Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno (Video)

Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno is definitely a winner for Thanksgiving, and it’s low-glycemic, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan! Use Thanksgiving Recipes to find more recipes ideas for turkey day, which is coming up soon!

Click here to PIN Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa Recipe!

Watch the video to see if you’d like to make Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeño!

Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno is something I’ve made many, many times through the years for Thanksgiving, and it’s definitely something I’ll be making this year when I’m having a big Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I admit, I wasn’t ever a big cranberry fan, and when my friend Trina first told me about the fresh cranberry salsa she’s been making for years, I was skeptical until she told me the ingredients list. The combination of fresh cranberries with cilantro, green onion, lime juice, and jalapeno had so many of my favorite flavors, it was pretty much a given that I’d like it.

And as soon as I tasted this Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa (and loved it!) my brain started imagining ways to eat it. Of course, fresh cranberry salsa would be fantastic on your Thanksgiving dinner plate next to the turkey, but I’d also enjoy it spread on a turkey sandwich, layered into a turkey casserole, eaten as a sauce over pan-fried pork or chicken, or dipped up with celery or pita chips like I did for this Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Holiday Appetizer. And if you have leftovers, this cranberry salsa freezes well! Thanks again to my friend Trina for sharing this one!

I call this low-sugar cranberry salsa since there’s natural sugar in the cranberries so it couldn’t ever be a sugar-free recipe, and I’d use Stevia In the Raw Granulated (or the sweetener of your choice) to make it low in sugar.  If you want to use sugar, there’s only 3/4 cup so it’s still not overly sweet. I realize you need something to sweeten the cranberries, but for me it’s definitely the savory flavors that make this so appealing, so please don’t think of it in the same category as a sweet cranberry sauce.

This is a flavor combination for cilantro lovers, but if any cilantro haters try it with something else like flat parsley, I’d love to hear how it works. I’ve added this to my collection of Thanksgiving Recipes, and I might even try to sneak it past some of the cilantro-haters who are coming to my house!

How to Make Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno:

(This is just a summary; scroll down for complete recipe.)

1. Start with a 12 oz. bag of cranberries like the kind you see in all the stores at this time of year!
2. Be sure to WEAR RUBBER GLOVES when you cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds because those little seeds are no fun at all if you get them on your hands or rub your eyes.  (You can also use a few teaspoons of Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link) instead of the jalapenos.)
3. Have the chopped cilantro, chopped green onion, and chopped jalapeno ready when you start to process the cranberries.
4. Chop the whole bag of cranberries in the food processor, or Trina says you can use a blender. I used my Cuisinart Food Processor (affiliate link) Next time I might not chop the cranberries quite so much in the beginning.
5. I chopped the cranberries first and then added the sweetener and pulsed a few more times.
6. Then add the chopped cilantro, chopped green onions, chopped jalapenos, lime juice, and olive oil and pulsed until the other ingredients are chopped and it’s well-combined.
7. Chill the salsa for several hours or overnight and then serve.  I promise that all your guests will devour this (unless they’re cilantro haters, but there’s nothing I can do to help you with that!)

More Interesting Ideas with Cranberries:

Thanksgiving Spinach Salad with Cranberries, Almonds, and Goat Cheese from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Whole Wheat Cranberry Orange Ricotta Muffins from Andrea Meyers
Low-Sugar and Flourles Apple Cranberry Crumble from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Broccoli Slaw Salad with Cranberries, Almonds, and Yogurt Dressing from The Perfect Pantry
Cabbage, Apple, and Kale Salad with Cranberries and Pistachios ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

Print Recipe

Trina's Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno

Yield: 2 cups of salsa

Total Time: 20 minutes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro, Lime, and Jalapeno is definitely a winner for Thanksgiving, and delicious anytime!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (12 oz.) fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup any approved sweetener that you prefer, see notes.
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced (about 3/4 cup sliced green onion)
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped (about 3/4 cup chopped cilantro, or use more to taste)
• 2 fresh jalapenos, seeds removed and chopped
  (use more if you like it spicy; could also use a few tsp. of Green Tabasco Sauce)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T fresh lime juice

Directions:

1. Chop the green onions and cilantro.
2. Then WEAR RUBBER GLOVES for chopping the jalapenos, being careful not to touch your face or eyes or let the juice squirt up.  (I don’t put jalapeno seeds into the disposal either, because the fumes when they are grinding can irritate your eyes.  If you’re worried about handling the jalapenos, I’ve had good luck making this with Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link).)
3. Put the cranberries into a food processor or blender and pulse until they are partly chopped.
4. Add sweetener of your choice and pulse a few times more to combine.
5. Add sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, chopped jalapenos (or Green Tabasco Sauce), olive oil, and lime juice (I used my fresh-frozen lime juice)
6.  Pulse until all ingredients are chopped and the mixture is well combined.  (If you’re not sure about using 2 jalapenos, add one and taste the mixture before you add the other, but I’m kind of a lightweight on spicy things and this was just right for me.)
7. Put mixture into a glass or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and chill for several hours or overnight.
8. If you end up with leftovers, this will freeze very well!

Notes:

I originally made this with Stevia Granulated Sweetener (affiliate link) but now I’d probably use Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link).

Recipe from my friend Trina who got it from her friend Georgianna.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Since Trina’s Low-Sugar Fresh Cranberry Salsa contains fruit, it’s obviously never going to be super low in carbs, and is limited to phase 2 or 3 for the South Beach Diet. Unless you’re making for a once-a-year treat on Thanksgiving, I would use Stevia In the Raw Granulated or another approved sweetener to make this if you’re following South Beach or a low-carb eating plan.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into this nutritional analyzer, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.