The Best Canned Cranberry Sauces, According to Our Taste Test

Cranberry sauce is the unsung hero of your Thanksgiving plate. It cuts through the richness of the stuffing and mashed potatoes, and makes an excellent condiment for your next-day turkey sandwich. 

Store-bought cranberry sauce is perfectly acceptable (many professional chefs even prefer it), but if you’re going to take the shortcut, do it right and pick the best one the country has to offer. We tasted eight canned and jarred cranberry sauces side by side to determine which ones will actually elevate your Turkey Day feast.

How we selected the cranberry sauce

This taste test was slightly different from the others we’ve done, in that one brand — Ocean Spray — dominates the market. We aimed to compare its two cranberry sauces, jellied and whole berry, to nearly every other canned or jarred cranberry sauce available nationwide. Mostly, this included private-label brands — products made by grocery store chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. We also found one independent brand, Tiptree, to add to the mix. 

We included all types of cranberry sauce — jellied, whole berry, and everything in between — to reflect the varied preferences of consumers. 

What’s the difference between whole berry and jellied?

Whole berry cranberry sauce is made by cooking cranberries in sugar and water until they’re soft and juicy. Thickened naturally with the fruit’s pectin, it has a jammy consistency. Jellied starts with the same process as whole berry, but once the cranberries are cooked, the sauce is strained. The smooth liquid is thickened with natural or citrus pectin and left to cool within the can, leaving a jiggly, sliceable substance that slides right onto a plate. 

How we tested

All eight cranberry sauces were emptied into bowls and served to our editors unlabeled. We evaluated each product based on flavor and texture. Flavor-wise, we looked for a balance of sweetness and acidity and a pure, natural cranberry flavor. For consistency, we either wanted a clean, bouncy jelly — nothing rubbery or runny — or juicy berries with a viscous syrup. We also gave every cranberry sauce an overall score, which reflected our personal preferences and how likely we’d be to purchase it again. We averaged the scores to determine the three cranberry sauces worth serving at your Thanksgiving feast.

Best overall: Tiptree Wild Cranberry Sauce

Produced by Tiptree, a British company that has been selling jam for over 140 years, this cranberry sauce was not created with Thanksgiving in mind. And yet, there is no cranberry sauce that we’d rather smear on a thick slice of turkey. “I like this best,” said senior news editor Karla Alindahao. “It’s got a deep, round flavor to it, and a jammy consistency.”

Unlike most of the other cranberry sauces we tried, this one is neither “jellied” nor “whole berry.” Instead, the wild cranberries appear to be roughly chopped and cooked down, making them pleasantly mushy and caramelized. The consistency resembles preserves — soft, spreadable, and a bit gelatinous, but with chunks of fruit and skin. It doesn’t have any spices or citrus (other than the citrus pectin used as a stabilizing agent), but the flavor of the wild cranberries alone was so rich and complex that we didn’t miss them. If you want to make it seem like you put a lot of effort into the cranberry sauce, this is what you should serve.

Best jellied: Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce

If you prefer your cranberry sauce jelly-like and sliceable, you can’t beat Ocean Spray. Founded in 1930, Ocean Spray is the most iconic brand when it comes to all things cranberry, and its jellied cranberry sauce is no exception. Luckily, our taste test proved that the hype is well deserved. 

“I’m not a fan of cranberry sauce, but I could see myself having some of this during my Thanksgiving meal,” said associate social media editor Bianca Trinidad. The texture was light and bouncy and sliced cleanly with a knife, and the flavor was pure cranberry  — sweet and punchy, with a slightly bitter finish.

Best whole berry: Bowl & Basket Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

Most of the whole berry cranberry sauces we tasted had an unpleasant graininess, but not Bowl & Basket’s. Produced by ShopRite, this can contains large, whole cranberries in a loose syrup. “It’s sweet, tart, and has a bit of everything you want,” said editorial director Dylan Garret. “It’s got the feel of something homemade, but doesn’t cheat that from-a-can feeling that people crave.”

While we loved the texture that the juicy cranberries provided, we found them to be a bit too tough. And as for flavor, many of our editors noted that it could use more acidity — orange, lemon, or even citric acid. “It’s not tart enough, just sweet,” said senior photo editor Doan Nguyen. “It just supports the reasons to make whole cranberry sauce yourself.” 

The full list of contenders, ranked from highest to lowest

1. Tiptree Wild Cranberry Sauce
2. Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
3. Bowl & Basket Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
4. Whole Foods 365 Organic Jellied Cranberry Sauce
5. Bowl & Basket Jellied Cranberry Sauce
6. Ocean Spray Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
7. Trader Joe’s Cranberry Sauce
8. Whole Foods 365 Organic Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce