Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest and Chile Piquin is a recipe I developed years ago that has now become a holiday tradition. As we grow our own oranges here at the ranch and chile piquin grow wild along the stone wall that surrounds our house, I confess the recipe is not very creative. During the winter holiday months, oranges and chile piquin are worked into so many of our dishes that cranberry sauce seemed like a good fit.
Spice up your holiday meal!
Of course, the chile piquin make Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest and Chile Piquin extra spicy. However after decades of the same old bird with gravy, a spicy cranberry sauce was such a welcome change. We love this recipe and make it every year!
Even though chile piquin grow wild around the ranch, they are occasionally available in supermarkets. Tiny and fiery hot, they hold their own when paired with the strong tangy flavor of cranberries. If you can’t find chile piquin in your supermarket, you can always substitute red pepper flakes or even a pinch of ground cayenne pepper in your cranberry sauce. Whatever you find to spice up your cranberries will add life to the your traditional (and perhaps tired) holiday menu.
Leftovers are no problem when you have this versatile side dish on hand. Grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches are absolutely divine when dunked into this sauce. We love it on roasted chicken, which is what i enjoyed after this photo shoot!
Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest and Chile Piquin is delicious!
This recipe is undersweetened on purpose. If the cranberry sauce is too tangy for you, add 1/4 cup (50g) more granulated sugar for extra sweetness. The main trick with making Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest and Chile Piquin is to make it a day in advance so the flavors have a chance to settle and blend. Also, I like to garnish the sauce with fresh thyme along with orange zest.
From all of us here at the ranch, Happy Holidays!
Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest and Chile Piquin
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups (480ml) 1x
Ingredients
16 oz fresh cranberries (480g)
1 cup water (240ml)
¾ cup sugar (150g)
1 orange for zest and juice
3–6 fresh or dried chile piquin, finely ground or ½ tsp red pepper flakes (2g)
Fresh thyme for garnish (optional)
Instructions
In a 1 qt/1lt saucepan, combine cranberries, water, sugar and 1 tsp. (2g) of grated orange zest from the orange. Simmer for 10 minutes over medium heat, pressing the cranberries so that they burst. Stir well and then remove from the heat.
Using a mortar and pestle, or a molcajete, grind the chile piquin or red pepper flakes into a fine powder.
Cut and squeeze the orange, releasing the juice into the bowl of the mortar/molcajete. Stir the orange juice so that it picks up all of the chile powder. Pour the liquid into the cranberry sauce and stir well.
Allow to cool and then serve. Garnish with orange zest (and fresh thyme.) Best when made 1 day in advance of serving.
This sounds amazing. What are your thoughts on using fresh Chile Piquins? I’m in South Texas and my plants are still going strong.
Hey Donna! Absolutely! Fresh is always fabulous! Fresh chile piquin is pretty much the same as dried, perhaps a little hotter with a tiny bit of bitterness. My advice is the same – make yur cranberry sauce 1 day in advance so the flavors marry and blend. You can adjust the flavors better on the 2nd day. I would definitely make a double batch because it is really good. Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you! MG
UPDATE: I made the cranberry sauce using fresh Chile Piquins and it is amazing. On a whim, I replaced jelly in a PBJ sandwich with the cranberry sauce and it was wonderful. The tartness of the cranberries coupled with the nuttiness of the peanuts, and hint of spice from the chiles takes the old standby sandwich to another level.