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.

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.

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

• 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.
• Green Onions
• White Granulated Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Lime Juice
• Crackers or Pretzels – for serving

How To Make Cranberry Jalapeño Dip

1. 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.
2. Chill Cranberry Mixture – Pop the cranberry mixture in the fridge for at least four hours, overnight is ideal, so the flavors meld together.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Serve – Serve the cranberry jalapeño cream cheese dip with crackers or pretzels and enjoy! It can be served immediately, or stored in the fridge for up to one hour before serving.

Equipment

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.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Other Cranberry Recipes

• Holiday Cranberry Moscow Mule – A fun spin on the classic cocktail, it’s so easy to make with ginger beer, vodka, lime juice, and cranberry juice.
• Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce – Free up a stovetop burner and let your Instant Pot do the work. Cranberry sauce can be made in advance to save time the day of.

Like this recipe? Sign up for my e-mail list so you get new recipe notifications straight to your inbox as well as occasional ‘bonus’ content not found on the blog! Click Here!

Print