Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip is sweet, spicy, and tart, perfect for your holiday parties! Serve it over a block of cream cheese and prepare for everyone to ask for the recipe.

The only thing we hate about this Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip is that it’s only around for 1-2 months a year! 😥

So Good It Might Be Illegal

I’m sorry, but we need to have a little chat about cranberry season and how we can extend it. Fresh cranberries only available for a couple of months? Torturous and barbaric.

I love using fresh cranberries to make things like our sugared cranberries or Christmas sangria, but the main reason I look forward to cranberry season every year?

It’s this Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip.

The funny thing about this cranberry salsa is that I kind of think it sounds horrible. Sugar and cilantro in one dish? Sounds kind of horrendous, but if you have the teensiest bit of faith and give this recipe a try, you’ll be just as hooked as everyone else.

I swear, at this point I’m only hosting holiday parties so I have an excuse to make this dip. I love watching guests give it a little side eye action before taking a bite. The suspicion is instantly replaced with adoration and I am literally texting people this link so they have the recipe all night long.

♥ Why You’ll Love This Recipe:

• Flavors: The combo of sweet, tart, spicy, and tangy just work together – especially once you pair with the rich goodness of cream cheese. It’s an unexpected flavor combo and people get so excited about it.
• Festive: The flavors here are perfect for a holiday party, but the dip also just happens to be red, green, and white which gives it a gorgeous festive vibe!
• Seasonal: I love having an excuse to buy seasonal produce and this one only comes around for a few short months each year!

Ingredient Notes:

Fresh Cranberries – This recipe requires fresh cranberries, which means you’ll only have a couple of months you’re able to make it. You can also use frozen cranberries, but thaw them first and be prepared to drain off excess liquid from the salsa.

Jalapeno Pepper – This should be seeded and finely diced. You can add more or less depending on how much heat you want in the dip. We think it’s perfectly balanced as is, because the cream cheese helps tone down some of that heat.

Sugar – Cranberries are pretty bitter and tart on their own, so sugar will help to balance that out.

Lemon Juice – Some lemon juice will help to brighten the flavors. Lime juice would work as well.

Seasonings – We’re also adding chopped green onions, chopped cilantro, cumin, and salt to this cranberry salsa.

Cream Cheese – Start with softened cream cheese for easy mixing. It makes up the base of this dip and the creamy flavor will help to balance out some of the tartness from the cranberries and heat from the jalapeno!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Recipe Variations:

These items can be increased or decreased to your personal taste:

• Jalapeno – Add a second pepper if you want a little more spice.
• Green onions – I’ve left these out to keep the husband happy, but I’m much happier with them added. 😉
• Sugar – Fee free to use your favorite sugar substitute to make this more low carb, but don’t just omit the sugar. This recipe needs it! 

If you make other changes to your cranberry cream cheese dip and love it, leave me a comment below!

Step by Step Photos:

Blitz the cranberries in a food processor leaving them fairly chunky. You’ll continue processing them, so you don’t want them chopped too finely to start.

Add the remaining salsa ingredients and blitz until the mixture is as finely chopped as you’d like. Pop this in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors meld.

Spread the softened cream cheese out on your serving platter in a smooth layer.

Spoon the cranberry salsa over the cream cheese and serve it with a variety of crackers for dipping and spreading.

Food Processor

We use our Breville food processor in all kinds of recipes! It makes short work of chopping veggies and many other other tasks. This is our favorite food processor because it is so heavy duty and it will last!

Get on amazon

Host a Dip Party!

Every year we invite our friends over and everyone brings a dip to share. It’s one of the most fun parties of the year. Here are a few dips we’ve shared in years past:

Pumpkin Pie dip is crazy delicious in the Fall.

Go for Butterfinger Fruit Dip with a pile of sliced apples to lighten things up a bit.

Cold corn dip pairs great with tortilla chips just like this cranberry dip does.

Olive cheese dip is an awesome warm and salty dip option.

Need an easy one? Our chili cheese dip is so simple to make and always a hit.