If you’ve been reading my blog at all over the past week or so, you’re probably sick of hearing me talk about this Cranberry-Pepper Jelly! But I promise, this will be it on this topic…at least until next year. I know it probably seems odd that I’m providing the recipe in this post after Thanksgiving, but this condiment is so yummy and versatile that it lives well past Turkey Day. Fantastic on turkey sandwiches of course, but also great with baked brie or really paired with any cheese. It also makes a nice cracker dip along with some cream cheese. This cranberry-pepper jelly knows no bounds and it’s super easy to make as well. The recipe is from the 2011 Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appétit with only a couple of very minor SavoryGirl adaptions.

So first things first…the ingredients. Super simple ingredients here along with a heavy-bottomed pan and you’re ready to go:

3 red bell peppers, finely chopped
2 Fresno or red jalapeño chiles, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup sugar
1 ¾ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup liquid pectin (found in the baking aisle in most grocery stores)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
3 cups fresh cranberries (~1 bag, found in the produce section)

Combine peppers, chiles, sugar, red pepper flakes and salt in a heavy wide pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in pectin, lemon zest and lemon juice. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Stir in cranberries and simmer gently until they burst and juices thicken, about 20 minutes longer.

Transfer jelly to a jar, let cool, and cover. Bon Appètit indicates that this will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator, but we were eating ours for closer to 6 weeks (I think I doubled the recipe last year) and it seemed fine to me. But I’m no scientist here and I tend to be a bit riskier with leftovers than I probably should be so use your own judgment…and when in doubt, throw it out! But really, it’s so good you won’t want to…so instead just eat it up in a timely manner.

Do you have a favorite cranberry jelly or sauce that you make every year? If so, I’d love to hear about it so leave a comment below. This is the first homemade cranberry sauce that has ever swayed me away from my stand-by canned cranberry sauce (I know blasphemous!)…so much so that I didn’t even touch the canned stuff on the table this year! But if you have a recipe that will stand up to my picky ways about cranberry sauce, do share!