Recipe

Chipotle Orange Cranberry Sauce

Recipe
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Photo by chinagirl

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Cranberry Sauce
Chef
chinagirl's Notes: I developed this recipe years ago because I wanted something zingy to wake up my Thanksgiving dinner. My first attempt was an Orange Cranberry Sauce with Walnuts that people tended to pile...
I developed this recipe years ago because I wanted something zingy to wake up my Thanksgiving dinner. My first attempt was an Orange Cranberry Sauce with Walnuts that people tended to pile into bowls and eat with a spoon (one friend ate a whole 1/2 pint jar in one sitting straight from the jar), and then a few years later I added the chipotles in adobo, which took this to a whole new level. This recipe easily can be doubled or tripled, and it cans up wonderfully to make gifts or to use throughout the holidays on turkey sandwiches. This makes a slightly tart, smoky sauce, but you can easily make it sweeter by adding more sugar. And, if you want to make that Orange Cranberry Sauce with Walnuts, just leave out the chipotle chilies in adobo and add a teaspoon or so of kosher salt instead.

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Serves around 3 cups

One 12 ounces bag of cranberries (fresh or frozen) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 orange, well scrubbed Ask a question about this ingredient

1 small can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce Ask a question about this ingredient

3/4 cups walnuts, finely chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

Rinse the cranberries and pick them over, removing any stems or imperfect berries. Place the whole berries in a medium saucepan along with the sugar.
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Chop the orange -- peel and all -- and remove any seeds; add the orange and all of its juice to the pot. Seed a couple of the chipotle chilies, chop them up, and add them to the pot; this will give the sauce a gentle warmth. If you want a spicier sauce (and I certainly do), seed all of the chipotles, chop them up, and add them along with all of the adobo sauce to the pot.
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Bring the pot to a boil, and then cover it and lower the heat to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook the sauce until the berries have burst.
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Taste the sauce and add more sugar to taste, as this makes a relatively tart sauce. If you haven't used all of the chilies, you could certainly add more at this point. Stir in the walnuts, bring the sauce to a boil again, and then remove from the heat. Either cool off the sauce to room temperature and refrigerate it, or can up the still hot sauce in 1/2 pint jars by boiling the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
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4 Comments on Chipotle Orange Cranberry Sauce

chinagirl added over 2 years ago

Thanks to you all! Let me know how you like the sauce... and be sure to try it with cheese (like manchego, cream cheese, cheddar), or use it to make a sundae by spooning it over a dark chocolate or a good vanilla ice cream. Yum.