You'll love my Indian-style Cranberry Chutney that's irresistibly sweet and has a hum of spice from dried red chillies and ginger. I make it on the stove, using fresh cranberries, in less than 10 minutes.

Quick, easy & dangerously tasty!

Indian style cranberry chutney served in a bowl on indian style vintage plate.

Upgrade your Thanksgiving table with this spicy cranberry chutney and a variety of Indian vegetarian thanksgiving recipes!

I have to say, we're not really a dip household but if there's one (ritual) that I take from American cuisine - it's cranberry dips! As soon as fresh cranberries are available in our supermarkets, I'm busy making cranberry whipped feta dip and cranberry jalapeno cream cheese dip.

My Mum likes to experiment with fruit chutneys adding a desi twist - saffron apple chutney and carrot, cardamom tomato chutney - and she made a variation of this cranberry one almost 2 decades ago!

The sweet and savoury flavour goes great with an appetizer like samosa tart and is equally a side for this stuffed butternut squash centrepiece. Leftovers can be scooped up with paratha or palak puri.

Serve it on Christmas day with this stunning paneer nut roast.

The Recipe Details & Ingredients

Be sure to check out the full recipe and exact ingredient list below in the recipe card.

The recipe itself is simple. Start with a tempering of panch phoran (more on that below) + red chillies, then tip in cranberries, ginger, sugar, salt and water. Fresh cranberries will cook down in less than 5 minutes. Then you just need to let it cool and thicken.

I've kept my version of cranberry chutney a little on the looser side, not jam-like in consistency. I don't completely cook away all the moisture, so don't expect it to last in the fridge for weeks! For that version, check out my Instant Pot cranberry sauce.

Onto the ingredients ..

Cranberries - I've used a 250 grams punnet of fresh cranberries and it made around 350 grams of cranberry chutney. You can absolutely use frozen here - you may just need a little less water.

Panch phoran - the classic Indian pickling spice. It's made from 5 different spices that when tempered will bloom and release the most incredible aroma. It's available from most supermarkets in the Indian food aisle. If you cannot find it, use a mix of mustard seeds, cumin seeds and kalonji at least.

Dried red chillies - when added to the tempering release a warm heat and add spice.

Ginger - fresh grated ginger is key here. Grated ginger releases juices which fragrance the syrup. You could sub in ginger powder at a pinch, it will taste a little different though.

Brown sugar - I like the earthiness from brown sugar but you can use white sugar if that's what you have to hand.

spicy and sweet cranberry chutney served with crackers on the side.

Storage

Store cranberry chutney in an airtight container and store in the fridge as soon as it cools to room temperature. It will keep well for up to 1 week.

As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

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📖 Recipe