If you’re looking for a make-ahead, healthy, and flavorful holiday appetizer to serve at home or bring to a party – look no further! Our friend and Registered Dietitian, Laura Ashley Johnson sent us this Festive Holiday Salsa recipe that is great as an appetizer, snack or condiment! It swaps tomatoes and garlic for cucumbers and cranberries, making it the perfect combination of sweet, tart, and spicy.
As an early holiday gift to us, our friend Laura sent us this incredibly flavorful Festive Holiday Salsa recipe. The recipe itself takes very little effort, but it has such a wonderful flavor profile that everyone will be asking for it by the end of the night.
With the holiday season upon us, we know that a lot of people are searching for quick and easy recipes to prepare for upcoming festivities. This appetizer is a guaranteed party favorite. It has lots of festive colors and fresh flavors, plus it is full of healthy veggies!
Fifteen minutes is all you will need to whip this recipe up and it can keep in the fridge for a few days until you’re ready to serve it. In fact, if you make it well in advance, it gives the salsa time to meld all those delicious flavors together.
For this salsa recipe, you will be using our Long English Cucumbers. Mild, but not meek, our seedless Long English Cucumbers add crisp, fresh flavor to the salsa. Not only do they taste great – they help keep you hydrated as well! Cucumbers are more than 95% water, plus they contain some important electrolytes, so if you’re indulging in some adult beverages over the holidays, snacking on cucumbers can help with those potential unwanted side-effects!
There are two ways you can approach this recipe: chop all the ingredients by hand or pulse them in a food processor. If you are chopping everything by hand, dice up the cucumbers, onions, and jalapeños; finely chop the cranberries; and mince the cilantro.
There are pros and cons to using a food processor for this recipe. While it can drastically cut down on the time, without the proper attachments, you could end up with festive holiday soup instead of salsa. If you are going to use this method, make sure that the ingredients are in manageable chunks, and that you pulse until everything is an even, dippable consistency.
Once all the ingredients that need chopping are ready to go, put them in a bowl, then add the lemon juice, lime juice, sugar, and salt. Mix well, cover the bowl, and then put it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. You can do some taste testing and adjust the flavors if need be. If you’re not a fan of spice, you can omit the jalapeños, but if you don’t think that jalapeños are spicy enough, substitute with a spicier pepper of your choosing!
Laura serves her Festive Holiday Salsa with cinnamon sugar chips, but you can serve it with whatever you think would taste best. If you are feeling creative and have some time on your hands, you could purchase green spinach tortillas and use festive cookie cutters to make different shaped chips. Once you cut the shapes, spray or toss with olive oil and using your oven or air fryer, bake them at 375° F for 8 to 10 minutes until they are crispy.
For Laura’s full Festive Holiday Salsa recipe, click here.
For more healthy snacking advice and tasty recipes, make sure to sign up for Pure Flavor’s® monthly newsletter.
