Ready to dip into the holidays? Today, we’re talking about this delicious cranberry jalapeño dip for savory crackers. It’s so good! It’s an interesting combination, and I modeled my recipe after a cranberry jalapeño dip I bought in the deli area of a local grocery store a few years ago. Although my version is not exactly the same, it turned out pretty close! And it’s been a hit ever since! And look how pretty these colors are for a Christmas dip!
Ingredients
- Raw cranberries
- Jalapeños
- Green onion
- Cilantro
- White sugar
- Cayenne pepper
- Cumin
- Lemon juice
- Cream cheese, softened
- Ritz, Triscuits, and Wheat Thins for dipping
Making this Festive Cranberry Jalapeño Dip
The only thing standing between you and this Christmas dip is a mixing bowl!
To begin, the vegetables and cranberries. must be chopped. Sometimes, I chop the cranberries and jalapeños by hand.
Other times, I use my food chopper to chop up the cranberries, the jalapeños, green onion, and cilantro. But you have to be careful to not chop them too small or mash them up to the point of liquifying them. I combine all of it to a medium sized bowl and add the sugar, cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice to the bowl.
I cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 3-4 hours to overnight.
When it’s nearly time to combine the dip, I set my cream cheese out to soften. In a mixing bowl, I whip the two 8 ounce blocks of cream cheese. While I’m doing this, I drain the cranberry mixture into a colander. Quite a bit of liquid will come off since the sugar will macerate the cranberries. If you add the liquid to the cream cheese, the dip is going to become too liquid-y – although I do like to add a spoonful or so to the cream cheese to help make the dip a bit more scoop-able.
I scrape about half of the cranberry mixture into the whipped cream cheese.
Then, I move the cream cheese into a serving dish – a shallow and flat dish is best since it will be a dipping bowl. And the second half of the cranberry mixture spread across the top of the cream cheese as a topping/garnish.
Tips for This Festive Jalapeño Dip
- Don’t use a food processor to chop the cranberries and onions as that will lend to them becoming overly liquified. Simply chops by hand or with a food chopper (but not too small) are what you want. Hand chop is the best way.
- If you would prefer to have more of the cranberry for the topping, do not split the cranberry mixture in half to mix into the cream cheese. Simply leave the cream cheese as it is, and then use all of the cranberry jalapeño mixture as the topping. However, once people scoop “all the good stuff” off the top, the bottom layer will basically be only cream cheese. I prefer to have half of the good stuff mixed all the way through and keep the other half on top for both aesthetic and flavor.
- The cayenne pepper can be omitted though it does add a nice little pop along with the jalapeños.
- If the jalapeños are not spicy, and you prefer more of a kick, you can include a Serrano pepper in place of one of the jalapeños.
- On the flip side, you can de-seed the jalapeños if you want them to be more mild in your dip.
Delicious Cranberry Jalapeño Dip
Ingredients
- 12 oz Cranberries fresh
- 2 Jalapeños large, diced
- ½ cup Green onion roughly chopped
- ⅛ cup Cilantro chopped
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 16 oz Cream cheese softened
Instructions
- With a food chopper or by hand-chopping, roughly chop the cranberries, the jalapeños, green onion, and cilantro. Do not chop too small as they will liquify.
- Add the chopped vegetables to a medium bowl, and add sugar, cayenne pepper, cumin, and lemon juice.
- Cover bowl and place in refrigerator to set (and macerate) for at least 3 hours to overnight.
- As serving time nears, set 2 blocks of cream cheese out to soften. When ready to prepare the dip, whip the cream cheese and add 1/2 of the cranberry mixture. Stir well.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to a shallow serving dish. Spoon the rest of the cranberry mixture on top as a pretty topping.
- Serve immediately with savory crackers.
Nutrition
Try Our Other Great Dips
If you liked this holiday dip, you will surely love some of our other dips!
Old Fashioned Ham Dip (Great for sandwiches, too!)