This no-cook cranberry relish is fresh, bright, tangy, and sweet and makes a beautiful addition to your holiday table.
What Is Cranberry Relish?
Not to be confused with Cranberry Sauce, which is cooked, Cranberry Relish is made from fresh ingredients and requires no cooking. The recipe is made entirely in the food processor and then set to rest in the refrigerator. The relish has a fresher, more tart taste than your traditional sauce.
Video: Making Cranberry Relish
Ingredients
This cranberry relish recipe is best made with fresh cranberries. Frozen cranberries become too watery when thawed so save those for cooked cranberry sauce.
In addition to the cranberries, all you’ll need is an orange, sugar, and a touch of salt and cinnamon. Some recipes also have you add an apple or chopped nuts, but I think my simpler version has a better taste and texture.
Should I Use The Whole Orange?
Most recipes I found call for a whole orange to be used in the recipe, peel and all. I found that this creates a lot of bitterness from the pith (white part of the orange found under the skin) and adds a strange texture to the relish. The bits of orange are unpleasantly left in your mouth while eating the relish.
Using the whole orange also produced a lot more moisture than is needed for the recipe, so the relish became very watery. The color isn’t as vibrant either.
Using orange zest and the juice of the orange provides better flavor and a much prettier, festive color. You can see the difference below, with the relish made with a whole orange on the left and the relish with just the orange juice and zest on the right.
How To Make Cranberry Relish
To make the fresh cranberry relish, fit a food processor bowl with the blade attachment. Add the orange zest and orange juice, cranberries, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to the bowl.
Pulse the ingredients until cranberries are well minced – the size should be a little smaller than picnic relish.
Transfer the cranberry relish to a non-porous storage container or serving bowl, then cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
The relish can be eaten right away, but the longer it rests, the better it tastes. The chill time in the refrigerator also helps to firm up and thicken the natural pectin released by the cranberries, making the relish feel more like a cranberry sauce.
It can be made up to three days in advance.
Using Fresh Cranberry Relish
While serving this for Thanksgiving alongside your turkey is the obvious choice, don’t let that limit you. You can also serve it alongside other roast dinners or use it as a condiment for your leftover turkey sandwich.
Try topping cream cheese or Brie with the cranberry orange relish and serve with crackers as an appetizer. Top your morning yogurt with a spoonful.
Print
Cranberry Relish Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Rest Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Mix
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This no-cook cranberry relish is fresh, bright, tangy, and sweet and makes a beautiful addition to your holiday table.
Listen to learn how to make this recipe, along with some great tips from Christine:
Ingredients
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 1 (12 oz.) bag fresh cranberries
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with blade attachment add orange zest, orange juice, cranberries, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Pulse ingredients until cranberries are well minced into ⅛-inch pieces.
- Transfer cranberry mixture to a bowl. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour before serving.
Elizabeth says
This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy cranberries! It couldn’t be easier and I love the fresh and zesty taste.
★★★★★