Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa is one of our GO TO Holiday party appetizers…it’s so good!
Cranberry Salsa with Cream Cheese
If you have yet to make cranberry salsa, you must! It’s one of our favorite appetizers during the holidays. We love to serve it over cream cheese spread out thin on a plate to make it easy to scoop with crackers.
Are you spotting bags of cranberries in your produce section these days? I love cranberries! This classic recipe for cranberry jalapeño salsa cream cheese dip is the perfect mix of spicy and sweet…plus the colors are so festive for this time of year. I have a few helpful tips for making it for your next gathering.
Cranberry Jalapeño Dip – tips and tricks:
- If you plan to bring this appetizer with you to a party, my biggest tip: Wait until you arrive to assemble it. The cranberry juices tend to slip and slide on top of the cream cheese layer and it’s best to assemble when you arrive at your destination to avoid a cranberry juice mess.
- In the photo above, I show two packages of cream cheese. Use them one at a time.
- If your salsa has too much liquid, strain some of the liquid out before serving.
- Spread the cream cheese in a thin layer onto your serving dish. This makes for easy serving, and easy dipping with just a cracker.
- Serve with wheat thin crackers. We love this dip with wheat thins. They are a little more sturdy than other crackers, and we think the flavor goes great with this dip.
Can you freeze Cranberry Salsa?
Yes…this salsa freezes really well. Depending on the amount of people attending your party, you could divide the salsa in half and freeze it for a later date. This way you can use one package of cream cheese for serving at a time.
The full recipe is below, but to start, you will blend up all those lovely cranberries. I love my Blendtec Blender for this. Because it’s just the cranberries and no liquid, you’ll need to start and stop your blender a few times to help blend them all evenly.
Now here’s the not so healthy part…the sugar…oh, and the cream cheese. To combat the tartness of the cranberries, they need to soak in sugar…but don’t worry, calories don’t count during the holidays…at least not until January 1st, right?! 😉
Next up you will dice all the jalapeños. Please use caution on this step. wear gloves if you need to, and please don’t touch your eye while you remove the seeds. Don’t worry about the jalapeños adding too much heat to the salsa. With the sugar in this recipe, the heat of the jalapeño peppers is perfect.
Once all the greens are diced up, you’ll add them to the cranberry sugar mixture.
Mix all salsa ingredients together (minus the cream cheese and crackers…these are for serving).
Now you’ll let this mixture blend flavors for 4+ hours in the fridge.
Ingredients for Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Dip:
- 1 12oz. package fresh cranberries
- 4 jalapeño peppers diced, seeds removed
- 1/4 cup green onion chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- dash salt
For Serving: - 2 8oz. packages cream cheese only open one at a time when needed
- 2 boxes Wheat Thin Crackers
How to make Cranberry Salsa Dip:
- Blend or chop all the cranberries in a blender or food processor.
- In a bowl add the sugar to the blended cranberries and mix them together well and refrigerate.
- Dice all the jalapeño peppers, remove the seeds and inner membrane before you start (if you don’t want the added heat). Also chop the green onions and cilantro into small pieces.
- Add all salsa ingredients together into a bowl (minus the cream cheese and the wheat thin crackers). Mix it all together, cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. This gives the sugar some time to soak into the cranberries to break up their tartness and allows all the flavors to blend.
- Serve on a plate over one package of softened cream cheese spread out thin. This is best served with wheat thin crackers.
Cranberry Jalapeño Salsa Cream Cheese Dip
Our favorite holiday appetizer full of spicy and sweet flavors.
Ingredients
For the Salsa:
- 1 12oz. package fresh cranberries
- 4 jalapeño peppers diced, seeds removed
- 1/4 cup green onion chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- dash salt
For Serving:
- 2 8oz. packages cream cheese only open one at a time when needed
- 2 boxes Wheat Thin Crackers
Instructions
-
Blend or chop all the cranberries in a blender or food processor. In a bowl add the sugar to the blended cranberries and mix them together well and refrigerate.
-
Dice all the jalapeño peppers, be careful to remove the seeds and inner membrane before you start. Also chop the green onions and cilantro into small pieces.
-
Add all salsa ingredients together into a bowl (except the cream cheese and the wheat thin crackers). Mix it all together, cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. This gives the sugar some time to soak into the cranberries to break up their tartness and allows all the flavors to blend.
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When ready, serve on a plate over one package of softened and spread cream cheese. This is best served with wheat thin crackers.
Recipe Notes
*If your salsa has too much liquid, strain out some of the liquid before adding it over the cream cheese.
Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!
Cranberry Jalapeño Dip vs. Cranberry Salsa Dip:
There are a few different names this delicious dip goes by…Cranberry Jalapeño Dip or Cranberry Salsa…they are basically the same thing.
I’m excited for you to make it! Happy Holidays!
MORE appetizers with no cooking required that we LOVE:
More really good salsa recipes:
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