Candied Cranberries
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Apr 11, 2025 
These Vanilla Orange Candied Cranberries are the perfect combination of tart and sweet, with a crunchy layer of sugar that creates a delicious texture! These festive treats are great to add to your holiday desserts or serve on their own as a little snack!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Candied Cranberries, AKA Sugared Cranberries
I always like to make Vanilla Orange Candied Cranberries in preparation for the holidays. This Cranberry Candy Recipe, also known as Sugared Cranberries, is extremely simple to make and impressive on any Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s table.
Like nature-made Sour Patch Kids, sugar-coated cranberries are sweet and tart. Plus, they are so pretty, you will find all sorts of way to use these sparkling cranberries!
Ingredients for Candied Cranberries
- Granulated sugar
- Water
- Vanilla extract
- Orange extract
- Fresh cranberries, washed
How to Make Candied Cranberries
Find the full Cranberry Candy Recipe with ingredient proportions and detailed instructions in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Recipe Variations
Mix up the flavors of the candy coating by swapping the vanilla and citrus extracts with other extracts such as: coconut, almond, lemon, chocolate, rum, and/or raspberry extract.
How To Use Candied Cranberries
Just think of all the wonderful ways to use these sugared cranberries:
- Place this cranberry candy recipe in a candy dish to be gobbled up by the handful as a holiday treat.
- Use as a fancy garnish for holiday pies, cakes, cocktails and mocktails, cranberry sauce, or savory dishes.
- Fill martini or champagne glasses with them to decorate your holiday table.
- Place them in little tins or gift bags for small edible gifts.
- One more bonus, the leftover vanilla-orange simple syrup absorbs the essence of cranberry, so save it for irresistible holiday cocktails.
Sugared Cranberries are a must-make this holiday season. Just soak the berries in vanilla orange syrup, then shake in sugar. Viola!
Looking for More Holiday Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Candied Oranges
- Cranberry Brie Bites
- Chocolate Petit Fours
- Impossible Pie with Coconut
- Valentines Day Snacks (Trail Mix)
- Black Rice Recipe (Forbidden Rice)
- Nutella Fondue
- Cherry Pie Bars
- Coffee Bread Pudding
- Cranberry Raspberry Sauce
- Candied Pecans
- Chocolate Pudding Cake
- Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake (Olive Oil Cake)
Candied Cranberries Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 3/4 cups sugar, divided
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange extract or Grand Marnier
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries (1 bag) about 3 cups
Instructions
- Combine 2 1/2 cups of sugar, water, vanilla, and orange extract in a sauce pan. Heat over medium until the sugar has completely dissolved, but not boiling.
- Pour in the cranberries and stir. The hot syrup will loosen the skin, saturate the berries, and adhere to the berries over time. Cover the cranberries with a small plate to keep them mostly submerged. Then cover the pan and place it in the refrigerator over night.
- Place the remaining 1 1/4 cup of sugar in a rimmed dish. Strain the cranberries and place them in the sugar. Shake until they are completely coated. Carefully transfer them to a baking sheet to dry, about an hour.
- Once the sugar coating is hard, place them in an air-tight container and keep in a cool spot for up to a week.
I come back to this recipe year after year around the holidays. The only thing I change is that if I have an orange on hand, I’ll peel thin slices of the very outside layer and add them in with the cranberries instead of using orange extract or liqueur. It imparts a good amount of flavor and then I have a little bit of candied orange peel to nibble or use as a garnish for some other festive recipe.
what kind of cocktails do you suggest to use with this syrup?
Hi Rachel,
You could make a festive Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, Gin Fizz, or Whiskey Sour!
Delicious, easy, but the bonus syrup it makes is even more versatile, great for hot tea or wintry cocktails
Can I freeze them
Hi Trish,
Yes, as long as they are cool and dry, you can place them in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months.
Made these last year and they blew everyone’s mind. My wife loved them and has requested them again for this weekend’s holiday cookie decorating party. The kicker is making Cranberry Margaritas with the syrup afterward. Fresh squeezed lime juice, tequila, and a few spoonfuls of that Ruby red cranberry Orange vanilla syrup on the rocks. BOOM. Feliz navidad mofos
I made this today. I used orange extract and I saved the juice. I have no idea what to do with the juice yet, but I know there has to be something I can do with it! This is good. Thank you. I’m thinking of the different things I can add these to. Salads, sweet breads, oatmeal, yogurt, etc.
I’d like to turn these into edible garlands and gingerbread house decorations, do we think they’ll keep ok at room temperature and still be edible for any length of time?
Hi Nicola,
Hmmm… It’s still just a berry inside, so I can’t imagine they would last very long. Sorry!
We make this recipe a lot in my kitchen! I love it! We use them as garnishes and just eat them. Today I am making them to top our Chocolate orange cheesecakes for a party. I left them in a sealed container on our shelves to see how long they would last. On day 3 they had started to ferment and lost some of the sweetness. The next day the sugar had started to melt off and we tossed them. So, maybe that is helpful to you :)
My toddler loves these. Of course, we made the alcohol-free version with orange extract. And I’m keeping the syrup. Might be nice to infuse other deserts with it. Or maybe even too add a teaspoon or two to some sparkling wine. ;-)
I’ve done these cranberries for the last three years for holiday parties. So, so easy.
They disappear like magic – the sweet/tart is addicting!
Any idea how many hours this needs in the fridge? Does it need 8? More? Thanks!!