This homemade lingonberry sauce is a 6 ingredient recipe made with fresh or frozen lingonberries, sugar, and a hint of cinnamon. This sauce tastes so much better than store-bought, and it will literally take you only a few minutes to make.
It's a great alternative to traditional cranberry sauce and will taste delicious with chicken, duck, and pork!
Try something new as it is a great substitute for cranberry sauce.
In this post, we are going to learn what is lingonberry and how does it taste, how to make a lingonberry sauce IKEA style, and what is the difference between lingonberries and cranberries.
Why it's yummy
- Lingonberry sauce aka almost-very-similar-yet-not-the-same as Lingonberry jam is a great alternative to traditional cranberry sauce that is served mostly but not limited for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Lingonberry tastes sour and tart but at the same time is still sweet especially when cooked into a sauce.
- It has a very similar taste to cranberry sauce and is perfect for poultry and meats, especially pork.
- This lingonberry sauce has a very bright and rich color which makes it ideal for serving during the festive season, special events, and celebrations.
If you have tried cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving then you'll sure love this Lingonberry sauce.
Ingredients
You'll only need 5 ingredients plus warm clean boiled water to make this lingonberry sauce!
- Lingonberries - frozen or fresh, anything will work. For frozen make sure to thaw them in the fridge halfway through.
- Red wine - anything that you have on hand and are not afraid to waste in the sauce! I usually prefer dry red wine for this.
- Corn starch - for thickening the sauce.
- Sugar - I used white granulated sugar but light or brown cane sugar will also work here, the sauce color might come out darker though.
- Cinnamon - a good one is this.
Equipment
Instructions
I prefer fresh lingonberries (also called cowberry) but of course, they are not widely available in every country and frozen berries, will work just fine.
STEP 1 - Wash lingonberries and transfer them to a large pot. Pour in cold water and take it to a boil. Then measure and add sugar and organic cinnamon. Cook for 3 minutes, constantly removing the foam.
Remove from the heat.
STEP 2 - Then you’ll need to use an immersion blender to mash the berries.
PRO TIP: Don’t mash up all the berries, I like to leave a few whole berries or just halves in my sauce. This way it will look way more appetizing 🙂 Also, don't overdo this step as the sauce may become too thin.
STEP 3 - Transfer the pot with mashed lingonberries back to the stove. Pour in the wine and take it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
STEP 4 - Next, mix 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water.
Add it into your sauce constantly stirring until the mixture will start boiling.
Remove from heat.
STEP 5 - SERVE!
Serve warm with pork tenderloin or meatballs or any of your favorite recipe.
Store in a jar in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze up to 3-4 months.
With this recipe you should have around 2 cups of ready-made sauce. About 10-12 servings. You'll only need a little bit!
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Tips
- Best enjoyed with pork tenderloin or meatballs in white sauce or gravy.
- With this recipe, you should have around 2 cups of ready-made lingonberry sauce/jam. Approximately 10-12 servings.
- For sugar amount: depends on the berries. My suggestion is to add 4 tablespoons of sugar first, cook it for a few minutes, and then taste the sauce. If you like it sweeter, add few tablespoons more, if you like it more sour keep it as it is.
- Good to know! When your cooking lingonberry sauce you don’t need to use any preservative because these berries contain benzoic acid that is actually a natural preservative.
Servings Suggestions
Oh, plenty options! Use this beautiful sauce in your everyday recipes.
But here are our favorites:
- For cheesecakes!
- On toasts.
- Stir into oatmeal and other porridges.
- Combine fresh lingonberries with other berries and make a fruit salad.
- Add lingonberries to your hot tea or drink for a proper vitamin boost!
- Serve with pork, beef poultry or meatballs which is very common in Sweden hence why the name of the popular recipe is Swedish Meatballs. In fact, you can find this dish in almost every IKEA restaurant.
- Drizzle over your roasted veggies, YUM!
Lingonberry sauce substitute
If you don’t have lingonberries, then a very close alternative are cranberries. Simply use cranberries instead of lingonberries for this recipe. But, something to keep in mind: lingonberries naturally have a more sour taste than cranberries, so you might want to decrease/increase the sugar amount in the sauce. Personal preference, really.
FAQ
Homemade Sauce Recipes
I hope you enjoy this lingonberry sauce recipe for any festive celebrations or just simply in your favorite recipes!
Thank you for reading,
Julia
Homemade Lingonberry Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 3 ¼ cup fresh lingonberries can use frozen
- ⅙ cup red wine preferably dry
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 6 tablespoon sugar
- ¾ cup of water plus few tablespoons more
INSTRUCTIONS
- Wash lingonberries and transfer them to a large pot. Pour in cold water and take it to a boil. Then add sugar and cinnamon. Cook for 3 minutes, constantly removing the foam.
- Remove from the heat.
- Then you’ll need to use an immersion blender to mash all the lingonberries.
- PRO TIP: Don’t mash up all the berries, I like to leave a few whole berries in my sauce. This way it will look way more appetizing 🙂
- Transfer the mashed lingonberries back to the stove. Pour in the wine and take it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water. Add it into your sauce constantly stirring until the mixture will start boiling. Remove from heat.
- Serve warm with your favorite meat recipes, polutry, vegetables and many more!
NOTES
- Best enjoyed with pork tenderloin or meatballs recipes.
- With this recipe, you should have around 2 cups of ready-made lingonberry sauce/jam. Approximately 10-12 servings.
- For sugar amount: depend on the berries. My suggestion is to add 4 tablespoons of sugar first, cook it for a few minutes, and then taste the sauce. If you like it sweeter, add few tablespoons more, if you like it more sour keep it as it is.
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Need a different visual? This recipe is also available as a story!
Hannah
this recipe is so good, I now use this sauce for all my meats! Never thought lingonberries can taste so good with meat. I’m now planning to do the same recipe but with cranberries. Thanks for sharing!
Julia
Thank you so much Hannah, I am so happy you loved it!
Margo
Delicious!
Julia
Thank you Margo!