What would the holidays be without some cranberry sauce? While may of us have a fondness for the canned, jellied stuff based solely on nostalgia, I am here to tell you that homemade cranberry sauce is incredibly easy to make and states so much better. Using fresh cranberries means this is bursting with flavor and nutrients. And, to make it even more special we’re making Nigella Lawson’s blood orange cranberry sauce for even more flavor.

Blood orange is a flavor that is just a bit sweeter, less tart, and more like berries than regular naval oranges. The intense color is what gives it its name, but in the sauce you may not see much of a bolder color than usual. This is because despite the name, some blood oranges aren’t all that dark inside. Regardless of the color, the flavor that this special fruit imparts to the sauce makes it a wonderful treat.

If you can’t get your hands on a blood orange a naval or Cara cara orange will work great, too.

The recipe is so simple to make. Just throw all the ingredients into a pot, including some blood orange juice and zest. Then let it simmer until the berries begin to pop. At that point remove the pan from the heat and then mash the remaining berries with your potato masher.

The natural pectin in the cranberries means you don’t have to add any thickeners to get it to gel up. Just put it in the fridge until it’s time to eat your turkey or chicken dinner.

This cranberry sauce also goes really well on pork chops, too, so don’t assume it’s only for poultry!

With it being so easy to make there’s no reason not to indulge in some really great cranberry sauce this year.