, pretty much any of your savory dishes! Plus it comes together in 20 minutes and is shockingly easy to make.
what ingredients do i need for this jalapeño cranberry sauce?
- fresh cranberries
- sugar
- water
- jalapeños
- orange zest
- salt
Simple ingredients, but they make the best sauce! You can leave the jalapeños out of this sauce, and you’d just have a normal cranberry sauce. I highly recommend adding the jalapeños, though. They add so much flavor and you can control how spicy the sauce is (more details on this below)!
how to control the spice level in this sauce?
The nice thing about jalapeños is you can control a lot of the spice level. If you want just a slight amount of spice, remove all the seeds from the jalapeños and rinse them in water. This will remove most of the spice, but will still give a great flavor. If you want medium spice, just remove the seeds but don’t rinse them! If you want lots of spice, leave the seeds in. It’s up to you!
how to make this jalapeño cranberry sauce?
This sauce is easy to make. Seriously. Cut the jalapeños in half, remove the seeds, and chop them into small pieces. Add the cranberries, sugar, water, jalapeños, orange zest, and salt to a pot over medium heat. Let the mixture cook for 15-20 minutes, until the cranberries break down and the mixture thickens. Let the sauce cool completely and that’s it! One pot, 20 minutes, easy.
can this sauce be made ahead of time?
This is the PERFECT dish to make ahead of time! This sauce will keep in the fridge in a sealed container for 4-5 days. So, you can make this sauce a few days ahead of Thanksgiving / your big meal and it will be ready to go. This sauce is served cold, so all you have to do is take it out of the fridge and put it on the table.
other recipes from my 12 days of thanksgiving recipes
- turkey cranberry sliders
- butternut squash, kale, and farro salad
- apple cider donuts
- apple, cheese, and hot honey pull apart bread
- pear, apple, and celery salad
- pumpkin stuffed french toast
- maple dijon roasted carrots
- thanksgiving snack mix
- apple blondie cheesecake bars
- healthier spinach and artichoke dip
- little scalloped potatoes with creamy mushroom sauce
jalapeño cranberry sauce
Ingredients
- 16 oz fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 jalapeños
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cut jalapeños in half. Scoop out the seeds and rinse the jalapeños in water (if you want a stronger spice level, see the paragraph above). Dry off the jalapeños and cut them into small pieces.
- Add the cranberries, sugar, water, jalapeños, orange zest, and salt to a pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to boil.
- Turn the heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cranberries will be broken down and the mixture will be thick and jammy.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to a container. Cover and transfer to the fridge. Let the sauce cool completely. Enjoy!!
What’d you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts or if you have any questions!