Are you already starting to get frazzled about Thanksgiving dinner? It’s around this time that people become a little overwhelmed with grocery shopping, meal planning, and other turkey day prep. So we couldn’t be more relieved that Ina Garten has shared an epic hack that’ll lighten your load a bit.
Cranberry sauce: it’s a Thanksgiving essential, but many of us shudder at the thought of noshing on cranberry sauce served out of a can.
Thanks to Garten’s genius “hot rod” technique, there’s a quick and easy way to turn that canned cranberry sauce into the star of your Thanksgiving dinner. All you need for the hack are a handful of ingredients and just a few minutes of your time.
“I start with a can of whole berry cranberry sauce. So I take the whole can and put it into a pot with freshly squeezed orange juice, a little orange zest, and a half a grated apple,” Garten shared. “I’m going to cook this for about 15 minutes…So I simmered the cranberry sauce then I refrigerated it. And now I’m going to add raisins and roughly diced pecans. And now I’m just going to put it in a little dish. You have the best cranberry fruit conserve that was incredibly easy.”
Since being posted just a few days ago, Garten’s video has received well over 95,000 likes. Even Jennifer Garner is impressed.
“Ina, you are the Mariah Carey of Thanksgiving! ♥️👑♥️,” the actress commented.
Although plenty of people are praising The Barefoot Contessa’s recipe, others are adamant that making cranberry sauce from scratch isn’t as hard as it might seem.
“It’s so easy to drop a bag of cranberries in a pan add sugar orange juice orange peel and pinch of salt. It cooks perfectly everytime,” said one person.
“This is amazing, and definitely appreciate the sentiment, but making cranberry sauce from scratch couldn’t be easier!!” another user added.
Now if Ina Garten could just share her hack for perfectly cooked turkey and scrumptious mashed potatoes, we’d be all set for Thanksgiving dinner!
Danielle Harling is an Atlanta-based freelance writer with a love for colorfully designed-spaces, craft cocktails and online window shopping (usually for budget-shattering designer heels). Her past work has appeared on Fodor’s, Forbes, MyDomaine, Architectural Digest and more.
