This quick and easy Cranberry Salsa is tangy, spicy, super fresh and tastes amazing served over soft cream cheese with your favorite crackers. It’s the perfect festive appetizer for holiday parties, Thanksgiving dinner or any time you can get your hands on some fresh cranberries.
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Fresh Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa
This Cranberry Salsa is always a huge hit at holiday parties. The flavors and textures are unique but familiar, spicy and tangy, sweet and creamy - there’s definitely nothing boring about it. Plus, it’s a no-bake appetizer that takes a matter of minutes to throw together and saves you precious oven space.
Our favorite way to serve this is scooped directly over a block of softened cream cheese. Put out a bowl of Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Ritz Crackers, tortilla chips or any of your other favorite crackers and watch it go poof.
If you love all things cranberries, you'll love this Cranberry Sauce, Baked Cranberry Brie, Brie Bites, and these Orange Cranberry Cookies.
Ingredients in Cranberry Salsa
- Cream Cheese - place a full 8 ounce block of cream cheese on a serving plate and let it come to room temperature before spooning the Cranberry Salsa over the top of the cream cheese.
- Cranberries - you should be able to find fresh cranberries by the bag in the produce section of your local grocery store.
- Lime Juice - fresh lime juice (or even lemon juice) tastes best.
- Cilantro - freshly chopped cilantro leaves taste amazing with the zesty cranberries and spicy jalapeños. If you aren’t a fan of cilantro, feel free to nix it.
- Green Onions - this adds a nice fresh onion flavor.
- Jalapeño Peppers - be sure to remove the seeds before adding to the food processor.
- Sugar - use white granulated sugar to add a little sweetness.
- Salt - sea salt tastes great.
How to Make Cranberry Salsa with Cream Cheese
- Pulse ingredients. In a food processor, add the cranberries, lime juice, green onion, cilantro, jalapeño, sugar and salt. Pulse until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides and pulse again until no large chunks remain.
- Store in the refrigerator. Store in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 4 hours to allow time to marinate.
- Serve. Before serving, drain the juices from the cranberry mixture. Place the room temperature cream cheese on a serving platter and scoop the Cranberry Salsa over the top. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- You can adjust how fine or how chunky your salsa is by how much you pulse it.
- Taste the salsa while it’s still in the food processor and if it’s a bit tart, you can add more sugar to taste.
- Be sure and let the Cranberry Salsa sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours. This allows the sugars to slowly break down and flavors develop.
- Try adding a tart green apple, such as Granny Smith, for some extra crunch.
Storing
- Refrigerator: this Cranberry Salsa will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Cranberry Salsa Recipe with Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz Cream Cheese room temperature
- 12 oz Fresh Cranberries
- 2 Tablespoons Lime Juice or lemon juice
- ¼ cup Cilantro roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup Green Onions chopped
- ½ small Jalapeño seeds removed
- ¾ cup Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- In a food processor, add the cranberries, lime juice, cilantro, green onions, jalapeño, sugar and salt. Pulse until minced. Scrape down the sides and pulse again until no large chunks remain.
- Store in an airtight container for 4 hours to allow time to marinate.
- Before serving, drain the juices from the cranberry mixture. Place the room temperature cream cheese on a serving platter and scoop the Cranberry Salsa over the top.
- Serve with crackers or tortilla chips. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Here are more of our favorite dips and salsa recipes:
- Holiday Veggie Tray
- Everything Bagel Seasoning Dip
- Best Guacamole
- Cheesy Bean Dip
- Corn Salsa
- Easy Fresh Homemade Salsa
- More Holiday Recipes
- More Appetizer Recipes
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This Cranberry Jalapeno Salsa is spicy, sweet, tangy, crunchy and so simple. It's a quick and easy no-bake appetizer that takes minutes to throw together and saves precious oven space.
wilhelmina
The flavor of this is incredible! I just love the fresh tang of the cranberries!
Natalie
This looks fantastic. I'm adding this to my NY party menu. Thanks for sharing this lovely idea!