Prefer a homemade cranberry sauce, but have family who like to see it in the traditional can shape? Use an empty tin can to mold your homemade sauce!
This little fish-shaped dish is my family’s cranberry sauce server. It is simply the perfect size for a can of cranberry jelly. I grew up with a clear glass one that my mom still has and a few years ago, when I found this milk glass version at a thrift store for $1.50, I snatched like it was the most valuable thing in the store. To me, it was.
The only wrinkle in this tradition is the fact that I gave up commercially made cranberry sauce a few years ago. I make so many preserves that it seemed silly to continue to buy this particular one. What’s more, most of the store bought stuff is made with high fructose corn syrup, a substance I try to avoid when possible.
So this year, I decided to do something a little silly in order to satisfy my desire to slide a can-shaped tube of cranberry sauce into my little fish dish. I cooked up a batch of homemade cranberry sauce and molded it into the can shape using BPA-free cans.
I searched out a neutral-tasting food so that the cans wouldn’t impart any additional flavor to the jelly (these cannellini beans were perfect and were perfect in a batch of sausage and kale soup). I also made sure to find a can that had a flat bottom, so that I could use a can opener on it in the event that the jelly was hesitant to exit the can.
Here’s how to make homemade cranberry sauce
I made a very basic cranberry jelly. Combine 5 cups whole cranberries with 3 cups granulated white sugar, 1 cup apple cider and the juice of 1 lemon in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and cook until the cranberries burst, stirring regularly. If it begins to look too thick, add a splash more water.
Fit a food mill with its finest screen. When cranberries are finished cooking, pour them into the bowl of the food mill and work them through. You could also use a fine mesh sieve and a rubber scraper if you don’t have a food mill. Continue to mill the cranberries until all that remains in the bowl of the food mill is seeds and skins.
Set a wide mouth funnel into your well-cleaned cans and scrape the warm cranberry sauce into the can, leaving a bit of space at the top.
Cover the filled cans with foil or plastic wrap and place them the fridge to set. If you can, give them at least 12 hours of chilling for optimum molding.
Just before you’re ready to serve, gather your equipment. Can of molded cranberry sauce. Butter knife. Can opener. And the all-important fish dish.
Carefully slide the butter knife down along the side of the cranberry jelly and run it in a complete circle to loosen. Take care when you to this so you don’t end up slicing all the can ridges off the jelly. They are part of the joy. Once the sauce has been loosened, invert the can into your dish and give it a little wiggle.
Sometimes the jelly begins to slide out immediately. If it remains stuck, use the can opener to crack the vacuum by beginning to take the bottom off the can. I’ve found that you don’t have to remove it all the way, even just a little bit of air in there helps move things along. Gently slide the cranberry sauce out onto your plate.
Serve with pride, knowing that you’ve managed to maintain a family tradition while sticking to your culinary guns. And, should you be curious, this cranberry jelly recipe is also appropriate for funneling into glass jars and processing in a boiling water bath canning. Ten minutes for pints and half pints will more than do.
If this recipe for homemade cranberry sauce doesn’t float your boat, here are even more cranberry sauces, jams, and preserves!
Home “Canned” Cranberry Sauce Made in a Tin Can Mold
Ingredients
- 5 cups whole cranberries
- 3 cups granulated white sugar
- 1 cup apple juice or cider
- 1 lemon juiced
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Place the pot over high heat and bring the contents of the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the cranberries burst, stirring regularly. If it begins to look too thick or stick to the bottom of the pot, add a splash of water.
- Fit a food mill with its finest screen and set it over a bowl. When cranberries are finished cooking, pour them into the bowl of the food mill and work them through. You could also use a fine mesh sieve and a rubber scraper if you don’t have a food mill. Mill the cranberries until all that remains in the bowl of the food mill is seeds and skins.
- Set a wide mouth funnel into your well-washed can molds and pour in the warm cranberry sauce, leaving a bit of space at the top.
- Cover the filled cans with plastic wrap and place them the fridge to set. If you can, give them at least 12 hours of chilling for optimum molding.
