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Skip the can this year and impress your guests with this elegant fresh cranberry gelatin mold made with real fruit, orange zest, and a splash of Grand Marnier.
It’s a beautiful twist on the classic holiday side and tastes as good as it looks. This recipe is sweet, tart, and perfectly sliceable.
Reasons You’ll Want to Make This
If you’ve ever wanted to elevate your cranberry sauce game, this cranberry mold recipe is the way to do it. It uses my homemade cranberry sauce as the base, but with the addition of gelatin for that smooth, sliceable texture everyone secretly loves.
This version is packed with the flavor of fresh cranberries, oranges, and warm spice, and it looks stunning on any Thanksgiving or Christmas table. It’s a step up from traditional canned cranberry jelly, but just as nostalgic.
What You’ll Need To Make It
You’ll find the full recipe in the card below, but here’s what you’ll need at a glance.
Fresh cranberries, orange juice, zest, sugar (white and brown), pumpkin pie spice, and a touch of Grand Marnier. To set the mold, you’ll use unflavored gelatin mixed with a little water and cranberry juice. The result is a glossy cranberry gelatin mold that tastes homemade and festive.
Learn From Me
After years of making both fresh cranberry sauce and this cranberry gelatin mold, I’ve learned one important thing: people love options. Because some prefer to spoon it, others to slice it, I always make both versions when hosting Thanksgiving.
Both recipes are easy to make ahead, freeing you up for the real work on the big day.
How to Make Fresh Cranberry Mold
Complete directions are in the recipe card below, but here’s a quick overview.
Cook the fresh cranberries with orange juice, sugar, and zest until they burst and thicken. Stir in the Grand Marnier for flavor, then add the bloomed gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved.
Pour the mixture into lightly greased molds. Mini bundt pans work beautifully. Then refrigerate until firm. Once chilled, invert and serve for a picture-perfect fresh cranberry mold recipe your guests will love.
Substitutions and Variations
You can easily make this cranberry gelatin recipe your own.
- For a brighter flavor, stir in a splash of lemon juice before chilling.
- Skip the Grand Marnier for a non-alcoholic version. Orange juice alone adds great flavor.
- Swap pumpkin pie spice for cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Use a single large mold or make individual cranberry sauce molds for each place setting.
If you have leftover cranberry sauce, you can also make a batch of my crescent roll brie bites or an easy cranberry martini!
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Pin ItFresh Cranberry Gelatin Mold
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- zest from one orange
- juice from 2 large valencia oranges about 3/4 cup
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries rinsed
- 1/8 cup Grand Marnier
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cranberry juice
- one 0.25 ounce packet unflavored gelatin
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar in the juice from 2 large valencia oranges with the zest from one orange and 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. This has to be what heaven smells like.
- Stir in the 12 ounces fresh cranberries and cook until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes). Turn heat to low and add 1/8 cup Grand Marnier, stir, and cook for another minute or so.
- While cranberry sauce is cooking, add 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cranberry juice to small bowl and sprinkle one 0.25 ounce packet unflavored gelatin on top. Give it a swirl and allow the gelatin to bloom for at least 5 minutes.
- Once the cranberry sauce is done, add the gelatin mixture and stir well to combine.
- Lightly spray a mold pan (I used three small ones) with oil and add the hot cranberry sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to set and fully cool in refrigerator, at least 2 hours.
- To serve, cover with plate and invert. If sauce doesn't come out easily, slide a butter knife around edge to release before inverting. Serve cold.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I make this alongside the fresh cranberry sauce so that people can choose. They LOVE the flavor!
This recipe was definitely a hit, especially with my daughter in law at Thanksgiving. I substituted orange juice for the Marnier, but the orange flavor I found a bit intense, what with the fresh oj and orange zest already present, so will simply omit that. Also – the .25 oz. I found not sufficient to gel the recipe even with just 1 12 oz bag of cranberries, did anyone try increasing this amount, if so, by how much? Will a doubled recipe fill a typical round bundt style gelatin mold? Thanks.
For fresh cranberry mold, do you use hot or cold water to mix with the gelatin? Thanks
I just used cold water and it worked fine.
1oz packet, or .25oz packet?
Oh dear! I’m terribly sorry about that! Recipe should have read 0.25oz. There are 4 in the box (1oz total) and I misread the amount. Recipe has been updated.
What are brown sugar coupons?
Ack! I have no idea how the word coupons got in there. I edited the recipe. Thanks!
Would this need to be doubled for a regular sized bundt pan? Can’t wait to make this for thanksgiving!
Sorry for the late reply. I think it would be very shallow in a regular bundt pan unless you double the recipe. Did you try it?