This is my new favorite holiday app! Cranberry Salsa that is finely textured, juicy, zippy, fresh, and sweet, with a little fire from the jalapeño.
Gingery Cranberry Salsa
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So fresh and unique! Served with some tortilla chips and was also great as a side to cheese and savory food.
Emily
Watch How To Make This Cranberry Salsa
Cranberry Salsa, You Are My New Favorite Holiday App.
My friend Amanda has a gorgeous recipe for a cranberry-salsa-topped dip with cream cheese. I’ve had my eye on it for years, and this was the year I finally tried it. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
It is finely textured, juicy, zippy, fresh and sweet with a little bit of fire from the jalapeño.
There are plenty of cranberry salsa or cranberry relish-type recipes out there, but the best thing she does that’s different from other recipes is that she adds a knob of fresh ginger. Hello! So good.
I brought her dip on the platter, with the creamy base, to a holiday party in our neighborhood and it was delicious. Beautiful. So wonderful. But when we came back home, both Bjork and I went straight to the fridge for just the extra cranberry salsa – eating it plain, nothing else with it, just dipping chips straight into it like hungry little wolves.
The really fun part is that over the next few days, I found myself using that cranberry salsa on EVERYTHING – a dollop on a turkey wrap with spinach and mayo. A shmear of it on toast. A spoonful of it into my chicken and rice bowl.
So, here’s the recipe for the salsa, as I made it – I made only a few slight changes to Amanda’s recipe, most significantly, using garlic instead of green onions (just what we prefer in this house), throwing some bonus parsley in there, and adding a decent amount of pistachios for some extra body and a buttery crunch.
You can eat it fresh, for sure, but don’t skip the rest time in the fridge for some Day 2 action. It gets a little less aggressively tart and a lot more juicy.
I’ve already made it twice in the last week. Cheers to last-minute holiday recipes for people like me!
Welcome To My House! Let’s Make Cranberry Salsa!
1
Chop up the cranberries.
This is most ideal in a food processor! I use this one. (Affiliate link)
2
Chop Your Aromatic Yummy Stuff.
Again, the food processor coming in clutch!
3
You’re Done! Yum!
Toss everything up and give it a 12-24 hour rest, if you can! SO AMAZING with chips or crackers with goat cheese.
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Gingery Cranberry Salsa
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2–3 cups of salsa (serves 12) 1x
Description
This is my new favorite holiday app! Cranberry Salsa that is finely textured, juicy, zippy, fresh, and sweet, with a little fire from the jalapeño.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Gingery Cranberry Salsa
- 1 12–ounce bag of fresh cranberries
- 1/3 cup sugar
- half of a jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed (see notes)
- one 1-inch knob of fresh ginger root, peeled
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
- juice and zest of 1-2 limes (to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- 1/2 cup salted roasted pistachios (optional)
Instructions
- Chop Cranberries: Blitz cranberries in a food processor until broken down into a very finely chopped texture, being careful not to overly-chop or puree them. Transfer to a bowl.
- Combine with Sugar: Toss cranberries with sugar.
- Chop Aromatics and Mix: Add jalapeño, ginger, garlic, and cilantro to the food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Mix into the cranberry bowl; add lime juice, zest, and salt.
- Let It Rest (Optional): Let the salsa rest for 12-24 hours, if you can! This helps the cranberries tenderize and get super juicy, and the flavors will all come together so well!
- Also Optional: add pistachios to the same food processor, pulse until finely chopped, and add to the cranberry salsa just before serving.
Notes
My jalapeños have been SO spicy lately – I added half a jalapeño to my last batch of this and it was still incredibly spicy! If you’re sensitive to spice, I would suggest using just a tiny little chunk of jalapeno. Also, be sure to remove all the ribs and seeds of the jalapeño as that’s what contains the most heat.
If you don’t want to buy both herbs, I’ve made this with only cilantro, and only parsley, and it works well both ways!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: No-Cook
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cranberry salsa, cranberry jalapeño, cranberry dip, holiday appetizer
Three More Top-Notch Holiday Apps
December 19, 2024
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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Made this tonight for secret Santa party in brooklyn — everyone loved it and it was so easy to make!
I thought it was so fresh and yummy. The different flavors complimented in in way I wouldn’t think they would have.
I’ve made a recipe similar to this from TheKitchn with the main difference being the addition of ginger in POY’s recipe; what a unique, tasty holiday appetizer! It’s a great, zingy starter that helps cut through the fat and richness of most holiday meals. I did omit the fresh garlic from it as I didn’t want that to be the overwhelming flavor of this. Served it over whipped cream cheese with cinnamon pita chips for an easy, make-ahead treat to share. Another winner from POY team!
The garlic was definitely not overpowering. It compliments the salsa perfectly!
Unique combination of flavors and a great salsa for the holiday season!
So good! I tried 5-6 groceries store and could not find cranberries, so I did pomegranate and raspberry and decreased amount of sugar added. It as delicious
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Added in some pecans (in addtion to the pistachios) as well as 2 Tbsp of dijon mustard and some olive oil. took some inspiration from Heart Beet Kitchen and layered it on top of a mixure of cream cheese and goat cheese (with some green onion, garlic salt, and horseradish mixed in it) and served it with some fancy crackers. tasted just the way i thought it would. i saved some to served with mushroom quesadillas later this week!
What a hit! Made it for Christmas eve and got lots of compliments and requests for the recipe. Served it with the Siete Buenelos as recommended by Lindsay on her IG and I’m so glad I searched 4 stores for those, it was worth it!
This was so perfect for holiday entertaining! It is unique and really delicious! I kept mine on the milder side but really loved the tartness from the cranberries. I served it with tortilla chips as well as crostini. Yum!
Made this for Christmas and everyone loved it!
This is great! It’s refreshing. It was easy to make. Perfect with tortilla chips.
Beautiful color! It was a bright and fresh addition to our Christmas appetizers !
This was surprisingly delicious! I even put some on a ham and brie grilled cheese. That was a good combo.
Everyone loved this and it was so festive! Did not use pistachios.
I made this for Christmas and it was so delicious. I prepped a day in advance and that really helped all of the flavors come together. I could have added more jalapeño but I erred on making it more mild as this was my first time making it. Incredibly easy to make!
So fresh and unique! Served with some tortilla chips and was also great as a side to cheese and savory food.
I was curious to try this, glad I was because it was a total hit on Christmas!!! I paired this salsa with truffle crackers from Whole Foods – amazing. It tasted better the longer it sat – day 3 was the best
I made this for my family on Christmas, everyone said it was delicious and wanted me to make it again.
Your blog is a beacon of light in the often murky waters of online content. Your thoughtful analysis and insightful commentary never fail to leave a lasting impression. Keep up the amazing work!
This fantastic combination went great with some homemade tortilla chips. I will definitely make this again for holiday parties. Thank you Lindsay, for sharing this fantastic recipe!
I’ve never fathomed the though of combining Cranberry and Ginger. But from the sound of it, it’s quite beneficial to the betterment of health. Ginger, as we all know, boosts the immune system. And, Cranberry is also beneficial.