Cranberry Salsa over Cream Cheese Recipe (2024)

Cranberry Salsa over Cream Cheese is a delicious appetizer perfect for the holidays! It’s fresh, tangy, ready in minutes, and an easy make-ahead recipe!This Cranberry Salsa recipe is a tasty crowd favorite anytime!

This Cranberry Salsa over Cream Cheese is a festive, favorite appetizer we love and serve often for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. And if you are looking for other appetizers to make for the holidays, you’ll love my spinach artichoke dip, cookie dough dip, and bacon ranch cheese ball.

Juicy cranberries and other fresh ingredients make a sweet, tangy, and spicy salsa that’s absolutely divine! This is so delicious that I wait impatiently for the fresh cranberries to arrive at the grocery store. And then I stockpile bags for my freezer! Cranberry Salsa is great served as a salsa with chips and more. And it’s out of this world delicious served over cream cheese and eaten with crackers, fruit, or chips. It’s a great make-ahead recipe for the holidays, too!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Tastes amazing. It is the perfect combination of sweet, spicy, and fresh! Great as a salsa with chips and over cream cheese, too!

Quick and easy. It comes together quickly and is such an easy recipe!

Make-ahead perfection. Make the cranberry salsa up to 7 days ahead to make entertaining even easier!

To make this cranberry salsa, you will need:

How to Make Cranberry Salsa with Cream Cheese

Ingredients

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

• cranberries – Use fresh cranberries, or if using frozen cranberries, thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.
• sugar – Use granulated sugar
• jalapeno pepper – Remove the seeds and the pith, then chop the jalapeno.
• green onion
• cilantro – Use fresh cilantro
• orange zest
• orange juice
• cream cheese – For serving
• Serve with crackers, fruit slices, or tortilla chips.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Add fresh cranberries (or frozen cranberries you’ve thawed overnight in the refrigerator) and sugar to your food processor or high-speed blender. Then, pulse about 30 pulses until the cranberries are coarsely chopped.

Stir in jalapeno, green onions, cilantro, orange zest, and orange juice.

After adding these ingredients to the cranberry sugar mixture, pulse a few times until coarsely chopped.

Serve the cranberry salsa recipe with chips or enjoy it on a sandwich, wrap, beef, or fish.

You can also spoon the salsa over softened cream cheese on a serving platter. Serve on the platter with sliced fruit, butter crackers, wheat thins, or tortilla chips, and enjoy!

Easy Make Ahead Holiday Appetizer

This cranberry salsa recipe becomes even more magical as a make-ahead appetizer. Pour the salsa into a bowl, cover it with a tight-fitting lid, or wrap it with plastic wrap and then refrigerate it overnight (or at least 30 minutes to let the flavors develop).

It is one of my favorite make-ahead recipes for the holidays!

Storage Tips

To Store: Place in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 7 days. You can make the cranberry salsa well in advance to keep your holiday entertaining as stress-free as possible.

To Serve: When ready to serve, place your cream cheese onto a serving platter about 15 to 30 minutes before serving time. Then, as you begin to serve, spoon your cranberry salsa onto your cream cheese and watch a crowd gather around it!

Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Spread

Spread softened cream cheese in a shallow bowl and combine with some of the cranberry salsa. Spread on bagels, toast, Ritz crackers, wheat thins, or fruit slices. It is perfect for dipping!

Other Favorite Cranberry Recipes

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Orange Scones

Sweet and Spicy Cranberry co*cktail Meatballs

Warm Brie with Honeyed Fruit Compote

Here’s the Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Spread Recipe. I hope you love it as much as we do!

Enjoy!
Robyn xo