Winter Fruits Chutney

by Angela Gallardo in Holiday, Recipes, Sides & Snacks

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You know what’s missing from most cranberry sauce recipe?

Fat.

(Bonus points if you knew I was going to say that. 😜)

I’ve played with this recipe every holiday season for about 4 years now.  Onions, no onions, vinegar, no vinegar, super unsweet/tart, lots of honey.

It really just didn’t feel right until this year when I started throwing a bunch of Kerrygold in.  Go figure. 😀

I add this to *nearly* everything during the fall and early winter.  It’s particularly good over some baked winter squash (with more butter, naturally). And I’ve recently been layering it onto my spaghetti squash toast.

See below for notes on using a slow cooker and why NOT to use the IP pressure-cook setting.  And for the love of all that is holy, please make this recipe instead of opening a can of creepy, jelly cranberry next Thursday. 🙏🏼

Get a printable PDF of the recipe

Winter Fruits Chutney

Yields: ~6 cups

• 2 oranges
• 2 lemons
• 2 pears
• 2 apples (I <3 honeycrisp)
• 16 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries
• 2 cinnamon stick
• 5 star anise
• 1/2 c. dried apple-sweetened cranberries
• 1 c. unfiltered apple cider
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• Large pinch of black pepper
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 3 tbsp. butter, ghee, or coconut oil
• Optional: additional 2 tsp. cinnamon for some extra punch and/or a squidge of honey if your family needs more sweetness

Directions:

1. Peel the zest from the oranges and lemons with a vegetable peeler (you can zest with a microplane but a peeler is quicker).  Avoid the white pith, it will make the chutney bitter.  Add the zest to to a large stock pot.  Peel the citrus, discard the peel, chop the inners up, and add them to the pot.
2. Core and chop the apples and pears and add them to the pot.  Add the cranberries, cinnamon stick, star anise, dried cranberries, apple cider, ground ginger, ground allspice, black pepper, and sea salt. (save the butter to add at the end)
3. Stir everything together.  Place the pot over medium heat and cover with a lid.  Cook covered for 10 minutes.  Uncover and turn the heat down to medium-low.  Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the mixture has gotten very thick and jammy.
4. Remove from the heat.  Carefully pull out the strips of citrus zest and the whole anise and cinnamon stick.  Add the butter and stir until smooth.  Taste and season with additional cinnamon, as desired per your personal preference (I added the extra).   If it isn’t sweet enough for your audience, add honey to taste (I didn’t add extra).

Notes:

• You can opt to throw everything in your slow cooker for about 3-6 hours on high (adjust to your preference), but it may not reduce down as thick as what is shown here.  I do not recommend cooking this under pressure (Instant Pot), as the evaporation of water from all the ingredients is crucial to the flavors developing (evaporation does not happen under pressure). 
• You could also use the “Sauté” function on the Instant Pot rather than the stovetop.