Ready in under 10 minutes, this fresh cranberry salsa is tart and slightly spicy in the best way possible. Serve with pita chips or slather on a sandwich!
We try to eat as seasonally as possible, but sometimes it gets a little tough, especially in the wintertime. We tend to allow ourselves splurges on little things, like fresh cilantro or citrus. So, we loved the thought of combining them with cranberries for a winter cranberry salsa – a hint of the warmer times to come!
This cranberry salsa recipe comes to you from my dear friend Milena, who was thinking about sustainability and environmentalism years before they even entered my mind. In fact, she was formative in inspiring both Alex and I to imagine the way we eat and live today.
While she’s now studying to receive her doctorate in sustainable agriculture in Vienna, and we got the rare pleasure of a visit, and along with it, this tasty salsa! I’m not sure who she credits with the recipe, but it was a tasty starter for our weekend of delicious kitchen experiments (including Mediterranean bulgur salad and spiced roasted cauliflower – delish!).
Give it a try with some homemade pita chips or slather it on a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich.
How to make fresh cranberry salsa
This cranberry salsa is insanely easy to make since the food processor does all the work for you! To make this homemade salsa, you’ll first want to roughly chop the red onion and jalapeño pepper. If you want a spicier salsa, leave some of the seeds in the jalapeño (and make sure to avoid touching your face after you’ve handled the pepper!).
Then, simply add the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the cranberry salsa is combined. Personally, we like our salsa slightly chunky, but the final consistency is totally up to you!
What’s so great about this cranberry salsa recipe is that you can use either fresh or frozen cranberries in it. However, if you go the frozen cranberry route, you’ll need to let them come to room temperature before making this recipe.
How to store fresh cranberry salsa
This cranberry salsa keeps well in the fridge for about a week, and the flavor gets better the longer you let the flavors mingle. We haven’t tried freezing this salsa (it doesn’t last that long in our house!), so I can’t speak to how well that storage method would work.
Looking for more salsa recipes?
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa Fresca
- Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (Salsa Verde)
- Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa + Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Heirloom Tomato Salsa Cruda
- Fresh Peach Salsa
Looking for more cranberry recipes?
- Homemade Biscuits and Cranberry Orange Chia Jam
- Baked Brie with Roasted Cranberry Sauce
- Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cranberry Clusters
- Cranberry Pudding
- Apple Cranberry Sage Bites
This recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
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Fresh Cranberry Salsa
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Ready in under 10 minutes, this fresh cranberry salsa is tart and slightly spicy in the best way possible. Serve with pita chips or slather on a sandwich!
Ingredients
- 10 ounces cranberries (frozen or fresh)
- 1 medium red onion
- 2 jalapeño peppers (or less, depending on your spice preference)
- 1 large lime
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- If the cranberries are frozen, bring them to room temperature.
- Cut the red onion into quarters. Slice the jalapeño peppers in half, remove the ribs and seeds, and chop them into a few pieces. Place the onion and peppers into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to chop.
- Add cranberries, juice from 1 lime, 1/3 cup honey, and a pinch of kosher salt. Tear off the leaves of half of a large bunch of cilantro and add them to the bowl. Pulse several times to combine. Taste and adjust flavors as necessary. Serve with crackers, chips, pita, or bread.
Notes
Tip: To make your own pita chips, slice pita bread into wedges, toss the wedges in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and a few pinches of kosher salt, and toast them in an oven at 400°F until crispy, about 15 minutes.
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cranberry salsa
About the Authors
Sonja Overhiser
Cookbook Author and writer
Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.
Alex Overhiser
Cookbook Author and photographer
Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.
11 Comments
Michelle
January 16, 2012 at 1:45 amLove the idea of a cranberry salsa—tart and spicy!
[email protected]
January 16, 2012 at 2:18 amThis sounds awesome. I will definately try for sure. Great post.
Heather Taylor @ Kids in the Sink
January 16, 2012 at 8:03 amSounds like a spicy sweet combo that could be wonderful! I also love to make my own pita chips out of homemade pitas. Yum!
Sylvie (A Pot of Tea)
January 16, 2012 at 9:25 amA fruity salsa, what a lovely idea and it looks really pretty too!
anne
January 16, 2012 at 11:48 amI have fresh/frozen cranberries in the freezer that I’ve been wondering what to do with—now i know,thanks! anne
Heidi @ Food Doodles
January 16, 2012 at 12:23 pmWow, I love the color of that! It’s so pretty! And the jalapenos and cilantro sound so good :)
Jennifer @ Raisin Questions
January 16, 2012 at 3:45 pmI wish I could grab one of those chips in the picture and dip in to give this a try… you know, just to be sure I like it! It’s funny that changing up a recipe unexpectedly sometimes makes unseasoned tasters wary, but I have a feeling that in this case, I might just be overwhelmed by the suprise of how much I really do like it. Thanks for continuing to pass on the innovation!
jackie @ marin mama cooks
January 17, 2012 at 4:38 pmI have tons of cranberries just sitting in my fridge and what a great way to use them up. I love the raspberry and green in the first photo as those are my two favorite colors.
Jessica @ The Desert Abode
January 18, 2012 at 11:29 amWe have 8 (!) bags of cranberries in our freezer (we got a little excited around Thanksgiving) and now I know what to do with them. This looks delicious and luckily citrus & cilantro is in season in sunny AZ!
milena
January 21, 2012 at 4:57 pmTo add to the perks of this recipe: there is raw honey along with the raw cranberries, and I can’t think of any recipe with actual raw, fresh cranberries and no sugar to boot… HEALTHY! We had an awesome time guys, thanks so much!
Anna
January 24, 2012 at 3:44 pmWe make a salsa just like this every year for the holidays, always a HUGE hit. Almost exactly the same recipe, except we use a whole bunch of cilantro and sometimes use 1/2 c of raw turbinado sugar for crunch… And keep it a little choppier in food processor so you can see the small chunks of red and green. We serve it ladled over a block of cream cheese – which compliments it perfectly – with black pepper crackers. Anyhow, I heartily recommend this, either version, as a huge hit. Fun blog, lots of inspiring recipes, thanks!