Ready in just about 30 minutes with 6 ingredients, this cranberry orange marmalade smells and tastes like the holidays! A whole orange is finely chopped and cooked with fresh cranberries, orange juice, spices, and sugar for a sweet-tart marmalade that can be enjoyed as-is or water bath canned for shelf stability.
I honestly can’t eat enough cranberries during fall and winter and this cranberry orange marmalade is by far my favorite way to use them! It’s so incredibly simple to make, and while I’ve included canning instructions with it, you can absolutely just serve it up for the holidays as a side dish. Or, keep it in your fridge to enjoy with toast or oatmeal! What sets it apart from a standard cranberry and orange sauce recipe is that I chop up an entire orange, peel and all, and cook it along with the cranberries. This imparts so much more flavor and makes it feel more like a jam/marmalade hybrid. Plus, you get to enjoy the jammy bits of orange peel which is honestly my favorite part!
Notes on Ingredients and Substitutions
As the recipe is written in the recipe card below, it is formulated to be safe for water bath canning so I do not recommend adjusting ingredients (especially the amount of sugar) if you plan on canning it. If you aren’t canning the cranberry orange marmalade, feel free to reduce the sugar to your tastes or sub maple syrup or honey in its place! I initially developed this marmalade recipe with navel oranges but love to use either Cara Cara or blood oranges (my favorite!) these days.
Water Bath Canning Notes
If you are new to water bath canning, I highly recommend checking out this tutorial from Ball as I’m not providing highly detailed instructions for this whole process in the recipe card. If I am canning this recipe, I prefer to do it in half pint jars. If you choose to use pint jars, you will need to increase the water bath processing time to 10 minutes. If you do decide to can this recipe, I highly recommend doubling or tripling it to make it worth your while! A double batch will yield 5-6 half pints and a triple batch will yield around 10 half pints.
Cranberry Orange Marmalade in 4 Easy Steps
Perfect Pairings for Your Cranberry Orange Marmalade
I love making a holiday grazing board with some of this marmalade, these spiced pecans with rosemary, and an assortment of cheeses and crackers. It’s such a great way to keep guests (or yourself!) satieted before a big meal. This cranberry orange marmalade is also great paired with biscuits or scones, like my magical vegan and gluten free scones. And, it’s lovely atop oatmeal, yogurt, and pancakes.
Packaging and Gifting for the Holidays
Once canned, the marmalade is shelf stable for a year which makes it perfect for gifting during the holidays! I love to use blank kraft stickers to create handwritten labels. My favorite combo is a blank kraft label and a white gel pen. The two-piece lids used in canning lend themselves well to dressing up your jars with a pretty square of cloth and festive yarn, ribbon, or twine. I like to cut a square of cloth, place it over the lid, then secure it in place with the ring (below). Then, I’ll tie yarn, ribbon, or twine around the ring. Easy-peasy!
Cranberry Orange Marmalade
- Total Time: 30-35 minutes
- Yield: about 2 1/2 cups 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ready in just about 30 minutes with 6 ingredients, this cranberry orange marmalade smells and tastes like the holidays! A whole orange is finely chopped and cooked with fresh cranberries, orange juice, spices, and sugar for a sweet-tart marmalade that can be enjoyed as-is or water bath canned for shelf stability.
Ingredients
- 1 medium orange, such as navel or Cara Cara
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, from about 2 medium oranges
- 3 cups fresh cranberries, about one 12-ounce bag
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, or organic raw cane sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Scrub the skin of the first orange very well then pat dry. Slice off the very top and bottom of the orange and discard. Slice the orange in half from top to bottom. Slice each half into several thin wedges. Remove any seeds you see and discard them. Slice each wedge thinly into small triangles. Add the cut oranges to a large pot.
Juice the remaining two oranges and measure out 1/2 cup of juice. Add this to the pot as well (no need to strain out any pulp) along with the cranberries, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon.
Set the pot over medium high heat. Bring the marmalade to a boil, stirring regularly, then reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook the marmalade, stirring regularly, until most of the cranberries have burst, the oranges are tender, and the mixture is glossy and has thickened to a jammy consistency. This will take between 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your pot. If you’re making a double or tripe batch, this will take closer to 20-25 minutes. Once the marmalade is done, remove it from the heat.
If you are not canning your marmalade, store in a clean airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within a month.
If you are water bath canning your marmalade, use half pint jars with 2 piece lids and leave 1/4-inch headspace. Process for 5 minutes in a water bath canner, then remove and allow to cool fully. Check the lids after one hour. Any jars that have not sealed will need to be kept in the fridge and enjoyed within a month. Jars that have sealed can be stored at room temperature and are good for a year.
Notes
- Make sure to check your cranberries and discard any that are soft or have brown spots.
- Frozen cranberries can be used in place of fresh cranberries though the cooking time will be slightly longer.
- If you want to can these to be shelf stable, you’ll need to use half pint mason jars with 2-piece lids (like the ones made by Ball). Make sure you’re using lids that have never been used/sealed before.
- If you are canning the recipe as written above, it is enough to fill 2-3 half pint jars. I HIGHLY recommend doubling or tripling the recipe above to make it worth your time!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Category: jam
This was incredible. The flavor was amazing. I will be canning some for sure!
Awesome! So happy to hear that 🙂