Creamy Cranberry Salad

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

17 Comments

4.60 from 5 votes
12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
chill time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
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Creamy Cranberry Salad is an easy, old-fashioned holiday recipe, with canned cranberry sauce, pineapple, coconut, marshmallows and Cool Whip.

If you’re a fan of classic Cranberry Sauce and creamy, old-fashioned desserts, like Cranberry Ambrosia Salad, you’re going to love this recipe for Creamy Cranberry Salad. It’s rich, sweet and easy to make with pre-made cranberry sauce!

Sabrina’s Creamy Cranberry Salad

If you’re over everyday desserts, like cheesecake and ice cream, and want something a little more creative, you should definitely make a large bowl of Cranberry Salad. This Creamy Cranberry Salad recipe combines the best of jello salad with delicious, thick whipped cream and tart cranberries to make a towering bowl of sweet, rich deliciousness.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Creamy Cranberry Salad Recipe

Creamy Cranberry Salad is an easy, old-fashioned holiday recipe, with canned cranberry sauce, pineapple, coconut, marshmallows and Cool Whip.
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Salad in a white serving bowl.
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
  • 4 cups cool whip
  • 8 ounce can crushed pineapple , drained
  • 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
  • 14 ounces canned whole cranberry sauce
  • 12 ounces mini marshmallows

Instructions

  • Mix the cream cheese and cool whip together until well combined.
  • Add in the crushed pineapple and coconut flakes.
  • Remove the cranberry sauce from the can and mash well in a small bowl before adding gently to the mixture.
  • Refrigerate until completely chilled (preferably an hour).
  • Fold in the marshmallows just before serving.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 257kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 92mg | Potassium: 99mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 194IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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About this Recipe

Creamy Cranberry Salad is perfect for holidays, get-togethers with friends, or even nights in when you’re feeling extra fancy. You also may not immediately think of canned cranberry sauce when you think of jello salad, but Cranberry Salad with canned cranberries is an amazingly easy way to infuse the jello salad with flavor.

Chef’s Note:

This recipe is super easy to make, and it makes the perfect holiday side dish or dessert. The great thing about this fancy, old-fashioned recipe is that you can dress it up for formal dinners or serve it on a paper plate if you and your family are overdoing Thanksgiving dishes. As far as cranberry recipes go, this one is incredibly accessible, even for people who don’t like the sharp, tart tang associated with these berries. The natural sweetness of the fruit salad recipes counteracts the tartness, making this the perfect flavor fusion.

How to Store

  • Serve: This salad is so much better chilled, so you absolutely shouldn’t leave it out for longer than 2 hours. I also wouldn’t recommend layering the ingredients together after refrigeration until you’re ready to eat, or the cranberries will bleed into the whipped cream and turn everything hot pink.
  • Store: If you wrap up your Creamy Cranberry Salad in plastic wrap or put it into an airtight container and refrigerate it, it will stay good for up to 2 days.
  • Freeze: Frozen Cranberry Salad is a bad idea on many levels. The freezing process isn’t kind to whipped cream, because the ice crystals that form in the whipped cream will absolutely destroy it.

Variations

  • Add-ins: Use fresh or dried sweetened cranberries in addition to your canned cranberry sauce.
  • Jello: Use a raspberry jello made with cranberry juice in place of the canned cranberry sauce.
  • Nuts: Top with chopped nuts like walnuts, pecans or cashews for a bit of a crunch.
  • Rainbow Marshmallows: Mix it up with rainbow mini marshmallows for a more festive look.
  • Canned Mandarins: Add canned, drained mandarin orange segments, orange and cranberry make a great pair.

More Amazing Creamy Salads

Collage of Cranberry Salad

Photos used in previous versions of the post:

Bowl of cranberry salad with cranberries and marshmallows on the side
Dessert cup with dessert salad
Creamy dessert salad shown from above

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

  4. The recipe description states “Creamy Cranberry Salad is a yummy, old-fashioned holiday recipe, with Jell-o …”, but there is no jello in the ingredient list nor is it mentioned in the recipe instructions. What jello flavor is recommended, and when is it added?

    Reply

  9. This pretty salad is a great way to use the extra cranberry sauce I always seem to have at the holidays. Looks like a crowd-pleasing addition to the holiday table.

    Reply