Fresh cranberry sauce is a quintessential holiday dish that's easy to make ahead of time. Variations on classic cranberry sauce There are no limits when it comes to customizing your cranberry sauce.

For traditional, smooth cranberry sauce, add all cranberries to the pan and return to a boil (for whole berry cranberry sauce, reserve a heaping ½ cup of berries to add later).

But first, let’s make the basic sauce. In a medium-to-large pot, boil 1 cup of orange juice with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon of fresh orange zest.

For traditional, smooth cranberry sauce, add all cranberries to the pan and return to a boil (for whole berry cranberry sauce, reserve a heaping ½ cup of berries to add later).