Cranberry Simple Syrup

Cranberry simple syrup takes a berry about as sweet as a parking ticket, simmers it with sugar and water, and strains out a ruby-red syrup made for holiday cocktails and mocktails. A jar lives in my fridge all holiday season. Fresh or frozen berries both work, so there’s no need to hunt down the last bag of fresh cranberries in January. Most of the 25 minutes is the syrup sitting off the heat, which leaves you free to find the cocktail shaker.

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How to Make Cranberry Simple Syrup

Here are the quick, step-by-step instructions with visuals; you can find the full instructions, including the exact ingredients, in the recipe card below.

Pro-tip: Strain the syrup into a spouted 4-cup measuring cup. It holds the whole batch with room to spare, and the spout makes pouring into a narrow bottle a lot less sticky.

1. Combine the Ingredients: Add the cranberries, sugar, and water to a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Frozen berries go in straight from the freezer with no thawing, and they need about 5 extra minutes on the stove.

2. Simmer Until Berries Burst: Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cranberries will start to pop and burst open, releasing their tart juice into the syrup. The syrup is ready to come off the heat when most of the berries have split open, about 10 minutes for fresh. A few holdouts are fine.

3. Strain the Syrup: Remove the saucepan from heat and resist the urge to strain right away. Leave the berries in the pan and let everything sit off the heat for 15 minutes, so it’s cooler and easier to pour. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl or jar, pour in the syrup, and press the berries gently with the back of a spoon to get the last of it out. Toss the solids.

4. Cool and Store: Let the syrup cool to room temperature before transferring it to a clean glass jar or bottle. The syrup will thicken slightly as it cools. Once cooled, seal with a lid and refrigerate.

How to Use Cranberry Simple Syrup

Our cranberry Old Fashioned and cranberry French 75 each take about an ounce or a little less, and our mistletoe martini uses 1¼ ounces.

It’s an easy swap in drinks that call for plain simple syrup, too. Use about ½ ounce in the cranberry orange whiskey sour, Moscow mules, or cranberry mojito, or 1 ounce in place of the agave and bitters in the Christmas cranberry margarita.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Adjust the sweetness. If you prefer a less sweet syrup, reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup. The cranberries are naturally tart, so you can adjust based on how you plan to use it.
• Customize the flavor. Add a cinnamon stick, a few strips of orange peel, fresh rosemary, or whole cloves to the simmering syrup for a spiced variation. Remove the additions when you strain the berries.

More Recipes to Try

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Want another syrup in the fridge? Try one of these:

• Strawberry Simple Syrup – Strawberries, sugar, and water, made for strawberry margaritas, mojitos, and frozen daiquiris.
• Brown Sugar Cinnamon Simple Syrup – Brown sugar and cinnamon sticks, good in an old fashioned, a whiskey sour, or a cup of coffee.
• Jalapeño Simple Syrup – Sliced jalapeños give this one a kick for margaritas, palomas, and lemonade.