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
- The added spice and citrus. 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.
- 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.
Bonus: For more homemade simple syrups, I have more options for you. You’ll love my ginger simple syrup, brown sugar-chai simple syrup and gingerbread simple syrup.
Ingredients
As you can see, the ingredients to make this syrup are easy to find when cranberries are in season, and you probably even have the spices in your pantry.
Equal parts water and sugar are the foundational ingredients 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.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: To make our easy holiday syrup, we add water, sugar, cranberries, spices and the fresh orange zest to a small saucepan (photo 1) and bring to a boil ( photo 2).
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 my cranberry French 75, cranberry bourbon sour and spiced cranberry old fashioned.
Recipe FAQs
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.
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 cocktails is the most common use, but you can also add it to sparkling water or club soda to make a flavored mocktails or Italian 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. 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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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 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
Tammy says
Ooh I'm thinking of all the pretty festive cocktails I can make with this. Lovely idea...I've never tried cranberry simple syrup but this sounds perfect.
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer says
This... with EVERYTHING holidays is a must! This simple syrup is outstanding! I loved this SO MUCH!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Yay! Thank you for sharing, Lori! That makes me happy.
Jacqueline Debono says
This cranberry syrup is just perfect for our Christmas party. I made a little today to try it! We made mimosas with it! Delicious!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
What a perfect way to use it!
Jenny says
Wonderful spiced cranberry simple syrup. Easy to make, and we made amazing drinks with it. I will save your recipe; it is one of the best I have found. Thanks so much.
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Awww, thank you, Jenny!
Kathryn says
This cranberry simply syrup is so delicious and easy to make. Perfect for the holidays! I made a batch last week and making more today for Thanksgiving 🙂 adding it to a few cocktails, I'm so excited! Thank you Amanda 🙂
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thank you so much for those kind words, Kathryn! I'm so, so happy you loved it.
Leslie says
I love your idea of giving this as a gift! That's so perfect and unique!
Cathleen says
I love this idea so much!! I have only ever made plain simple syrup, but this is so perfect to switch things up over the holidays! 🙂
Veronika Sykorova says
I've made cranberry sauce with orange zest but never simple syrup! This is perfect for all the thanksgiving or holiday cocktails. Can't wait to give it a try!
Gwynn says
This simple syrup is great to have on hand during the holidays. Great flavor and so easy to make too!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
For sure! I'm keeping some in my fridge all holiday season to make sure I can make a festive cocktail at the drop of a hat!
Kayla DiMaggio says
This cranberry simple syrup was so delicious and amazing!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thank you, Kayla!
Claudia Lamascolo says
This was perfect for fall a little spicy and we loved it!
Dannii says
Oh wow. This is going to be so good for making festive cocktails. I can't wait to try it.
Gus says
I am loving this cranberry syrup. I have been using it for cocktails and also to sweeten my smoothies!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Great idea about the smoothies!
Sara Welch says
What a great recipe for the holidays! Gave this a try and it was the perfect balance of sweet and spicy; was the perfect amount of kick to my cocktail!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
I'm so glad you loved it! Totally agree about the sweet and spicy balance!
Dana Sandonato says
Absolutely loved this! It was perfect in my cranberry orange sangria; I never use simple syrup in it but really wanted to try it with this and it was great! Can't wait to try this with waffles 🙂
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
That sounds like a beautiful way to use the syrup! Thanks for sharing.