Zest the orange with a zester or grater. Set the zest aside.

Squeeze the juice from the orange you just grated. Measure your juice. If you are not able to get 1/2 cup of juice from your orange, add water to make up any small difference. Set aside juice.

Go through your cranberries. You will want to remove any that look bad and remove any stems that are still attached. Rinse your cranberries and set them aside.

Pour orange juice and water into a 2 quart saucepan. Add sugar and cook on medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add cranberries to the saucepan. Stir berries into the liquid mixture a few times. Cover saucepan with a lid leaving a small gap for steam to escape.

Cook for 10 to 12 minutes. At this point some of the berries will look whole and some will be cooked down.

Remove your cranberry sauce from the heat and add the orange zest (reserving some for garnish). Stir to combine the zest into the cranberry sauce.

Your homemade cranberry sauce can be served immediately or made the day before and refrigerated until ready to serve.

Garnish with remaining orange zest before serving.