Cranberry Jalapeño Dip
A lightly sweet, spicy, and festive dip made with dried cranberries and fresh jalapeño.
Ingredients
- 4 jalapeños sliced
- 3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 8 oz brick cream cheese. at room temperature
- 8 oz sour cream
- 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
- 3 tablespoons-1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the peppers, cranberries, and vinegar in a food processor or small chopper and pulse until finely chopped (alternately, do this by hand and then add the apple cider vinegar in the next step).
- In a bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix in the remaining ingredients until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Scrape into an air-tight container.
- Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight for best flavor. Store leftovers in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.
- Serve with pita chips, bread, toasts, or tortilla chips.
Notes
This can all be made by hand if you are a stronger stirrer than I am! It should also work in the food processor, just take care not to pulse it too much or it will become too uniform. You want some chunks in there.
I was at Costco and saw an absolute vat of cranberry jalapeño dip and was tempted but wasn’t sure how I felt about it. In the weeks since though, no less than four people have told me how much they love it and plan to serve it at all holiday events this year.
Hmmm. Maybe I should have bought it? I avoid Costco like the plague (or Covid) this time of year out of self preservation. Costco was selling a size that seemed too big which was a big reason why I didn’t get it—what if I didn’t like it? I googled and saw it was sold in 8 oz containers in other stores but that almost seemed like too little dip for the price? Once I saw the ingredients list though, I realized how easy it would be to make it myself.
I’m not 100% sure they used fresh jalapeños or lightly pickled or dried (my guess is preserved in some way) so I used a touch of apple cider vinegar for some tang. It was clear they used sweetened dried cranberries (aka Craisins, not fresh) and Asiago cheese. Now, I love Asiago but I had some nice aged Parmesan so I used that instead. Feel free to use the original but in a recipe like this, I’m not sure if it is worth hunting it down if you don’t use it in anything else. I added the green onion for some extra flavor since I didn’t have to worry about it have a long shelf life like a commercial dip.
Now I don’t know if it is better than what you can buy at the store but it has to be fresher! I love the crunch from the fresh peppers and the sweet tart chew of the cranberries. It really is a festive dip. It’s not hot thanks to all the cream cheese and sour cream but it does have a nice spice to it.