- When you’re ready to serve, carefully slide the butter knife down along the side of the cranberry jelly and run it in a complete circle to loosen. Take care when you to this so you don’t end up slicing all the can ridges off the jelly. Once the sauce has been loosened, invert the can into your dish and give it a little wiggle.
- Serve immediately.
Is there any downside to blending it all with the skins and seeds together instead of straining them out?
No, it just won’t have as smooth a texture.
Mine did not jell. Even after 24hrs it was still liquid.
What went wrong?
Perhaps you took out too much of the cranberry solid when you were sieving it? That’s the only thing I can think of.
Will this sauce be firm enough to mold in turkey shape?
It typically is.
I just made this. Really good cranberry sauce!
I have been making this for years. I used to just prefer the stuff out of the can but then I found a recipe very similar to this one. Fo even more flavor I add a 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, an 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1 pinch ground cloves. Yumm!
BTW – I also add this spice combination to my cranberry sauce.
And yes I waterbath can both my jelly and sauce. I always make waaaay to much but this way I have enough for Christmas/New Years/etc.
Sounds delicious!
I love making this recipe with honey for my family. I just wonder if you could can it and save it for all year?
You could absolutely process this in a water bath. Ten minutes at sea level for pints and smaller.
Love this idea. I like to make fresh cranberry relish but my husband’s family always want the canned version. This looks like the perfect compromise. ❤️❤️
Yes! I insist on can-shaped cranberry sauce but people think I am crazy. You are a genius!!
It is the only way!
This is so wonderful! Thank you! I, like everyone else, grew up with the ridges and feel it isn’t the holiday without the can of sauce! Over the years I’ve changed up a lot of what I eat on the holiday but a can of sauce is a classic. Today I just finished putting my sauce in the can and I am so excited for the ridges of homemade sauce on Thursday! I stirred some of the skins and seeds into the remaining liquid and am looking forward to a “chunky” version and a “smooth” canned version. Thanks for a great recipe, as always!
I’m delighted that you’re pleased!
How many does this make?
It depends a lot on how much you mill the cranberries. I typically get between 2 and 3 pints/cans of cranberry sauce.
Always read the blog too~the recipe list doesn’t show sugar as an ingredient. Sounds fantastic and I will be making it in the very near future. Your recipes have always turned out well for me. Thank you!
I’m so glad that my recipes work well for you!
Hello 🙂
Can I used fresh pressed apple juice from Granny Smith apples? I’m new to canning and not sure if the apple juice is for flavor, pectin, etc. Thanks!
You can use any apple juice you want. It’s just a flavorful liquid to help the cranberries cook down. You could also use orange or cranberry juice.
How long will this keep, unprocessed?
Thanks
At least 2 weeks.
Wonderful! Husband makes his “cranberry delight” dish every Thanksgiving. This year’s store bought canned cranberry jelly came out all runny from the can and he couldn’t slice it. He was bummed. I make most everything from scratch and so he gets excited to make his one dish that the kids love. I said to him we don’t like un-natural preservatives anyhow, I will search for a way to make the “tin can” sauce homemade. And here I am. I pinned it and in the process of printing your recipe. So excited to give it try. Thank you very much. Happy Holidays!
My mother’s cranberry dish is heavy cut glass. It has been mine for over 30 years,:and I wouldn’t have ever thought of putting anything else but canned Ocean Spray in it, BUT I WILL NOW! I never liked anybody’s homemade cranberry sauce, especially if they mixed it with oranges, or whole berry sauce so this is tremendously appealing to me. I always make a fresh cranberry salad that my whole family absolutely loves so much that I freeze bags of cranberries and make it again in the summer. We won’t be having a Thanksgiving meal this year as I am having surgery a couple of days beforehand, but if my husband can find any bags of cranberries left after Thanksgiving I will have him toss them in the freezer and I will try this in a few weeks when I can cook again. Thank you for trying this and sharing it! I’m really excited to try it! Thank you!
How many (15 ounce) cans does this recipe make?
It should make approximately two.
How many cans does your recipe make ?
