Cranberry Salsa

5 from 1 vote

My fresh cranberry salsa is a blend of chunky, fresh cranberries, orange and lime juice, jalapeno, and fresh cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips with your turkey, or just because!

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This Cranberry Salsa is my fall take on my favorite appetizer! It’s tart, citrusy, herby, and has just a little heat—and comes together fast. I think it’s perfect for scooping up with tortilla chips, but it’d also be delicious as alternative to cranberry sauce alongside turkey.

Cranberry salsa on a platter with tortilla chips.
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This 10-minute cranberry salsa requires almost zero chopping. Instead, you let the food processor do the work of blitzing everything together. This fresh cranberry salsa is sweet, savory, and just a little spicy! While I think it’d make a great addition to a holiday spread, if you have leftover cranberries after Thanksgiving, I can totally see this salsa being delicious with roast chicken or air-fryer salmon!

Recipe At a Glance

Cuisine Inspiration: American
Primary Cooking Method: No-cook
Dietary Info: Vegan
Key Flavor: Cranberries
Skill Level: Easy

Why This Is So Good

  • Minimal ingredients: This cranberry salsa is a no-fuss recipe with just 7 ingredients (including salt!).
  • Make-ahead: You can absolutely make this easy cranberry salsa a day or two beforehand and pull it out of the fridge when you’re ready to serve it!
  • Versatile: Scoop it up with tortilla chips or pita chips, serve it with roasted meat or fish, add it to a cheese board, or eat it with a quesadilla...this fresh cranberry salsa can go with a lot!

Ingredients to Make Cranberry Salsa

Ingredients for recipe: fresh cranberries, cilantro, sugar, jalapeno, orange, lime, and salt.
  • Fresh cranberries: Tart and sweet, cranberries are actually fruit, not berries!
  • Cilantro: This has such a distinctive flavor! Some people think it tastes like soap, but I can’t imagine salsa without it.
  • Granulated sugar: Even though this is a savory recipe, this helps offset the tartness of the cranberries.
  • Jalapeño: This adds a gentle heat. You could use another Chile, like Serrano, instead!
  • Orange and lime juice: Two types of citrus juice make this salsa so bright and fresh-tasting.
  • Add citrus zest. Do this before you juice the orange and lime. It will really amp up the citrus flavor!
  • Swap out the sugar. Try maple syrup or honey instead.
  • Experiment with different citrus. You could use lemon or grapefruit instead of the orange and lime.
  • Add a little spice. Season this cranberry salsa to taste with chili powder! (Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t add less.)

How to Make Cranberry Salsa

This salsa really has just two steps: add everything to the food processor and blitz. That’s it!

Salsa ingredients in the bowl of a food processor before processing.
Step 1: To the bowl of a food processor, add the cranberries, cilantro, sugar, jalapeño, orange juice, lime juice, and salt.
After chopping in food processor.
Step 2: Process to medium consistency.

Tips for Making the Best Cranberry Salsa with Jalapeños

  1. Add more sugar to sweeten it. Make sure to taste the salsa after it sits for half an hour and adjust the sugar if needed. I found ¼ cup to be the perfect amount to balance the tartness of the cranberries.
  2. Use frozen cranberries if needed. True story! I tested this in August, and there were no fresh cranberries anywhere, so I left frozen cranberries in a bowl at room temperature for a couple of hours and then made the recipe. It worked perfectly!
  3. Make sure to remove the seeds from the jalapeño. The seeds are where the pepper’s heat is! I like to cut the pepper in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Also, make sure to wash your hands well after handling the pepper!
  4. Watch the salsa as it processes. I like to use the manual pulse option on my food processor to stop the salsa when it reaches a perfect medium consistency. If you let it process for too long, it could become a bit watery.
Cranberry salsa on a platter with tortilla chips.

What to Serve With Fresh Cranberry Salsa

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you store cranberry salsa?

Kept in an airtight container in the fridge, this salsa will last for up to 5 days.

Can I make this cranberry salsa without a food processor?

You could try making it in a blender or with an immersion blender, but the consistency might not be right (you don’t want it to be blended smoothly). I wouldn’t recommend trying to chop the cranberries by hand, though. This would be very difficult!

Do I need to deseed the jalapeño?

If you like spicy salsa, you don’t need to deseed it. As I said, this pepper’s heat is all in the seeds.

Cranberry salsa on a thanksgiving table spread.

I like to plan my Thanksgiving menu months ahead of time and this Cranberry Salsa is definitely going to make an appearance this year. It’s tart enough to cut through the richer foods at the table, but still mild, so you’ll keep going back for bite after bite.

More Holiday Appetizer Recipes:

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Cranberry Salsa

My fresh cranberry salsa is a blend of chunky, fresh cranberries, orange and lime juice, jalapeno, and fresh cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips with your turkey, or just because!
5 from 1 vote
Servings 8 servings
Course Appetizer, Dips
Calories 28
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 (12-ounce bag) cranberries
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 jalapeño deseeded
  • 1 orange juiced
  • 1 lime juiced
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a food processor, combine cranberries, cilantro, sugar, jalapeño, orange juice, lime juice, and salt. Process to medium consistency.

Notes

Storage: Kept in an airtight container is the fridge, this salsa will last for up to 5 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25cup, Calories: 28kcal, Carbohydrates: 7g, Protein: 0.1g, Fat: 0.1g, Saturated Fat: 0.003g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.004g, Sodium: 146mg, Potassium: 22mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 95IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 0.1mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.

Cuisine American
Course: Appetizer, Dips
5 from 1 vote

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Comments

  1. Nancy Schilsky says:

    This is so yummy! Great with chips, but I can’t wait to serve it with turkey this holiday season. (I’m going to try using some of the orange rind in the recipe.) I’ve shared this recipe with coworkers so it’ll be on several tables!

    1. Yumna J. says:

      Yay, so glad you liked it!! Orange rinds sound like a great seasonal addition. Thanks for sharing the recipe with all your coworkers!