This Cranberry Hummus is served with Sage Pita Chips and makes for the perfect holiday appetizer or solution to those Thanksgiving leftovers! It's pretty, easy to make, and will definitely become a crowd favorite.

Overhead view of a bowl of cranberry hummus with cranberry and sage garnish and surrounded by sage pita chips, with "cranberry hummus" text at top of photo and "with sage pita chips" text at bottom

One week until Christmas! And you know what that means… The reindeer and elves are arriving!

Seriously, though. When I was in second grade, my friend told me that during the week leading up to Christmas, if you left a carrot in your shoe and put it outside your bedroom door, elves would come, take the carrot for the reindeer, and leave you gifts.

Obviously this was pretty much the best news in life. I no longer had to wait for December 25 to get presents?? Game on. My mom looked kind of skeptical when I described this new revelation to her, but that didn’t stop me. I put a carrot in my shoe and put it outside my door before bedtime.

When I woke up the next morning and stepped outside my door, the carrot was gone and a fun new trinket was in its place.

The second night, the same thing happened. Success! But as I was getting ready for bed on the third night, my mom sat me down and told me that the reindeer wouldn’t be bringing the elves anymore due to the fact that there was a two gift limit on this whole shebang.

What?! My friend hadn’t told me that part and I was pretty sure the elves were still bringing her gifts… But considering Santa was arriving in just a few days, I had to suck it up and go with it.

Years later I realized how annoying some parts of parenting must be. The stories your kids’ friends tell them. And the troubles you have to go through to not burst your kids’ dreams and crazy imaginations.

Luckily, I now understand that the carrot in the shoe ploy is simply a tactic to up your gift count in the days leading up to Christmas. And these days, instead of leading up to Christmas day with gifts, I do it with food!

If I left a carrot in my shoe and the elves brought me a cheesecake or a chicken pot pie, I’d so be testing that out. But for now, I’m holiday cooking and baking to my little heart’s content. Today’s post involves a festive dish that would make the perfect appetizer at any of your holiday gatherings… Cranberry Hummus!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Homemade hummus is always one of the best party appetizers and this one is incredibly unique. The addition of cranberries not only makes this a beautiful holiday color, but it adds holiday flavor to a traditional appetizer.

You can serve the cranberry hummus with anything you want, but I highly recommend the sage pita chips. They're ridiculously easy to make and so seasonally delicious.

One of the best things about this recipe is the simple ingredients! When you're already spending a lot of money on holiday entertaining, this appetizer doesn't require too much.

Ingredients

Like I mentioned above, you don't need much to make this delicious party appetizer. It's especially perfect for making with that leftover cranberry sauce you always have after Thanksgiving.

Or for utilizing a little of the cranberry sauce you're already planning to make for Thanksgiving.

Here's what you need for the cranberry hummus:

Tahini
Lemon juice
Extra-virgin olive oil
Chickpeas
Fresh cranberry sauce
Water

And here's what you need for the sage pita chips:

Olive oil
Fresh sage
Pepper
Pitas
Sea salt

How to Make Cranberry Hummus

First of all, make sure you have some freshly made cranberry sauce (not from a can!) If you're looking for a recipe, I highly recommend my Mojito Cranberry Sauce (which would also give this hummus an extra little kick!), but I also love this Roasted Cranberry Sauce recipe from Bon Appetit.

Overhead view of all ingredients for cranberry hummus and pita chips, including bowl of cranberry sauce, chick peas, tahini, lemon , olive oil, pita bread, and sage

If you haven't made your own hummus before, you should know that it's SO easy. Basically just put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend away.

There are a ridiculous amount of ways and flavors you can make hummus, which means you'll probably be wanting to have a batch in your fridge ready to go at all times.

For this one, put tahini and lemon juice in a food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes, until tahini is nice and creamy.

Add in extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste and mix a little bit more.

Add chickpeas to food processor and process for another 1-2 minutes.

Add cranberry sauce and process for another minute, until hummus is well-blended and creamy.

I am OBSESSED with the color of this cranberry hummus! Honestly, I'd probably make it for the color alone... But luckily, it's also delicious, so I can make it for both looks and taste!

Landscape photo of pink cranberry hummus pureed in food processor

How to Make Sage Pita Chips

If you want to really take this cranberry hummus to a new level, serve it with homemade sage pita chips. They're also super easy to make.

To start, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, chopped sage, and pepper.

Place pita triangles on a baking sheet and lightly brush with the oil mixture. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake at 400 degrees for 6-9 minutes, until chips are crispy.

Pita bread triangles with sage olive oil on them on baking sheet

And drizzle a little extra extra-virgin olive oil on the hummus, if you’d like. I love that EVOO swirl!

Dunk a sage pita chip into it, and enjoy!

Overhead view of a bowl of cranberry hummus with cranberry and sage garnish and surrounded by sage pita chips

And spend A LOT of time talking yourself out of eating the entire batch of chips with the hummus. Because there are a lot of them. And you really shouldn’t eat an entire batch of hummus with pita chips in one sitting.

Unless, of course, it’s going to be your dinner for the night like it was mine tonight. Then that’s totally acceptable. Right??

Especially if you’re doing so while watching cheesy holiday movies on the Hallmark Channel. Then I know you’re truly in the holiday spirit.

Close-up overhead view of red and white bowl filled with pink cranberry hummus with cranberry and sage garnish

I was pretty thrilled with how this hummus came out. The cranberry flavor wasn’t overpowering, but was definitely there. Same with that pretty pink color.

And the sage pita chips? Like I mentioned, I couldn’t stop eating them. I totally would have gotten better gifts if I had left these in my shoes instead of carrots. I have a feeling reindeer love pita chips.

More Holiday Appetizer Recipes

If you're looking for more appetizer recipes to serve at your holiday parties, I have a ton of delicious ones ready for you! Here are some of my favorites:

I’ll likely be serving this cranberry hummus at every holiday party I ever have for the rest of my life.

Head-on view of red and white bowl filled with cranberry hummus with cranberry and sage garnish and surrounded by plate of pita chips

And if the elves want to take some with them, then by all means… Just make sure they leave me something good in return.

And now you know what to serve at your next holiday party and what to do with leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving.

What’s your favorite festive party app?

📖 Recipe