4 Ways to Use the Cranberry Sauce You Forgot to Serve

It’s as much a part of our holiday tradition as eating turkey. After seeing several Facebook statuses (stati?) about it and having the same conversation over and over with friends, I knew I was far from alone. At this point, I’m convinced that there is a larger percentage of the population who leaves the cranberry sauce in the kitchen than there is who actually remembers to place it on the table in time for Thanksgiving Dinner.

It would be ridiculous to toss it, so I made a list of options:

Things To Do With The Cranberry Sauce You Left In The Fridge And Didn’t Serve For Thanksgiving Dinner

(working title)

1. Leave it there until next year and hope for improved memory by then. Not kidding, this is what I did. This year we ate last year’s cranberry sauce that I’d forgotten to put out for dinner. That’s not gross because 1) it never left the fridge, so there’s no temperature-changing food issues to worry about and 2) it’s in a can and basically lasts forever anyway.

2. Add it to your leftovers sandwich. Our favorite way to eat leftovers is using leftover rolls, turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce. Believe me. This is sandwich perfection.

3. Eat it for Christmas dinner. If you have another holiday coming up that you’ll be celebrating (i.e., Christmas, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, wintery birthdays), then just eat it then! You won’t even have to add it to your shopping list. I might suggest adding a reminder to your calendar to get it out of the fridge this time, though.

4. Get creative. While slicing delicious, tart circles from the can-shaped blob of tangy goodness is fun and charming all on its own, there are a lot of recipes out there that use canned cranberry sauce.

Some recipes to try:
Spice Cake-Cheesecake-Cranberry Sauce Trifle
Cranberry Coffee Cake
Cranberry-Mustard Glaze for Christmas Ham