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Homemade Fresh Cranberry Juice is an incredibly easy recipe and so much more delicious than buying a bottle at the grocery store. You can make your own cranberry juice with simple ingredients like fresh cranberries, agave nectar or sweetener of choice, orange juice, lemon juice, and water. It’s packed with vitamin c and so much better than store-bought cranberry juice and has much better health benefits.
At a recent Costcoexcursion, I picked up a giant sized bag of cranberries. My thought was “I *need* this giant bag to make cranberry sauce with for Thanksgiving”. As it turns out, I only needed about 2 cups worth of this enormous monster of a bag, which to the naked eye, didn’t even make a dent in its contents. So I made this cranberry sauceand tossed the rest of the berries back in the fridge. I really had no idea what I was going to use them for. One thought was to dry them, but I never can quite master the timing for drying fruit where it doesn’t turn out like a hockey puck, so I quickly discounted that thought. Then it dawned on me….why not make cranberry juice? I love drinking it, so why not make it and it’s a great way to use up the bag of cranberries? Well here we go…let’s make it together? This homemade cranberry juice recipe is super easy and FAR better than store-bought juice that contains artificial sweetener.
Ingredients for Fresh Cranberry Juice
You will be shocked at how easy it is to make this recipe using fresh whole berries. You can control the amount of sugar by reducing or increasing the agave nectar or by using your choice of sugar like using a sugar-free sweetener or coconut sugar.
- Fresh Cranberries: this recipe calls for 8 cups so you’ll need approximately 2-12 oz bags of cranberries.
- Agave nectar: this is the only sweetener used. If you’d prefer, you could use simple syrup, coconut sugar, cane sugar, sugar-free sweetener, maple syrup, or raw honey. You could also omit the added sugar and make an unsweetened cranberry juice if you’d prefer.
- Fresh Citrus: oranges and lemons add sweet and acid to balance the cranberries tartness.
Find the printable recipe card with exact measurements and instructions below.
How to Make Cranberry Juice
Start off with 8 cups of cranberries and 8 cups of water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn down and simmer for 25 minutes. You should hear the cranberries popping like little red balls of popcorn.
They should all be popped and starting to break down after 25 minutes of simmering. It’s starting to smell good in here!
Juice enough lemons to make 1/2 cup. It took 3 small lemons for me.
And enough oranges to make another 1/2 cup. This was 1 1/2 for me. The remaining half was added to fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Mmm. Add the 2 juices to the bottom of the bowl you’ll be using to collect the cranberry juice mixture.
Use a food mill to pass the cranberry mixture through the smallest plate. The mixture will be a little thick, don’t worry, we’re going to run it through a sieve later. Believe me, it’s all worth it.
Blender Version
Alternatively, you can blend this in a blender and pass through a fine sieve to remove the skins and pulp.
Add agave nectar to the cranberry citrus mixture to your taste. I started with 1/2 cup and ended up with 1 cup of nectar to the 9 cups of juice. You could also use 1/2 cup of white sugar or 1/2 cup of honey for this. Just taste test as you go to achieve your desired sweetness.
Stir in the nectar until it’s all incorporated.
Pass the sweetened mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Stir to help the draining process. Don’t mash the pulp too hard or it will pass through and your resulting juice will be thick. Remove the pulp to a bowl and set aside. Repeat with the remaining juice. Save the pulp for another use.
Refrigerate the juice and serve any way you’d like. Cosmo anyone? 🙂
Homemade Fresh Cranberry Juice
Author: Heather Scholten
Homemade Fresh Cranberry Juice is so simple to make and absolutely delicious. This recipe is a great use for cranberries when they are in season.
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Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 25 minutes mins
Total Time 45 minutes mins
Course Drinks
Cuisine All Cuisines
Servings 9 Cups
Ingredients
- 8 cups fresh cranberries
- 8 cups water
- ½ – 1 cup agave nectar
- ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Add the cranberries and water to a large stockpot. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
Pass the cranberry mixture through a food mill with the smallest plate. Add agave nectar to your taste. Add the 2 juices to the bowl and stir to combine.
Set a fine-meshed sieve over a large bowl, pass the cranberry mixture through the sieve, trying to not press the solids too much (this will result in a thicker juice). Remove solids to a bowl and repeat with remaining cranberry mixture. Save solids for another use (fruit leather perhaps). Refrigerate juice and serve.
Notes
- Use a blender if you don't have a food mill and pass through a sieve.
- Save the solids and spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake at 250ºF for around 2-3 hours, or until dry.
Nutrition
Calories: 88kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 1gFat: 0.2gSaturated Fat: 0.02gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.02gSodium: 13mgPotassium: 113mgFiber: 3gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 82IUVitamin C: 27mgCalcium: 16mgIron: 0.3mg
Keyword Christmas Recipes, cranberry, Holiday Recipes, thanksgiving recipes
Tried this recipe? I’d love to see what you made!
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More Cranberry Recipes
- Cranberry Brie Puff Pastry Twists
- Classic Cranberry Sauce
- Pumpkin Challah Pudding with Dried Fruit
Recipe By:
Heather Scholten
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather...
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
