Thanksgiving is just about two weeks ago so you will be seeing a lot of Thanksgiving recipes from me over the next few weeks! After starting a paleo diet about 5 years ago, I have always had such a blast creating paleo-friendly Thanksgiving recipes for myself and family to enjoy. Thankfully, a lot of Thanksgiving recipes are already paleo-friendly or can be made so with just a few simple tweaks.
Cranberry sauce is one of the easiest Thanksgiving staples to make paleo-friendly. The only thing you need to change is the added sugar that most recipes call for. When I was super low carb I omitted sugar all together and opted for a few drops of stevia. Nowadays I am not as concerned with a little bit of sugar, especially during a special occasion like Thanksgiving dinner. If you are keeping low carb or low sugar, feel free to omit the maple sugar from this recipe all together and use stevia instead. I wouldn’t recommend no sweetener though as it will be quite bitter. Keep in mind, this cranberry sauce is not overly sweet as is. I have never liked it to be super sweet and didn’t grow up eating overly processed jello-like cranberry sauce. This cranberry sauce recipe is made with only real ingredients and may be slightly more bitter if you’re used to eating store-bought cranberry sauce. Feel free to add a little extra sweetener if need be, but I encourage you to try it as is. Personally, I think it pairs much better with things like stuffing, turkey, etc. than something overly sweet does.
One pro tip about this recipe – it freezes quite well so if you are looking to get a head start on your Thanksgiving cooking, this is a great option to make far in advance and have it ready day of! How’s that for stress free?
- 8oz freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2-3 oranges)
- 12-14oz fresh cranberries, preferably organic
- ¼ cup maple sugar
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.
- Heat over medium until the orange juice begins to boil and the cranberries start to pop.
- Once boiling, turn down the heat to medium low and stir regularly.
- Continue to stir for about 10 minutes or until the majority of cranberries have burst and your sauce is a deep red.
- Cool in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
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