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.
Just finished these up today, and they came out great! Using the left over syrup for cocktails! I think a bit of vanilla powder would make these pop just a bit more.
Endless possibiliteis for these little beauties!
I made your recipe last year during Christmas time and they were a hit!! These cranberries are so gorgeous and delicious. I’m giving away mason jars full of these babies as little pre-Christmas gifts this year. Thanks for the recipe!
I made these last year and my husband ate them up! He even loves them so much he made a specific request for me to make them again this year. I’d call that a winner!
We absolutely loved these! I had to keep hands away from them because I wanted to decorate a cake using the cranberries(which turned out perfectly Christmas-y!)
I did reduce the sugar quite a bit and decided to use Amaretto Liqueur, all working out wonderfully. Thanks so much!
Using different colored sugars is fun with these. We love to use the golds and silver.
Just noticing the grams do not equal the cups via Google search. Google says 12oz is equivalent to 1.5 cups. But the ingredients say 12oz is about 3 cups. Please clarify. Was planning on making these. Thanks.
These are so beautiful sparkling in the bowl! I made a batch and although they are a little too sour for me, my husband and son (big fans of Sour Patch Kids) love them! Thanks for sharing. Happy Holidays!
Oh just saw these on Eat, Play, Love and can’t wait to try them!
Not only beautiful to look at but an extremely user friendly recipe to make even for the novice of cooks. I will definitely be adding this to my recipe collection. Thank you so very much!
love this idea never heard of candies cranberries,,, They sound yummy
I’ve always wondered if cranberries could be made into sweet berry bites and here you have it. This is just what I’ve been looking for. I bet it’s a bite of tart sweetness. Thanks for sharing!