Put a festive and delicious spin on your holiday drinks with this spiced cranberry simple syrup! Made with fresh orange zest, this homemade simple syrup comes together in less than 15 minutes of hands-on preparation time, and it’s as easy as it gets. You’ll want to add this cranberry-orange simple syrup to all your drinks this season.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Makes the best holiday cocktails: With the added mulling spices and citrus, every sip is loaded with festive flavor. Sure, you could make a cranberry syrup without these spices and fresh orange, but they make for a much more delicious recipe — this is absolutely the best cranberry simple syrup, and it's a truly easy recipe.
Super versatile: While flavoring cocktails is certainly my favorite way to use simple syrup, that's just one use.
Makes a great gift: Whether you need a hostess/host or holiday gift, you can't go wrong with a batch of homemade simple syrup. It's both thoughtful and economical.
Prepared ahead of serving for easy entertaining: Especially during the holiday season, any make-ahead recipe will make your life easier. Simple syrup is best made at least several hours ahead of time to give a chance to chill, so you can get right to drink mixing at your next holiday party.
Bonus: If you love making your own simple syrups, I have more options for you. You’ll love my cherry simple syrup, ginger simple syrup, brown sugar-chai simple syrup and gingerbread simple syrup.
Ingredients
As you can see, the ingredients to make this homemade cranberry syrup are easy to find when cranberries are in season, and you probably even have the spices in your pantry.
Fresh cranberries: Obviously, this is our key ingredient for this simple syrup recipe. They're typically only available from October through January, so stock up if you'd like to make this recipe any time of year.
Sugar: An equal ratio of sugar and water is the foundational ingredient to a homemade simple syrup. I used white sugar here to really play up the cranberries, but if you’d like to add a richer molasses flavor, feel free to swap brown sugar. Both are fabulous options.
Orange zest: Make sure you use freshly grated orange zest. You can buy dried orange peel, but you can't beat the flavor of fresh zest.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: To make our easy holiday syrup, we add our tart cranberries, water, sugar, spices and the fresh orange zest to a small saucepan (photo 1) and bring to a boil over medium-high heat ( photo 2). Every so often, we stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to help dissolve the sugar.
Step 2: Once the mixture boils, we turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes (photo 3).
Step 3: After simmering, we turn off the heat and allow the syrup to steep for at least 10 minutes. This allows the flavors to meld.
Step 4: From here, we place a bowl in the sink with a fine-mesh sieve on top and strain the cranberry syrup into the sieve (photo 4).
And that’s it! Everything in the bowl underneath the sieve is our spiced syrup. How easy was that? You'll love it in a festive cocktail. Here are a few of my favorites.
Recipe FAQs
Let it cool at room temperature and then keep the simple syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator. For easy and clean pouring, I love to keep it in a small squeeze bottle. Narrow-lipped glass bottles also work nicely.
As long as you store the simple syrup properly in the refrigerator, it should last several weeks. That’s one of the great things about homemade simple syrup — it takes very little effort and has some serious longevity in your refrigerator.
Sweetening winter cocktails is the most common use for this flavored syrup, but you can also add it to sparkling water, ginger ale or club soda to make a flavored mocktails or homemade sodas. You can add it to your homemade latte, mix it with maple syrup and top on waffles, and spread it on a freshly baked cake to add moisture and cranberry flavor. Feel free to get creative!
It’s time to toss simple syrup when it starts to turn cloudy and the mixture separates. You may also notice some particles or mold. But, honestly, this fresh cranberry simple syrup is so delicious that I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting through the whole batch.
Expert Tips
- I love using a microplane grater rather than a traditional zester for the orange. It’s much more efficient and does a great job extracting that delicious citrus oil.
- For the best flavor, use spices that have been opened within six months. After that, the flavor isn't quite as intense.
- Cranberries are generally only available from October through January. Keep some cranberries in your freezer, and you can make this syrup all year long. No need to thaw — just add the frozen berries straight to the water and sugar.
- Once cranberries come to a boil, they can over-boil quickly, so keep an eye on them.
- When straining, I like to use a sturdy spoon to push down on the cranberries to extract as much flavor as possible.
- To make as a gift, I love pouring this spiced holiday syrup into a mason jar or decorative bottle as pictured and then tying a pretty ribbon underneath the rim.
Perfect Pairing
With the cranberry, spice and orange, a cocktail using this syrup is delicious with my apple cider short ribs or apple cider pot roast for the perfect holiday meal. Both these meats braise in apple cider, which adds a wonderful warmth to the meat. The cranberry does a great job of adding some brightness with its tart notes.
And then there’s my Christmas roast duck with cranberry-orange glaze. The two make a perfect pairing.
When you need to whip up one festive holiday drink, I hope you turn to this spiced cranberry simple syrup with orange zest. You’ll love every delicious sip.
Cheers!
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📖 Recipe
Spiced Cranberry Simple Syrup
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Microplane grater
- Fine-mesh sieve
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add the cranberries, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, orange zest, ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the mixture to steep for another 10 minutes.
- Place a bowl under a fine-mesh sieve. Strain the syrup in the fine-mesh sieve. Store the cranberry simple syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several weeks. Enjoy!
Notes
- I love using a microplane grater rather than a traditional zester for the orange. It’s much more efficient and does a great job extracting that delicious citrus oil.
- For the best flavor, use spices that have been opened within six months. After that, the flavor isn't quite as intense.
- Cranberries are generally only available from October through January. Keep some cranberries in your freezer, and you can make this syrup all year long. No need to thaw — just add the frozen berries straight to the water and sugar.
- Once cranberries come to a boil, they can over-boil quickly, so keep an eye on them.
- When straining, I like to use a sturdy spoon to push down on the cranberries to extract as much flavor as possible.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nutrition
Google Web Story: Easy Cranberry Simple Syrup
Dan Kremus says
I made this for Christmas Spiced Cranberry Old Fashions! They were a major hit at Christmas Eve open house and at Christmas Day dinner. I'll be adding this to my regular bar rotation. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
That's so awesome to hear! Thanks so much. And a merry Christmas and happy New Year to you too!
Kate says
I made 4 batches tonight and it is delicious! But I’m surprised how little it yielded (I’m making for gifts). Could I dilute it in order to stretch it, or would that be a bad idea? Would I want to cook it with more water? Thanks for any advice.
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Hey, Kate! So happy you liked it. How many gifts are you making? If it's in the budget, you could always give away a smaller amount and then include a mini bottle of liquor or a Champange split and turn it into a cocktail kit. You could even add a lime and bottle of ginger beer and it could be a mule kit. I'd do 1 ounce of the syrup to add to each kit. I'd be hesitant to cook with more water because it'd dilute it, and you want the equal parts water and sugar for a classic simple syrup. If you do need to stretch it, perhaps some cranberry juice would be a better option.
Elizabeth Sheridan says
I made this and a ginger simple syrup today for Yule Mules! Delicious!! I made the ginger syrup first and used the unwashed pan to make this so omitted the ground ginger. That was my only change and it was purely out of laziness! 😆this was fantastic! I used the cranberry pulp to top a Brie and can’t wait to eat it tonight!! Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
I'll cheers to that! Thank you so much for the kind comment. Have a wonderful holiday season!
Vikki says
Love this!! Just made it and it smells amazing…can’t wait to use it. Is there something that you can do with all the left over cranberry pulp/solids?
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
I’m so glad you’re happy with it! I recommend using it on some baked Brie. Just spoon the leftover berries on top of some Brie and bake in a 350-degree oven until it melts, about 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!