Bitter cranberry sauce? How to fix it quick!

If your cranberry sauce has turned bitter and you need to fix it before Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, you're in the right place.

Many types of food we consumer are naturally bitter: cranberries, salad greens, grapefruit, coffee, and dark chocolate. Their bitter flavors are easily balanced with four types of ingredients: sugar, salt, acid, and fat.

All of those ingredients reduce our ability to taste bitterness. Have you ever noticed how grapefruit sprinkled with sugar tastes less bitter, bitter salad greens are tamed with an acidic vinaigrette, milk (fat) and sugar make a smoother cup of coffee, salted dark chocolate tastes like a dream?

We can leverage these ingredients to fix bitter cranberry sauce too. First, let's dig deeper on why this might have happened so you have a better chance of success next time.

Jump to:

• Why cranberry sauce turns bitter
• How to fix bitter cranberry sauce
• Metallic flavors from aluminum
• More resources

Why cranberry sauce turns bitter

Raw cranberries are naturally very sour, tannic, and bitter, making them basically unpalatable.

The bitterness often shows up as an aftertaste, similar to the flavors in black coffee or dark chocolate. Sour flavors, on the other hand, will taste like lemons and make your mouth pucker.

Cranberries magically change once they are sweetened and cooked. Think about the last time you had a cranberry muffin. Every time I eat one, I love how it's sweet but balanced with pockets of tart berries. I don't ever detect bitterness thanks to the sugar and fat in the batter.

Overcooking causes bitterness

Cranberries can turn fairly bitter when overcooked. One reason cranberry muffins work so well (besides all of the sugar) is that they bake just long enough for the berries to soften.

Treat your cranberry sauce the same way - cook it just until the cranberries pop and break open. This usually takes just 10-15 minutes. Cooking for too long can turn the sauce bitter.

Oranges are bitter

A lot of cranberry sauce recipes add orange zest and orange juice. I'm not a fan - let me tell you why! Both orange juice and zest are bitter.

My low-sugar cranberry pear sauce uses apple juice (or cider) instead of orange juice for this reason.

Orange zest

The zest has some of the highest concentrations of limonin, a very bitter tasting chemical. In fact, oranges (and other citrus peels) are used to extract limonin for the citrusy fragrance.

I know it's a very common belief that the zest is fine - rather it's the pith that tastes super bitter. This isn't actually true. The myth likely started because grapefruit pith is notoriously bitter, perhaps expanded to apply to all citrus.

If you don't believe me, I get it. I didn't believe it the first time I read a research paper on it. Next time you buy an orange, taste just the rind, and then just the pith. The pith is significantly less bitter!

For those of you who love the flavor of added orange, try adding the zest after the cranberry sauce finishes cooking. Sally's Baking says that when she cooks cranberry sauce with the zest, it turns bitter, but seems fine when zest is added at the end.

I haven't tested her method personally, but she's one of my most trusted baking resources. She never lets me down!

The New York Times cranberry sauce recipe uses orange juice and zest, and the most upvoted comment also suggests adding the citrus at the end, "I find that adding the orange juice after it's really thick tastes better - cooked orange juice can be bitter. I add the fresh zest at the same time."

Orange juice

Orange juice actually contains a fair amount of limonin as well, but it's a bit sneakier. Fresh squeezed orange juice usually tastes wonderful and sweet, but that flavor changes quickly.

After sitting out for just 30 minutes to an hour, fresh squeezed orange juice will develop bitter flavors as the limonin chemical oxidizes.

This can turn a great cranberry sauce bitter - but the delayed bittering might remain unnoticed until it's served.

If you use store-bought orange juice, you should fine, as most brands use a debittering process before bottling it.

Use apple juice

I believe recipes use orange juice as a natural sweetener and to add flavor in place of plain water. A lot of people claim it also adds a nice brightness, but I don't believe that's necessary since cranberries are already very tart on their own.

Instead, use apple juice or apple cider. It won't have any of the bitter flavors. Oranges can give a slight floral aroma and flavor, but you can replace that by using a floral honey in place of some of the sugar.

Wine can be bitter

One of my favorite cranberry sauce recipes uses dessert wine, but not just any dessert wine will do.