You should be able to fill two 15 ounce cans.
If I swap out orange juice for apple cider, do you think it would still be fine in the water bath canner for 10 mins?
I was very excited to see this recipe, as I want to avoid the high fructose corn syrup in the store-bought stuff, but always preferred the “jellied” kind instead of the whole fruit. Most of the other recipes I’ve found were for the whole fruit style, and didn’t have the added appeal of the can rings. Like several other commenters I always used the rings to ‘measure’ my portion! I made one batch with cider, and it was amazing, but we have to hand-press our own cider in order to get the real stuff (i.e. unpasteurized) and I would rather hoard it for drinking instead of using in recipes….
Yes!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it turned out so well, I got more cranberries and canned some! This is a great recipe! I don’t have a food mill, but I do have a Champion juicer – that worked perfectly!
My family would go into shock if I didn’t serve canned cranberry sauce at thanksgiving. I have made
homemade with berries in it but they always go for the canned stuff. I am so tickled to have your recipe. I logged on too late to make it for thanksgiving but will make some anyway for leftovers. thanks.
I have seen 3 versions and all sound good. I think would last longer if “canned” in jars but there isn’t enough of this to worry about. Is doubling the recipe same r should juice be reduced a bit?
I have a hard time standing by the stove and stirring. Wonder if cranberries can be pitted like cherries (I have a little cherry pitter) and then put in vitamix to mix up and then added to the sugar and put in the Ball Jelly Machinne so it would heat and stir it before I can it in jars or in the BPA free cans. Anyone tried that. I liked the idea of orange peel added as well. One recipe called for pectin, but I suppose that is what the cider and lemon are to do, to add the acid to give enough pectin. Any ideas on this?I saw another recipe that had juniper berries and peppercorns but sure would want to screen them out and get only the flavor. Saw some with the orange peel and thyme and rosemary in place of juniper in one. They all sound so good I’m not sure which to try first. The one with wine or madeira had a reduction of 3 oz. I think with 2 batches. My Jam maker only does 4 or 5 jelly jars. at a time.
Oh my… oops.
I made and processed a batch of this last month, and just looked at the recipe again today. I would swear I used apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider for this! I assume it’s still safe, given the acidity of the vinegar.
It set up great, and I popped the cap on a jar the other day and used it as a spread on a turkey sandwich, and it was AMAZING. Happy accident?
I’m so excited about this! I have made “fresh” cranberry sauce for holidays for several years, and every time I show up with it for the first time, a family member is dismayed by the whole cranberry chunks and the loss of that treasured, can-ridge shape. (Then they taste it and change their minds…!) My dad, in particular, has always loved the smoother cranberry jelly. This year, I can treat him to homemade cranberry jelly with the consistency and shape he loves!
One of my friends in a canning group just canned some. I had to check out your post since the link she posted said tin can mold. That part just cracks me up. Congrats on your fish dish. Pinning this.
GREAT idea! I’m doing this for Thanksgiving this year. There’s something about slicing the round that brings back such great memories.
Question: Instead of using the food mill, could I use my Vitamix and blend everything together? Would it come out the same?
Love this recipe! Can this be canned? If so, 10 minute water bath?
Any suggestions as to what to do with the leftover crushed cranberries?
I generally discard them. I realize it’s a little bit wasteful, but by the end, they’ve given most their flavor.
Hey Sabrina, I use my post-milled berries (cranberries or other ones I’ve made into butters or purees) in to ferment my own raw, live vinegars! I have tutorials and photos up on my blog.
Mine didn’t seem to set up that well. We canned it, and put it in the fridge, but it still moves when we tilt it. Do you think that is normal? It seems like it should be a little more solid.
Give it at least 24 hours to fully set up.
How many cans does this recipe fill? I don’t see it in the notes.
It makes approximately 2 cups.
Did you mean 2 cans? I halved the recipe and was able to make 2 cups of sauce. I haven’t eaten mine yet, but it looked pretty well set last I checked, so I think I have the right consistency.
Yes, I mean approximately 2 cans! So sorry!
