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Cranberry Vinaigrette is the perfect way to use up leftover cranberry sauce. It’s made with simple ingredients and pairs well with your Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers.
If you’re looking for a way to use your holiday leftovers, try making a salad with this easy dressing. Drizzle it over leftover turkey or chicken, along with apple slices, goat cheese, and walnuts for an easy winter salad.
The cranberry flavor will leave you craving more salad. Plus, it’s naturally gluten-free and vegan as long as you start with a vegan cranberry sauce.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This recipe calls for leftover cranberry sauce, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and black pepper. Water is added to help thin out the consistency, and you can add any additional flavors you love.
Add a squeeze of Dijon mustard for a more tangy flavor or a drizzle of honey or maple syrup for sweetness. Feel free to swap if you have a different vinegar in your pantry, like red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
For extra flavor, swap the water for orange juice or cranberry juice.
How To Make Cranberry Vinaigrette
Add the cranberry sauce, olive oil, vinegar, water, salt, and pepper to a high-speed blender. Secure the lid and blend until smooth.
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Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender, if needed. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches a pourable consistency. (I usually use equal parts water and cranberry sauce.)
Taste the dressing and adjust the flavor, if needed. You can add honey or maple syrup for extra sweetness, or an extra spalsh of vinegar to make it more tart. A squeeze of lemon juice will brighten the flavor.
Pour the dressing into a storage jar with a lid. It’s ready to use right away, but you can also store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Drizzle this homemade dressing over your favorite protein, or add it to a salad with kale, pecans, sliced apples, and feta cheese. It pairs well with practically anything.
Looking for more salad dressing recipes? Try Greek Salad Dressing, Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette, or Apple Cider Vinaigrette.
Ingredients
- ½ cup leftover cranberry sauce
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or vinegar of choice)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup water , plus more as needed
- fine sea salt & black pepper
Instructions
- Combine the cranberry sauce, vinegar, oil, water, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a blender. Secure the lid and blend until smooth. If the dressing doesn't look smooth, add two to four more tablespoons of water and blend again. (I usually need a 1/2 cup water total, but it will vary based on how thick your cranberry sauce is. It's safer to start with less water and add more as you go.)
- Taste the dressing and adjust the flavor as needed. For a sweeter dressing, add a squeeze of honey or maple syrup. For a more tangy dressing, add a touch more vinegar or lemon juice. Serve immediately, or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Cranberry Vinaigrette recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.
My family loves this recipe! It’s easy to customize, too; I like to add about 1 tsp dijon + a pinch of salt & pepper to the base recipe, and sometimes I’ll add a tsp of lemon zest or a tbsp of Greek yogurt for creaminess!
A friend brought a lot of homemade cranberry sauce for a Thanksgiving visit. I grabbed a 1/2 cup of it to make this super easy vinaigrette. It blended up perfectly. I seasoned with a little salt & pepper. So good.
This is amazing over leftover salad & turkey.
This was the perfect launch point. I had leftover homemade cranberry sauce (which included raisins and orange juice/zest), but was thinking of starting with fresh. I tried some cranberry balsamic vinegar first, but it was just too sweet; red wine vinegar did the trick instead (took 3 tbs). I also added 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 tsp gr black pepper, and a pinch of salt.
Roast Turkey Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette was the perfect lighter answer to the prevous day’s feast.
Thanks!
Excellent! Super simple. Super delicious. I added some strawberries from my garden Turned out just right. Thank you!!
My problem is, we’ve already eaten our cranberry sauce. I guess we’ll just have to make another batch. Simply so we can have some leftovers to make this beautiful dressing.
I am so glad you posted this recipe!! Only 1/2 of my family liked the sauce but EVERYONE loved this dressing!!! Thanks for the post, I was so happy to use the leftovers!!
i made a turkey hash with some leftover pumpkin puree, onions and roasted veggies. my husband made a white bean & pepper turkey stew with the dark meat and it’s so delicious! i love reinvented food and i absolutely hate wasting so i use it all! i even boil the carcass to make turkey stock 🙂
yummm i been having cranberry sauce ontop of my salads! I like to make a shepards pie with any leftovers and have that for the week, and ofcoarse crumble some pie over my oatmeal in the mornings ;-)!
Oh I bet this is amazing, I made your cranberry sauce and loved it!