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My Favorite Holiday Cranberry Salad

cranberry salad

The recipe is not sugar free but you can certainly substitute the sugar and purchase sugar free Jello mix.

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups of fresh cranberries, washed and drained (I tend to use an entire bag of Ocean Spray)
1 & a ½ cups water
1 cup sugar
1 3 oz. pkg cherry Jello
1 small can (8oz.) of crushed pineapple, drained (You can use a 20 oz. can if you prefer the extra fruit)
1 to 2 sticks celery, diced fine (I use two if I’m using the whole bag of berries)
1 small ripe apple, chopped (I use a Granny Smith apple)
1/4 cup toasted pecans

Instructions

  • Combine the 2 cups of fresh cranberries and 1 & 1/2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan.  Cook on medium with the lid on until the cranberries start popping, about 10 minutes.
  • Remove from heat and add sugar and cherry Jello.  Stir until completely dissolved.
  • Add the drained pineapple, chopped celery and diced apple (You can also throw these into a chopper for a finer result).  Add into the Jello mixture until well-coated. Pour entire mixture into your serving bowl of choice and let stand for about 10 minutes.
  • If desired, sprinkle with toasted pecans. I also love adding orange zest to this for extra pizzazz.
  • Cover with plastic wrap or lid.
  • Refrigerate over night.

Notes

You can add the pineapple juice into the mixture while cooking if preferred. Just be sure to decrease the water amount so it will set well overnight without becoming too watery.

Keywords: cranberry, side salad, holiday recipes, cranberry recipes, jello salad