Easy Grand Marnier Sauce

Dessert sauce over cake and ice cream

Chuck Kahn / EyeEm / Getty Images

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Total: 15 mins
Servings: 10 servings
Yield: 1 1/4 cups

This Grand Marnier Sauce recipe is from "Gourmet Cooking With 5 Ingredients" by Deborah Anderson. Although considered gourmet, this recipe is easy, taking all of 15 minutes to prepare and calling for only five ingredients. Grand Marnier—a rich, amber-colored cognac-based liqueur flavored with Haitian bitter orange peels, spices, and vanilla—is combined with freshly squeezed orange juice, butter, sugar, and orange zest. The sauce is excellent as a glaze for chicken or pork, or as a dessert sauce over fruits or plain cake. 

Freshly squeezed orange juice that has been strained of any pulp gives this sauce a fresh taste and, along with the butter, a smooth, velvety texture. Orange zest ups the citrus flavor, and a small amount of sugar adds just enough sweetness to counteract the fruit's bitterness. Of course, the Grand Marnier is the star, creating a complex and sophisticated sauce that will dress up both sweet and savory dishes.

Serve this Grand Marnier sauce brushed over roasted turkey breast, broiled chicken thighs, or pan-fried pork chops, or drizzle over vanilla ice cream, crepes, or slices of chocolate, vanilla, or spice cake.

Reprinted with permission from "Gourmet Cooking With 5 Ingredients" by Deborah Anderson (Cookbook Resources).

Ingredients

  • 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at ​room temperature

  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, strained

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

  • 1/4 cup Grand Marnier liqueur

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Slice the room-temperature butter into 1/4-inch pieces and set aside.

  3. In a small saucepan, heat the strained orange juice, sugar, and finely grated orange zest over low heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

  4. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. The sauce will thicken and become syrupy.

  5. Add the butter slices to the saucepan, piece by piece, while whisking constantly. When thoroughly blended, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier.

  6. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Tip

Make sure to remove the pan from the heat before adding the Grand Marnier. You don't want to let the mixture boil or else it will burn off the alcohol.

What's the Best Way to Zest an Orange?

If a recipe calls for both citrus zest and juice, it is much easier to zest the piece of fruit before cutting and juicing it. This way, you can hold the whole orange, lemon, or lime in your hand as you remove the peel. The best tool for zesting is a Microplane, but a vegetable peeler will work as well (you will need to chop the zest afterward).

How to Store

This Grand Marnier sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
143 Calories
14g Fat
5g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories 143
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14g 18%
Saturated Fat 9g 43%
Cholesterol 37mg 12%
Sodium 2mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 5g 2%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 13mg 63%
Calcium 7mg 1%
Iron 0mg 0%
Potassium 54mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)