Get your taste buds ready because cranberry cream cheese dip combines the sweet, tart, and salty for a delicious fall friendly appetizer dip that looks beautiful and tastes amazing!
Whether you use this recipe as a dip, a spread, or a stuffing for the inside of won-tons or pinwheel sandwiches, this Cranberry Cream Cheese dip is a beautiful mix of cranberry tart and the sweet taste of sugar and jam. A perfect combo with cream cheese, eating with pretzel crisps adds the bit of salt that just takes this recipe to the next level. What you see in the images is only HALF the topping of the recipe, it makes in total 2 bricks, so is a good sized appetizer for a party.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread
- 1 package, 12 oz, frozen whole cranberries (no sugar added), thawed OR 1 bag of FRESH cranberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup apricot preserves or jam
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 bricks, 8 oz, cream cheese, softened
- buttery crackers or pretzel chips for serving
- fresh mint to garnish, optional
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Common Appetizer Questions
- What do you dip Cranberry Dip with? I recommend serving with pretzels, Ritz Crackers, or even a veggie dipper like celery sticks. Personally I also love bits of Italian or French bread torn up to dip with!
- Instead of a block, can you ball the Cream Cheese? The easiest way to ball up cream cheese is to place on plastic wrap, shape, and put in fridge to firm for an hour or two. You can see more info on this in my chocolate chip cheese ball dip recipe.
- How much dip does this recipe make? This recipe makes enough cranberry pour for 2 blocks of cream cheese, or if you like a lot of cranberry on top, to re-pour as people eat the cream cheese down.
- Are there any other ingredient changes I can make? A lot of people love the flavors of jalapeno and cranberries together, so you could easily dice fresh jalapenos and combine with the cranberries for a Cran-Jalapeno dip. Additionally, instead of cream cheese, you could also use a other soft cheeses like goat cheese or brie as the base.
- Can fresh cranberries be used – YES! Simply use fresh cranberries in place of thawed frozen ones, follow recipe as instructed.
Let’s Get Started on that Cranberry Dip!
Add cranberries, sugar, preserves and water to a large saucepan.
Heat saucepan over medium high heat until boiling.
Mixture will begin to bubble and get frothy as it heats and you may hear the cranberries sizzling and pop.
Continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until berries are popped open and mixture begins to darken.
Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
Let set too cool and refrigerate to cool completely.
Once cooled, stir cranberry mixture so its pliable.
Gently press a spoon in the center of the cream cheese to create a divot.
Spoon mixture on top of cream cheese and serve with crackers or pretzel chips.
Makes 2-3 appetizer bricks.
As always, thank you so much for visiting my site and trying my recipe! If you enjoyed this recipe (or have changes that you made that are amazing), I want to hear about it! Just leave me a comment or find me on TikTok and Pinterest. Thank you for supporting my site and interacting with me. I love sharing my cooking and I love you!
~Trisha
Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip
Ingredients
- 1 package - 12 oz, frozen whole cranberries (no sugar added), thawed
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup apricot preserves or jam
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 bricks - 8 oz, cream cheese, softened
- buttery crackers or pretzel chips for serving
- fresh mint to garnish - optional
Instructions
- Add cranberries, sugar, preserves and water to a large saucepan.
- Heat saucepan over medium high heat until boiling.
- Mixture will begin to bubble and get frothy as it heats and you may hear the cranberries sizzling and pop.
- Continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until berries are popped open and mixture begins to darken.
- Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
- Let set too cool from stove and then refrigerate until complete cooled.
- Gently press a spoon in the center of the cream cheese to create a divot.
- Spoon mixture on top of cream cheese and serve with crackers or pretzel chips.
- Makes 2 appetizer bricks.
Video
Nutrition
Pat __mcnair says
This has to be the most Devine cranberry dish ever.Thanks for sharing
Chris says
Could I use orange marmalade instead of apricot jam?
Trisha says
Hi Chris! Yes, I think that orange marmalade would be just fine. The only thing w/ marmalade is that it tends to have actual pieces of oranges in it, so that would add some texture. Cranberries and orange are pretty complimentary!
rebecca says
I always make a fresh cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners. I am so looking forward to trying this dip and definitely will be adding jalapeno. Can’t wait to make this. Thanks for sharing.
Sue says
I love to take 1 block of cream cheese and pour a small jar of sweet pepper jelly over it. So good and easy.
Trisha says
Hi Sue, yes that is SO delicious! I have seen that a lot at parties. Thanks for reminding everyone of the suggestions, great appetizer and so quick!
Carrie Borowiak says
Has anyone made this the night before? If so did you put it all together or keep sauce separate from the cream cheese?
Thank you!
Trisha says
I have! Keep the sauce separate from the cream cheese until you assemble to eat.
Kendal Hale says
Made this for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit. Most of the family will pass on cranberry sauce, but everyone ate this!
Trisha says
Thats awesome!! So glad this cranberry sauce was such a hit for your family!
Arlene says
I cut this recipe in half and made it for New Years Eve. Just 4 of us and we ate almost all if it! I didn’t have the apricot preserves on hand, so I substituted mango chutney which gave it a bit of spiciness! Would definitely make it again!
Alexis says
Intended to make this over Christmas but never got to it. So, made it today to have while watching football games. Absolutely delicious! Made it just as recipe is written and it’s currently being devoured with black pepper triscuits. 😋😋
Debra says
Anyone know if peach would be good with cranberry?? 😬
Trisha says
If you are asking me, YES!!!!!!!
Deb Korkowicz says
This was SO delicious, and easy to make. I used ginger ale for my liquid, and chopped walnuts instead of pecans, because those are what I had on hand. My husband, who doesn’t care for cranberry anything, loved it. Had to give the recipe to my mom so she can make her own, she liked it so well. This will be a holiday staple from here on!
Tina says
Can you substitute dried cranberries?
Trisha says
I honestly do not believe it would be the same, it would be a different texture. Not to say that it will be bad, but fresh cranberries are soft and dried are not.