Cranberry Ambrosia Salad

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

9 Comments

5 from 5 votes
12 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
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Cranberry Ambrosia Salad is an easy retro holiday dessert salad recipe with whole cranberries, pineapple, coconut and whipped cream in 10 minutes.

Cranberry Bread and Cranberry Sauce are not the only cranberry recipes you need to make for the holidays. This easy Cranberry Salad is perfect for Christmas dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, the next potluck you’re hosting, the Kentucky Derby, or any other fun, fancy event you’ve got planned.

Cranberry Ambrosia SaladCRANBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD 

As far as holiday recipes go, it’s hard to get more traditionally American than Cranberry Ambrosia Salad. You’re going to want to make a large bowl of this fun, yummy fruit salad, since everyone’s going to want a second helping. Depending on the rest of the menu, fresh Cranberry Salad is the perfect dessert or even a side dish. This is a more old fashioned dish, but you never know. It could become one of your new favorite recipes. It’s already gluten free too, so no changes have to be made for any friends or family with specific dietary needs.

What is Ambrosia Salad?

Ambrosia Salad is a creamy dessert salad made with pineapple, coconut and whipped cream (or cool whip) and other fruit cocktail ingredients.

So, what is Ambrosia Salad and what does “ambrosia” even mean? According to Greek mythology, “ambrosia” was the food of the gods that they often ate at banquets on Mount Olympus. In the U.S, references to a yummy fruit salad known as “Ambrosia Salad” started in the early 1800s. While no one knows the exact origins, food historians can trace it back to the American South, and even though there are as many different kinds of fruit salad as there are chefs making it, everyone has their own opinion on what makes a “true” Ambrosia Salad recipe.

MORE EASY HOLIDAY DESSERT SALADS

If you’re looking for other yummy and unique dessert salads, check out some of these:

HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD

  • Using a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds soft peaks, then add in the powdered sugar.
  • Whip until it makes a stiff whipped cream then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir gently.
  • Add in the cranberries, pineapple, coconut flakes and marshmallows and serve immediately.

Cranberry Ambrosia Salad in glass dessert cup

VARIATIONS ON CRANBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD

  • Fruit: Sliced mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries or kiwi fruit would be great additions. If you want a Cranberry Salad recipe for Thanksgiving, and don’t mind Cranberry salad with canned cranberries, you can use cranberry sauce from a can.
  • Creamy Mix-ins: You can use cool whip, sour cream, greek yogurt or cream cheese for a different texture.
  • Nuts: Chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds are a great topping for ambrosia salad too.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH CRANBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD

HOW LONG IS CRANBERRY AMBROSIA SALAD GOOD?

  • Serve: Don’t leave Cranberry Ambrosia Salad out for longer than about 2 hours. For best results, add in the fruit to the whipped cream right before you serve it.
  • Store: Always refrigerate this salad. Either cover the bowl with plastic wrap or transfer the salad into a sealable container, like Tupperware or a freezer bag. Cranberry Ambrosia Salad lasts for a couple of days if using cool whip.
  • Freeze: Don’t freeze Cranberry Ambrosia Salad as it will change the texture of the salad since the cranberries are used fresh in this recipe and the whipped cream can break upon thawing.

Cranberry Ambrosia Salad in white bowl

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Dinner, then Dessert

Cranberry Ambrosia Salad

Cranberry Ambrosia Salad is an easy retro holiday dessert salad recipe with whole cranberries, pineapple, coconut and whipped cream.
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Cranberry Ambrosia Salad in white bowl
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream , (you can use 4 cups Cool whip instead of cream and sugar)
  • 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 12 ounces fresh cranberries , (alternately you can pulse them too)
  • 20 ounces pineapple chunks , drained
  • 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
  • 2 cups  miniature marshmallows

Instructions

  • Using a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds soft peaks then add in the powdered sugar.
  • Whip until it makes a stiff whipped cream then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir gently.
  • Add in the cranberries, pineapple, coconut flakes and marshmallows and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 40mg | Potassium: 106mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 338IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg

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Ambrosia Salad with Cranberries

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  5. Omg this recipe took me back to my childhood!! Loved that it used all natural ingredients and whole cranberries too — which was a nice way to change things up! Thanks for this recipe! 🙂

    Reply