Pomegranate Cranberry Relish is a mouth-watering, holiday spread made with pomegranate, fresh cranberries, and sugar. It’s a sweet and tart spread you can scoop over a wheel of warm, brie cheese, or serve as a twist on the classic holiday side dish
Pomegranate Cranberry Relish
We’ve lived with a pomegranate tree in our yard for the past eleven years.
Someone pinch me because it’s really too good to be true!
Every time October rolls around, I’m inundated with fresh, tree-ripened pommies and I get a lot of time in the test kitchen with them.
So, every year for holiday feasts, I make this cranberry relish with pomegranate. In fact, it’s one of the first holiday recipes to ever hit my blog back in 2015.
Here’s what sells me on this cranberry relish every year:
- the perfect balance of tart and sweet
- it pops with flavor and texture
- uses raw cranberries and pomegranate arils together
- makes me obsess about it when I’m not eating it
What’s the difference between cranberry relish and sauce?
Cranberry sauce is traditionally cooked, while cranberry relish is typically raw.
That’s pretty much it!
It really depends on your preference. I love BOTH!
In fact, I like to have both options available on the holiday table.
How to make cranberry relish
Step 1. Pulse whole cranberries with white sugar in a food processor, a high-speed blender, or a standard blender. Be careful to not purée or liquefy the cranberries.
Step 2. Fold in whole pomegranate seeds and white sugar.
Step 3. Chill overnight (preferably one-day minimum in advance of your event).
If you don’t have a high-speed blender, a standard blender works just fine.
When should I make cranberry sauce or relish for holiday dinner?
TIME (and chemistry) are what brings out the best of any cranberry sauce.
So, whip it up a day or two before your holiday throwdown goes down.
You can set-it-and-forget-it in the fridge. Unless you’re me and you taste it every other hour for a few days because you’re a cranberry-obsessed weirdo who eats it straight out of the bowl.
That’s cool too!
Oh, but it’s so much better when you serve it over warm brie, like this…
But be careful to not overbake it, because it will do this…
But it still rocks, y’all! Even when it turns into Brie River, your people will devour it!
What’s the best way to sweeten cranberry relish?
I tested these sweeteners:
Honey – this overpowered the cranberry relish with honey flavor.
Turbinado (Raw) Sugar – a close second to white sugar, but still too caramel-ey tasting for my cranberry sauce preferences.
Coconut sugar – Are use coconut sugar for many many things. Cranberry sauce is not one of them. I simply do not care for how it flavors this recipe.
Brown Sugar – Just like raw sugar, the flavor was too deep and dark for cranberry sauce.
Plain white sugar – This was the winner…by a longshot! It doesn’t interfere with the flavors of the cranberries and the pomegranate like the other sugars did. Instead, it keeps the flavor bright, which is exactly what I want in a cranberry condiment.
I know, I know, we’re supposed to steer away from processed sugars, but it’s the holidays, so let’s chill.
Cranberry Relish Ingredients
Raw Cranberries – Fresh (or frozen) whole cranberries are a must for any cranberry sauce. In other words, you would never want to try and rehydrate dried cranberries.
Pomegranate Seeds – Also called pomegranate arils and found in most grocery stores from September – January. When you add these to the relish, keep them whole as they will literally pop with each bite…an experience to NOT be missed!
Sugar – I have tested several sugars and sweeteners with this recipe, and I always land on plain white can cane sugar.
Customize your cranberry relish
- jalapeños
- oranges
- apples
- ginger
- cloves
- lemon
- celery
- walnuts, or pistachios
No matter what, you’re getting a dose of Vitamin C, Fiber, and minerals with this dish. So, live it up!
Recommended tools
- 7-cup food processor
- mixing bowl
- stirring spoon
Grab these easy holiday recipes!
Smoked Salmon Dip with Greek Yogurt
I Can’t Believe Its’ Vegan! Green Bean Casserole
Pomegranate Cranberry Relish
Ingredients
- 12 oz bag Fresh Cranberries 3 cups
- 1/2 cup Pomegranate Arils
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse CRANBERRIES until coarsely chopped; transfer to a bowl; fold in POMEGRANATE ARILS and SUGAR.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight (or up to three days before serving).
- Add small amounts of sugar if needed.
Make a few days in advance for a full, flavor experience; store up to 4 days.
