Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce

 

My house is filled with pomegranates and pomegranate arils. Being a food blogger is tough 🙂

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so I wanted to share a recipe for one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes: cranberry sauce!

This recipe uses pomegranates two ways: in a pomegranate molasses and as whole arils, or seeds. Pomegranate molasses can be found in well-stocked grocery stores or Middle Eastern food stores. But I also show you how to make it below if you so wish.

Ingredients:

Cranberry Sauce:

• 1 bag (16 oz.) cranberries, thawed if frozen
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar to make less sweet)
• 4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (recipe below)
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 containers POM POMS Fresh Arils (about ~1.5 cups)
• the juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

Pomegranate Molasses:

• 2 cups pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

If you have a lot of pomegranate seeds on hand, you can make your own pomegranate juice as well! The seeds of one pomegranate will result in about half a cup juice, so you’d need 4 pomegranates to make the molasses. Seed your pomegranate and add the seeds to your blender (I did this in batches, two pomegranates per blend).

Blend until the arils release their juices. Put a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl or measuring cup and pour the mixture into the strainer, again in batches. Use a spoon to press as much juice out of the mixture as you can before adding in more. Discard the pulp.

To make the pomegranate molasses, add the pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice to a large saucepan over medium heat.

Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to just maintain a simmer. Cook for about an hour or until it reduces to approximately 2/3 cup, checking on the level of heat from time to time to keep it at a low simmer. The mixture will have a syrup consistency.

Pour into a jar and let cool completely. You can store it in the refrigerator until use.

To make the cranberry sauce, add the cranberries, brown sugar, pomegranate molasses, thyme sprigs, and 1 container of pomegranate arils (~3/4 cup) to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Boil until most cranberries pop, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, remove the thyme sprigs, and stir in the lemon juice, zest, and remaining pomegranate seeds. Garnish with thyme leaves.

Garnish with thyme leaves.

I love a chunky cranberry sauce, mmm.

Making the molasses involves a bit of time, but can be done ahead of time. The cranberry sauce recipe itself is a cinch!

This is a slightly sweet, slightly tangy cranberry sauce with a nice flavor of thyme. If you prefer it more or less sweet, adjust your sugar/lemon ingredients accordingly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NOTE: I was sent POM POMs Fresh Arils and pomegranates for this post. All opinions are my own.