How to Make Cranberry Salsa From Scratch
Sometimes you taste something and an explosion of flavors hits you out of nowhere. A combination that you’ve never tasted together before. Something totally unexpected.
That is this cranberry salsa.
Sweet cranberry sauce combined with the flavors of salsa — green chiles, cilantro, onion, and lime juice — sounds weird, but trust me. This cranberry salsa will become your go-to holiday appetizer.
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Ingredients for Cranberry Salsa
To make cranberry salsa, you need…
- cranberry sauce
- green chiles
- cilantro
- green onions
- lime juice
- an appetizer serving dish
How to Make Cranberry Salsa
To make this recipe, you have to start with cranberry sauce. You can use canned in a pinch, but I really, really, really recommend homemade. It’s not hard, I promise. You can make it in 10 minutes. Click here for a homemade cranberry sauce recipe.
Now let’s make some cranberry salsa!
1. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of cranberry sauce into a bowl. It can be still warm from being freshly made or it can be chilled.
2. Mix the cranberry sauce with the green chiles, cilantro, green onions, and lime juice. Stir together, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. As the salsa chills, it will thicken and the flavors will do their magic.
Serving Tips & Equipment Needed to Make Cranberry Salsa
- Cranberry salsa is a great way to use up your leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. But it’s also good enough to make a batch of homemade cranberry sauce just so you can make this salsa.
- For a beautiful holiday appetizer, spread softened cream cheese into a pie plate or small round dish (like this one). Spoon the salsa over the top, and serve with crackers.
- You can also just put a block of cream cheese on a small plate and pour the salsa over the top.
- If you’re in a hurry or just want a quick fix, follow the same recipe but with a can of cranberry sauce.
- For a smoother texture, just run the salsa through a blender for a few pulses.
Pin this recipe for later! You’ll thank me this holiday season.
Cranberry Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 12-oz bag fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 can green chiles
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 3-4 green onions, chopped
- 2 tbsp lime juice
Instructions
Wash and sort cranberries, picking out any that are soft.
Place cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down to low and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and softened. (Congratulations! You've just made homemade cranberry sauce!)
Measure out 1 1/2 cups of cranberry sauce into a bowl, reserving the remainder for another purpose.
Add the remaining ingredients to the cranberry sauce in the bowl and chill for a couple of hours.
Recipe Notes
Serve with cinnamon-sugar flour tortilla chips or over cream cheese with crackers for an easy holiday appetizer.
I just bought the ingredients to make your cranberry salsa. I am anxious to make it in the next couple of days and was assembling the ingredients but you don’t say what size can of green chilies and whether you should drain them before adding them. An you clarify for me? I will post again once I have made it!
Hi, Cindy. It should be a 4 ounce can of green chiles — I’ll add that to the recipe! And no, you don’t drain them. Hope that helps!
Thanks. I will let you know how it turns out!
Can you freeze this?
Hi, Dee. I’ve never tried freezing it. If you try it, come back and let us know how it goes!