Holiday Best Cranberry Jello Salad

Southern Lady's Note:

This salad is so tasty & bursting with flavor that accents your turkey and dressing...ham, too. We double the recipe to feed our large family (and then you need leftovers, right??) This recipe has been around for 40-50 years and we serve at each holiday. Make it your tradition, too!

• Total Time: 4 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 9

• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 (16 ounce) package raw cranberries
• 1 orange, rind of
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 ounces raspberry Jell-O gelatin (orange or cranberry Jello will work, too)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Add hot water to a med-large tempered bowl along with the orange juice and jello flavoring packets and disssolve thoroughly.
3. Chill until syrupy (30-40 mins)in a 9 x 9 or 9 X 13 dish (the only slight difference will be the depth of salad).
4. Chop celery finely in Food Processor, remove to a small dish and set aside.
5. Peel rind close to the zest.
6. Grind rind and cranberries in food processor until chopped ever so thinly (I remember when we chopped all by hand!).
7. Add sugar and mix with cranberry mixture. I stir right into food processor for one less dish.
8. When jello is syrupy, add cranberry mixture, nuts and finely chopped celery, mixing well in your dish.
9. Or you can transfer into a mold.
10. Refrigerate until firm (several hours).

Reviews

[Kathy in Sequim]

Wonderful, except ... I found that 16 ounces of raw cranberries (once chopped and added with the celery, etc) was too much. I doubled the recipe and it made a gorgeous jello salad in a 9 x 13 glass pan. Next time, I will use fewer cranberries. The bags of fresh cranberries are now 12 ounces -- so maybe I'll use 12 ounces per recipe instead. The flavor and crunchiness is just great. I used sugar-free jello (strawberry) since there's already so much sugar in the recipe. This was enjoyed by everyone at last night's Thanksgiving meal.

[Munchkin Mama]

I made this for Christmas and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was good and tart, a great side dish or alternative to canned cranberry sauce. It was really pretty, too. I regret that I didnt get a picture. Thanks for a great recipe!! I am already craving it again!

[Chef #1058606]

My mother-in-law used to make this cranberry salad. She wouldn't share recipes and took this one to the grave with her. My husband said he would like to have some homemade cranberry salad. This recipe seemed like it had all the same ingredients his mom's recipe used, so I tried it. My husband gave it a big thumbs up. He said it tasted just like the cranberry salad his mom made. Thank you for sharing your recipe Southern Lady.