This Easy Cranberry Relish is loaded with flavor from 7 simple ingredients. It’s a fresh, not cooked, sweet and tangy homemade recipe that can easily be made in advance for your holiday table. Serve it with roast turkey or a beef roast as a special accompaniment.
One of the best parts of the holidays is creating memorable meals with fresh seasonal produce. This fresh relish uses in-season cranberries, apples, and oranges for a bright condiment, perfect for festive meals.
The difference between cranberry sauce and cranberry relish is in the cooking — or the lack of it! Cranberry sauce is cooked, which causes the natural pectin in the cranberries to thicken the mixture into a smooth, jam-like consistency. It tends to be sweeter and richer in flavor.
Cranberry relish, on the other hand, is made with raw ingredients that are pulsed in a food processor. The result is a chunkier, fresh, and more tart condiment with a lot more texture.
What you should know first
Here is what to know before you start, so your easy cranberry relish has the right texture, the best flavor, and is ready exactly when you need it.
- ⏱ Total Time: 15 minutes. 🍽 Serves: 6 to 8. 🧾 Ingredients: 7. 📊 Difficulty: Easy. 🌿 Dietary: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Vegan.
- This is a no-cook recipe. Raw ingredients are pulsed in a food processor, giving the relish its signature chunky texture and fresh flavor compared to traditional cranberry sauce.
- The most important technique is knowing when to stop: pulse the cranberries and shallot only 5 or 6 times. Over-processing turns it into a puree and you lose the texture that makes this relish special.
- Make it up to 2 days ahead. The flavors deepen as it sits, making it an ideal recipe for holiday meal prep. Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Serve it alongside beef tenderloin, roasted turkey, or sliced ham. It also works on cheese boards, spooned over baked brie, or piled onto holiday leftover sandwiches.
Generated with AI and experts from the Tara Teaspoon team.
Jump to:
- What you should know first
- Cranberry relish: the easiest way to dress up your holiday meal
- Ingredients
- Variations
- How to make cranberry relish
- Tara's expert tips
- What to serve with cranberry relish
- Equipment
- Leftovers and storage
- Why does this recipe use orange zest and juice instead of the whole orange?
- More easy holiday side dishes
- 📖 Full Recipe
- 💬 Comments & Reviews
Cranberry relish: the easiest way to dress up your holiday meal
I love to tie a festive spread together with flavorful condiments, or something bright, colorful, and easy to make like this homemade cranberry relish.
Cranberries are wonderfully tart on their own, so I combine them with sweet apples, savory shallots, and fresh orange juice to create a perfectly balanced sauce.
Here is why you'll love it:
- Extraordinary flavor: Every bite is bold and vibrant all at once. This is the kind of sauce that makes everything on the plate taste better.
- Incredibly versatile: This relish is elegant enough to serve alongside a beef tenderloin roast, but equally delicious with roasted turkey or sliced ham. Spoon it over your favorite sides or eat it on a green salad!
- Refreshingly different: This no-cook relish is fresh, crunchy, and stunning on the plate, making it a sophisticated and unexpected alternative to traditional canned cranberry sauce.
If you love cooking with cranberries, you'll also want to try my Cranberry Sauce Using Dried Cranberries and Cranberry BBQ Sauce.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This cranberry relish is to die for. I want to put it on EVERYTHING. Thank you for another incredible meal!
- Tracy
Ingredients
To make the best cranberry relish, get the best ingredients. Here are a few tips to consider as you gather your supplies. See recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities.
- Shallot: Peel and roughly chop the shallot to make it easier to pulse in the food processor.
- Whole cranberries: Fresh or frozen cranberries work well. I like to sort through them before using, removing mushy, shriveled, or white (unripe) berries before getting started.
- Chopped sweet apple: I usually use sweet Gala apples, but you could also use Fuji, Ambrosia, Pink Lady, or other sweet, crisp apple varieties.
