Cranberry Jalapeño Dip is a beautiful layered, festive, and flavorful dip! Pulse together cranberries, jalapeños, green onions, and sugar before layering over whipped cream cheese. The results are the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and creamy.
If you like the Stonewall Cranberry Jalapeño Dip from Costco, then you will LOVE this homemade layered version. You can easily adjust the level of spice from the jalapeños by keeping or removing the seeds.
Other cranberry recipes worth checking out is this Christmas Moscow Mule, Cranberry Gin Cocktail, and classic Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce.
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⭐Why I Love It:
- Festive - From the cranberry flavor to the vibrant red hue, it's a great recipe for the holidays!
- Sweet - Adding sugar to the tart cranberries helps enhance their flavor and makes this recipe pleasantly sweet.
- Party Appetizer - Cranberry Jalapeño Dip is a great appetizer to bring to any holiday party!
- Layered - While you could combine the cream cheese and cranberry relish together, I love the look of layering them!
🥘Ingredients and Equipment
- Sour Cream - If you want to lighten the dip up slightly, you could swap in plain greek yogurt
- Cream Cheese - Make sure you soften it to room temperature first
- Jalapeños - To keep it from being spicy, you can remove the whites and seeds. If you like spice, you can leave some or all of them in. Also try making this Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Dip or Jalapeño Bacon Mac and Cheese.
- Green Onions
- White Granulated Sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Lime Juice
- Crackers or Pretzels - for serving
- Food Processor or Blender - For best (and easiest) results, pulse up the ingredients in a food processor or blender. You can do this with a sharp chef's knife, but it's tougher to get the fine texture.
- Pie Plate or Other Shallow Dish - For serving. It's best to use a shallow dish that has a slight ridge for easier dipping.
🥨Serving Ideas
Choose one or multiple of the below to serve with the dip!
- Crackers - like Ritz crackers
- Pita Chips - Regular salted pita chips or the cinnamon sugar pita chips
- Pretzels or Pretzel Thins
- Bagel Chips
- Triscuits
🔪Step by Step Instructions
No cooking needed for this easy cranberry jalapeño dip! Just pulse together the dip ingredients in a food processor and spread over whipped cream cheese.
Photo 1 - Start by adding all ingredients (except for the cream cheese and sour cream) to a food processor. Pulse until everything is finely chopped.
Photo 2 - Pop the cranberry mixture in the fridge for at least four hours, overnight is ideal, so the flavors meld together.
Photo 3 - When about ready to serve, mix together the softened cream cheese and sour cream with a hand mixer until combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture into a pie plate or other shallow, rimmed dish.
Photo 4 - Remove the cranberry mixture from the fridge. If there is excess moisture, you can carefully drain that off. Layer the cranberries over the cream cheese mixture. Serve the cranberry jalapeño cream cheese dip with crackers or pretzels and enjoy!
🍽Leftovers and Storage
Once layered and assembled, the dip is best served immediately as the cranberry mixture will emit juices. But if you do have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge for up to 2 days just know it will lose its presentation.
💭Recipe Tips
- Room Temperature Cream Cheese - It's important to soften your cream cheese at room temperature before whipping with the sour cream.
- Let Cranberry Mixture Chill - The key to this recipe is letting the cranberry mixture chill in the fridge overnight. This lets all the flavors come out and meld together. It also helps the chopped up cranberries soften slightly.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can chop everything up finely with a sharp chef's knife. But it's MUCH easier to make using a food processor.
While I don't recommend layering the dip in advance, you can make the components in advance. The cranberry mixture can (and is best) made the day before. You can even whip up the cream cheese and spread it in the pie plate the day before as well. Then just layer the two before serving (I recommend pulling out the cream cheese layer an hour in advance so it can come back to room temperature).
🧀Related Appetizer Recipes...
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PrintRecipe
Cranberry Jalapeño Dip
Cranberry Jalapeño Dip is a beautiful layered, festive, and flavorful dip! Pulse together cranberries, jalapeños, green onions, and sugar before layering over whipped cream cheese. The results are the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and creamy.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 jalapeños, seeds optional
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 4-5 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
- ¾ cup sugar, adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 8 ounces bricks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Pulse Cranberry Mixture - Start by adding all ingredients (except for the cream cheese and sour cream) to a food processor. Pulse until everything is finely chopped.
- Chill Cranberry Mixture - Pop the cranberry mixture, covered, in the fridge for at least four hours, overnight is ideal, so the flavors meld together.
- Cream Cheese Layer - When about ready to serve, mix together the softened cream cheese and sour cream with a hand mixer until combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture into a pie plate or other shallow, rimmed dish.
- Top with Cranberries - Remove the cranberry mixture from the fridge. If there is excess moisture, you can carefully drain that off. Layer the cranberries over the cream cheese mixture.
- Serve - Serve immediately with crackers or pretzels and enjoy!
Notes
Food Processor or Blender - For best (and easiest) results, pulse up the ingredients in a food processor or blender. You can do this with a sharp chef's knife, but it's tougher to get the fine texture.
Pie Plate or Other Shallow Dish - For serving. It's best to use a shallow dish that has a slight ridge for easier dipping.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/10 of dip
- Calories: 344
- Sugar: 41.6 g
- Sodium: 214.8 mg
- Fat: 17.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 46.9 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 49.8 mg
Matt says
Tart and sweet and creamy and (just a little) spicy and delicious! I guarantee no one else at the holiday party will be bringing this dip.
Kathleen says
Thank you! We love a unique party appetizer! 🙂