Table of Contents
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Cranberries are probably last on your priority list for Thanksgiving. I understand: you have the turkey, stuffing, sides, and dessert, so it seems just as easy to open a can of cranberry-like jelly and dump it on a plate. I hope I made that sound as unappetizing as possible because there are so many good options for a cranberry side!
This year, I’m making my favorite relish full of cranberries, apples, oranges, and some lime. With tart, sweet, and bright flavors, this is such a refreshing change from the norm and is delicious with the turkey…or with everything!
This can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. It’s so simple yet so delicious. I seriously eat this like a salad! Enjoy!
Watch how to make this cranberry relish:

Cranberry Relish
Ingredients
- 3 crisp sweet apples (Honeycrisp preferred)
- 1 lime
- 4 cups fresh cranberries
- zest of one orange
- 3 oranges
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger
- ½-1 cup granulated sugar (depends on the sweetness of apples)
Instructions
- Chop apples, removing the core.3 crisp sweet apples (Honeycrisp preferred)
- Remove the peel from the lime and chop it into pieces.1 lime
- Place apples in a food processor and add prepared lime. Pulse until slightly broken down to about pea-size pieces. Do not process to mush! Pour apples into a large bowl.
- Process cranberries by pulsing to the same size as apples. You may need to scrape sides of the food processor to evenly chop. Pour cranberries into the bowl with apples.4 cups fresh cranberries
- Zest one orange directly over apples and cranberries. Remove peels of oranges and chop, removing any seeds. Stir into relish.zest of one orange, 3 oranges
- Peel ginger with the back of a spoon and finely grate into relish.1 inch piece fresh ginger
- Finish with sugar to taste and mix well.½-1 cup granulated sugar (depends on the sweetness of apples)
My friend shared this recipe with me and it is absolutely delicious – I can’t get enough of it! I have made it 3 times in the past 2 months. Everyone I’ve shared it with just loves it! If you love citrus, you’ll love this relish. I eat it straight up as a snack any time. It is a real treat when you are craving fresh fruit. Although it says to add a half to 1 cup of sugar, I find a quarter cup does the trick – depending on the sweetness of your fruit and your own preference, of course. I use any hard, tasty apple that I can find. I also zest the lime before I chop it up and add the lime zest as well as the lime. Sometimes I squeeze a little more orange juice in as well. The fresh ginger takes this recipe over the top! Don’t leave it out.
It keeps at least a couple of weeks in the fridge. Apparently it can be frozen as well but I haven’t tried that yet.
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Dawn 😊👍