Cardamom-Spiced Cranberry-Pear Sauce

This Cardamom-Spiced Cranberry-Pear Sauce is perfect if you want a fresh new twist on a classic favorite. Serve it with turkey dinner or as a fun seasonal topping for oatmeal, yogurt, or toast.

Most people only enjoy cranberries in sauce, but not me. I look forward to cranberry season months before those little gems show up at the market.

Reminiscent of Sour Patch Kids and Lemon WarHeads (can you tell I was a child of the 80’s/90’s?), I like cranberries as-is. I find their tart flavor pleasantly refreshing and a great addition to seasonal salads (especially if a sweet, fruity vinaigrette is involved), as well as baked goods (like my Paleo Cranberry-Pecan Loaf).

I always pick up a bag of cranberries as soon as I find them at the grocery store. One of my favorite things to do is make cranberry sauce, but it goes well beyond Thanksgiving dinner (to be honest, I don’t really care all that much for cranberry sauce on my turkey!). I much prefer my cranberry sauce on top of oatmeal, yogurt, or pancakes, spread on toast like jam, or combined with nut butter for a grown-up twist on a classic PB&J sandwich.

This particular sauce is absolutely perfect for any of those uses, making it a staple in my kitchen during cranberry season. You can also use this cranberry sauce to make a festive parfait-style dessert layered with yogurt and a sprinkling of walnuts or pecans on top.

Cardamom-Spiced Cranberry-Pear Sauce

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Yield: About 3½ cups

This Cardamom-Spiced Cranberry-Pear Sauce is perfect if you want a fresh new twist on a classic favorite. Serve it with turkey dinner or as a fun seasonal topping for oatmeal, yogurt, or toast.

Ingredients

12 oz (340 g or about 3 heaping cups) fresh cranberries, rinsed
2 medium pears, cored and diced (not peeled; I used D’Anjou)
½ cup (100 g) sugar (or coconut sugar)
1 cup (240 ml) pear nectar
⅛ teaspoon sea salt
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Instructions

Add the cranberries, pear, sugar, pear nectar, and sea salt to a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once boiling, turn the heat down slightly so it doesn’t boil over. Cover the pot and simmer until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla bean paste and cardamom.
Store in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.