A lot of recipes call specifically for Ruby Port style wines, which are sweet, but seem to always turn my cranberry sauce bitter. I've tried Ruby Port 5 different times, all with different brands at different price points. Each time I have to add a lot of sugar and a splash of vinegar to fix it.

I suggest Tawny Ports (which are usually much sweeter) and white dessert wines (which are generally less tannic and bitter tasting than reds). I'd love to try adding a Sauterne to cranberry sauce, but that would be a pretty pricey side dish!

I've long suspected a good sherry would make for a fantastic cranberry sauce, especially one with strong nut and dried fruit notes. Maybe this will be the year that I try it.

Wine Folly has a good article about different dessert wines. However, if you're sensitive to bitter flavors, I'd suggest skipping recipes that use wine.

How to fix bitter cranberry sauce

It should be pretty easy to fix your bitter cranberry sauce. Most people reach for sugar first, but depending on how much sugar you've already used, it could be too much.

Sugar

Sugar masks our ability to taste bitter flavors. That's one of the main reasons people (myself included) add sugar to coffee.

Before you add more sugar to your cranberry sauce, taste it. If it's already incredibly sweet, don't add sugar. Some recipes start out with a cup of sugar, but my low-sugar cranberry pear sauce only uses a quarter-cup. With a lower sugar recipe, you can get away with adding more to counter bitter flavors.

• Recipes that use 1 cup of sugar per 12 oz bag of cranberries: adding more sugar might make the cranberry sauce cloyingly sweet. Try a different method first.
• Recipes that use ½ a cup of sugar or less per 12 oz bag of cranberries: adding more sugar can be your first option to reduce bitterness.

If the cranberry sauce is still warm on the stove, you can add granulated sugar. But if the cranberry sauce has cooled, the sugar won't dissolve. Instead, add honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, or simple syrup.

To make a simple syrup, simply (but intended) mix 1 part water with 1 part sugar and heat it until dissolved.

Another option, although a bit unique: add apple butter. It's very sweet, not at all bitter, and would taste incredible!

Salt

Salt also reduces bitter flavors. Some people even add a pinch to coffee or on top of grapefruit (really, both of those are a thing!).

To test this out, I recommend setting aside a small amount of cranberry sauce, and adding a pinch of salt. Stir and then taste it. Did it help? Is it too salty? If you don't like how it tastes, you didn't ruin the whole batch!

Vinegar

Acid also balances bitter flavors. Some people advise stirring in orange or lemon juice, but I already covered how that can accidentally add bitterness!

Instead, add a splash of apple cider vinegar or a champagne vinegar. You can also use balsamic vinegar, but be cautious with the bolder flavor. White balsamic vinegars tend to be milder if you have that on hand. Add just a splash, stir, and then taste it again.

Fat

Lastly, fat helps balance bitter flavors too. That's why milk makes coffee taste better, or cheese tames bitter greens on a salad.

The problem with using fat to fix bitter cranberry sauce is that fats have no place in the sauce. Unless... you add bacon.

That might be a bit overkill for Thanksgiving dinner where so many other side dishes are rich with heavy cream and fat. But I also don't think anyone would complain about bacon!

Super tasters

Some people are bitter super tasters - I happen to be one of them which is why I have so many articles about reducing bitter flavors. For a fun Thanksgiving activity, have each guest test their ability to taste bitter flavors.

I did this one year, using these paper test strips (like from middle school chemistry class). It was illuminating - several people who love Amaro (a very bitter type of alcohol) could barely detect bitterness on the paper strips. It all started to make sense and was a fun, lively discussion.

Metallic flavors from aluminum

Cranberry sauce is very acidic and needs to be cooked in a non-reactive pan. What does that mean?

Aluminum and acidity react, causing metallic off flavors. That's why tomato sauce or cranberry sauce are cooked in non-aluminum pans. Stainless steel pans, enamel coated pans, or non stick pans are all okay to use.

If using stainless steel or enamel cast iron, make sure your cranberry sauce isn't too hot, which can cause it to burn or stick. I have the most success when using non stick pans.

More resources

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