- Kosher salt
- Granulated sugar
- Fresh orange: You'll be using both the zest and the juice. It's easiest to zest the orange before juicing it.
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley
Variations
🔸 Fruit: For additional fruity flavor, stir in golden raisins or dried cherries. You could also add drained, crushed pineapple or the zest of other citrus like lemons or limes.
🔸 Spice: For warm, aromatic holiday flavor, stir in ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or ground ginger. Or, grate 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger into the relish. For spicier flavor add ¼ teaspoon of ground cayenne.
🔸 Vanilla: Add ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract for a subtle warmth and sweetness that rounds out the tart cranberry flavor. Start with ½ teaspoon and add more to taste.
🔸 Sweetener: If the relish isn't as sweet as you'd like, increase the granulated sugar. You could also add honey, maple syrup, or agave but they will make the relish more saucy.
🔸 Nuts: For satisfying crunch, a ½ cup of chopped toasted nuts like pecans, almonds, or walnuts can be mixed into the relish. They can also be sprinkled on top just before serving.
How to make cranberry relish
Follow along to see how it's done. See recipe card for comprehensive directions.
- Step 1: Put whole cranberries and chopped shallot in a food processor.
- Step 2: Pulse 5 or 6 times until finely chopped.
- Step 3: Transfer to a bowl and add the apple, salt, and sugar.
- Step 4: Zest the orange into the mixture. Then juice the orange.
- Step 5: Add the orange juice.
- Step 6: Top with chopped parsley and stir to combine.
Tip: If you don't have a food processor, you can still make this relish. You'll just need to chop the shallot and cranberries by hand.
Tara's expert tips
Don't over-process: Part of the charm of this recipe is the chunky texture. You only want to pulse the shallot and cranberries 5 or 6 times. You're looking for bright, colorful chunks that are easy to bite into.
Zest before juicing: It's much easier to zest a citrus fruit before it's been juiced. In its whole form, the pressure from the inside of the fruit makes the peel firmer against the grater.
What to serve with cranberry relish
I originally created this recipe to go with a sophisticated Roasted Beef Tenderloin. It's a very lean cut of beef with mild flavor that really benefits from a robust sauce.
The sweet tart relish makes a fancy accompaniment for any nice roast. It would be incredible with Grilled Pork Tenderloin Recipe or any of these show-stopping centerpieces:
This cranberry relish was perfect with our Thanksgiving meal! I love how fresh it was and zesty. Will be saving this recipe for other holidays, thanks!
- Kathryn
Equipment
Leftovers and storage
Leftover relish never lasts long at my house. I love to add it to a sandwich made with dinner rolls and slices of the roasted main dish! You can also use it to top homemade meatballs or baked brie, or add a bowl of it on a holiday cheese board.
Refrigerate: Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
Make ahead: You can make this up to 2 days ahead. I usually make it the night before a big dinner so it stays at its best.
Why does this recipe use orange zest and juice instead of the whole orange?
Many classic cranberry relish recipes call for chopping the entire orange, peel and all, directly into the relish. While this gives you a very bold orange flavor, the white pith just beneath the peel can make the relish quite bitter. By using only the zest and fresh juice, you get all of the bright, aromatic citrus flavor without any of the bitterness.
More easy holiday side dishes
Fill your holiday table with the season's best side dishes! Try these:
Or, visit my collections of Thanksgiving Side Dishes and Christmas Side Dishes for even more inspiration!
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📖 Full Recipe
Easy Cranberry Relish
Ingredients
- 1 shallot (peeled and chopped, about ⅓ cup)
- 1½ cups whole cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1½ cups diced sweet apple (like Gala)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- ⅓ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse the shallots and cranberries for 5 to 6 pulses. The pieces should be small and even for the relish, but not pureed. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Stir in the apple, salt, sugar, orange zest and juice, and parsley. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve. It can be served immediately or made ahead up to 2 days. Stir to distribute any juices before serving.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
Nutrition Per Serving
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
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