RECIPE NOTES
Nutrition
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Look, with all the cooking to be done for our Thanksgiving crowd, I forgot the Brie. Boohoo. But your beautiful relish was made two days ahead and looked so pretty on the table in a pretty little glass bowl for about three minutes. Traci, they devoured it and left hers all around!
We will get some brie and treat ourselves to your relish recipe for New Year’s
Day. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us.
Omgosh Mary…THIS! LOVE! I’m so glad everyone loved it and thank you for taking the time to leave me this detailed review. I SO appreciate it 🙂 Btw, if we were neighbors, I’d have you covered on that brie 😉 Happiest New Year to you!
Do you know how far in advance this relish could be made? Thanks!
Hi Madalyn, I’ve made it up to 5 days ahead. It gets better every day 🙂 Hope you love it!
Delicious! I added 1 minced jalapeno and it added not only a festive red/green color contrast but also a nice little bit of heat. I’ll be making a big batch to gift this year. 🎁
Yayyyy! And a little heat…that’s my style, right there! Thank you SO much for the comment…glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Need the nutrition amounts, specifically how many carbs. Thanks.
We have added nutrition amounts…yay! Please refer to the recipe card for nutrition data. Please also observe the disclaimer. Thanks 🙂
Thank you.
You’re so welcome Dena! Enjoy! 🙂
PS Traci, Dena is my Mom, and also one of the greatest cooks & bakers I’ve known in life…she’s the one who got me hooked early on 🙂
That’s super sweet, Whitney! I always love hearing that 🙂
That’s probably the best looking holiday relish I’ve ever seen. I can imagine it tastes also delicious. Thank you for inspiring me.
Aww thanks Gabi! Love hearing that. Hope you can make it this year…it’s such a treat 🙂
This is so perfect for the holidays! Especially when you add it to brie cheese!
Thanks Jessica…YES brie cheese, for the ultimate WIN 🙂
I love the idea of mixing pomegranates and cranberries! So good!
Thanks Tayler! They are a pretty great combo 😉
I always eat pomegranate raw! What a great idea though using it in a recipe like this. Would add such a punch of flavor, I can just imagine it served with roast chicken or turkey!
Thanks Chef Markus! Yes, it’s soooo good with turkey…especially on a leftover turkey sandwich. My mouth waters just thinking about it LOL.
mmm, and then add a sliver of brie to that turkey sandwich & you’ve got pure heaven!!! nom nom nom
Couldn’t agree more, Whitney! I’m wishing I had some right now 🙂
I love pomegranates and cranberries together! This recipe looks so perfect for a holiday party. Looks incredibly festive!
Thanks Sally…yes, it’s a holiday party hit!
Wow! I love the flavor combo! Thanks for suggesting other ingredients that can be added to his relish.
Thanks Julia…hope you can try it sometime!
What an interesting combination! This recipe sounds so delicious! I’m stocking my freezer with cranberries this year so that I can work my way through all the wonderful fresh cranberry recipes I keep finding, this one included!
Thanks Lauren…haha yep, I’ve been doing the frozen cranberry trick for years 🙂
How lucky are you to have pomegranates in your yard! We have pecan trees in ours and I’m like you – sometimes I just want to pinch myself! Great sounding recipe and it does sound divine over brie!
Thanks Pam! Yeah, the pomegranate tree in the yard was such an unexpected bonus of where we live 🙂
What a great idea and addition to the same old cranberry sauce. I really love this fruit mixed in. I bet it has a nice tangy flavor
Thanks Claudia…yeah it’s mouth watering sweet and tart! Perfect with a creamy cheese 🙂
This sounds like perfection! I love that you used pomegranate in this! Perfect for thanksgiving 🙂
Thanks Danielle! Yep, we have a pomegranate tree, so I get creative with it sometimes 🙂
I love your cranberry relish because of the pomegranate seeds – that’s a great idea. My grandmother made relish — and she used an entire orange (skin and all) didn’t like that nearly as much. This looks great!
Thanks Lisa! I think I would like that, but maybe hold back on the skin a bit 😉
I love brie but I’ve never had cranberry relish over it. What a great idea! I can’t wait to make this for the holidays. I know it will be a big hit!
Thanks Kelly! This is definitely my favorite way to eat this relish…yummm!
This relish looks like the perfect addition to any Holiday dish! It sounds and looks great! I might use this as opposed to cranberry sauce this year!
Thanks Shanika! I hope you get to try it and love it like I do!