Thanks. My grown children look for the rings. They don’t want fresh. Made fresh one year and they were in shock. Even tho it was good they wanted the ‘rings’. But I may fool them good this year. Yeah.
I’m making this for Thanksgiving! How much does this recipe yield?
It makes approximately three cups.
This is so cool, I never would have thought of this–but I am sure glad you did! Thanks for sharing!
As the days get shorter and cooler I’m already perusing recipes for the fall holidays. I hope to make this for Thanksgiving this year. I understand what you mean about “the family cranberry sauce dish”. Ours is shaped like a pear and was one I bought as a mothers day gift at a tag sale when I was about 9 years old. It is truly a treasure to me. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes!
Perfect. My husband would think I had bought it.
I used a wide mouth mason jar, but this is way more awesome! Thanks!
Silly me! I read the title as, “Home canned cranberry sauce, made in a tin, can mold.” Silly, silly me.
Looks great though!
SWEET! I was wondering if I could make my own cranberry sauce instead of buying the kind with the corn syrup! I can’t wait to give this a try. If only I had found it before Thanksgiving!
Total genius. And I LOVE the fish plate!
Sadly, my mom forgot to add sugar to the cranberry sauce this year. That didn’t work out too well.
I did this for Thanksgiving. I made mine without apple cider and added in some ginger root… but same idea. Passed it through the food mill. Poured it in a can that used to hold white beans. Brought it to a feast.
It was AMAZING. Delicious, easy to slice for sandwiches, a conversation starter… Just perfect. Thanks for the idea!
I love that you made it in a can! I did homemade jellied cranberry sauce a few years back but used mini jello molds. Cute but I missed the can ripples.
That is simply adorable. How whimsical and wonderful!
This made the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever made, and went straight into the favorite recipes folder! THANK YOU!
Ha! So mine didn’t set (was just barely jiggly so I poured into a pretty glass serving bowl) but it still turned out great because the two ten-year old boys at our table were crazy for it. In fact, after dipping one forkful of turkey after another into it, they called it “turkey blood”! Lots of laughs — and for me, the reminder that a recipe doesn’t have to turn out perfectly to be appreciated. Thanks for the laughs, both for your fish dish and the turkey blood!
I’m listening for my last ‘ping’ for some 1/4 pints of cranberry orange marmaladeish stuff – I noticed that I was a little heavy handed on the sugar and it was setting up this morning after I cooked it, so after I dished up for the table (a cut glass oval dish in our family), I set the rest of the pan aside in the fridge. Just heated everything up again and did five little jars of thanksgiving yumminess as I was setting up the crock pot for turkey stock.
I’ll have to try the more “jelly” like version next year – I can totally see doing this presentation just to mess with the family.
Lol, one of the first preserves I foisted on my husband was a homemade cranberry sauce. The whole berry ones didn’t past muster, but he is happy enough to eat a jellied of any shape so long as its just berries and sugar and water/juice.
Which makes more for me, and I’ve made 4 recipes alone to test out which I like best. Canned for sharing with others.
My brother has made fun of my Thanksgiving food choices for 10 years now. I’ve been a vegetarian all that time, and only last year found a turkey substitute that he thought was worth eating. (Field Roast’s Celebration Roast, in case you were wondering.) He scoffed at the idea of my bothering to make my own cranberry sauce, as we all like the canned stuff. After a taste this evening as I was cleaning up? “Not bad.” High praise indeed. 🙂
Thank you! Made this tonight and it tastes great plus I love the tin can molding idea; you’re so clever 😉 Happy Thanksgiving!
Just made it! Didn’t have any cans to use, but poured into a jelly jar glass, a pint jar and a half pint jar. We’ll see what happens! What I tasted was AWESOMELY DELICIOUS! I cannot wait to put this on the table tomorrow!!! Thanks Marisa! You never fail me! Have a happy Thanksgiving!!!
Do you suppose you could do this with dried cranberries when you can’t get fresh? Does drying them affect the pectin, do you think?
Hope this isn’t a dupe — dropped my connection in mid-post.
Haha! Love this.