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Cranberry BBQ Sauce

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on July 22, 2011

Time

9 minutes

Yield

Serves 8 (Makes about 1 cup)

Cranberry BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

6 tablespoons ketchup 3 tablespoons cider vinegar ¼ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons brown sugar ½ teaspoon pepper ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper ⅛ teaspoon liquid smoke ½ cup cranberry sauce, leftover (see related Basic Cranberry Sauce Basic Cranberry Sauce)

Before You Begin

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time.

Instructions

  1. Whisk ketchup, cider vinegar, salt, brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, and liquid smoke into leftover cranberry sauce.
Cranberry BBQ Sauce

Cranberry BBQ Sauce

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Time

9 minutes

Yield

Serves 8 (Makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon liquid smoke
½ cup cranberry sauce, leftover (see related Basic Cranberry Sauce Basic Cranberry Sauce)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon liquid smoke
½ cup cranberry sauce, leftover (see related Basic Cranberry Sauce Basic Cranberry Sauce)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon liquid smoke
½ cup cranberry sauce, leftover (see related Basic Cranberry Sauce Basic Cranberry Sauce)

Why This Recipe Works

With a little doctoring, we turned our recipe for Basic Cranberry Sauce into a versatile Cranberry BBQ Sauce.

The standard back-of-the-bag cranberry sauce recipe was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yields the ideal consistency. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving the cranberry sauce for our Cranberry BBQ Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Before You Begin

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time.

Instructions

  1. Whisk ketchup, cider vinegar, salt, brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, and liquid smoke into leftover cranberry sauce.

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