Cranberry-Apple Relish Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated April 26, 2019
20121106-229037-cranberry-apple-relish.jpg
Photographs: Joshua Bousel

There's more than one way to enjoy cranberries this Thanksgiving than in gelatinous sauce form.

I whipped up this cranberry-apple relish as a quick alternative to the holiday mainstay by pulsing fresh cranberries, apple, sugar, and orange juice and zest together in a food processor.

At my mock Thanksgiving dinner (where I guinea-pig my friends to taste test all these recipes), this cranberry-apple relish beat out the actual sauce pretty unanimously. Everyone seemed to like the change of pace and the added sweet fruity flavor apples brought to the tart cranberries. It even made an encore appearance at dessert with the apple pie, but didn't stop there, later proving to be a crucial topping in Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches. For a few minutes of work, this relish sure saw a lot of action.

Recipe Details

Cranberry-Apple Relish Recipe

Active 10 mins
Total 10 mins
Serves 12 to 16 servings
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries

  • 1 sweet red apple, such as Gala or Fuji, cored and roughly chopped

  • 1/2 cup white sugar

  • 1/4 cup orange juice

  • 1 teaspoon orange zest

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

Directions

  1. Place cranberries, apple, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and salt in workbowl of a food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse until cranberries and apple are finely chopped, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week.

Special Equipment

Food processor

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
43Calories
0gFat
11gCarbs
0gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12 to 16
Amount per serving
Calories43
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g0%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 40mg2%
Total Carbohydrate 11g4%
Dietary Fiber 1g4%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 5mg25%
Calcium 3mg0%
Iron 0mg0%
Potassium 38mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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