This salad has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid! It uses only 6 fresh and natural ingredients with just enough sweetness to create a magically fun and fluffy salad that kids of all ages will love. This is a perfect addition for your Thanksgiving and Christmas feast!
Why You Will Love This Cranberry Salad
Every holiday meal needs both sweet and savory choices, and this sweet salad fits right in! The tart cranberries are balanced by the sweetness of apple, pineapple, and mini marshmallows. Kids of all ages love this!
At first glance, one might think this is a Jello salad: it's pink, fluffy, and contains fruit. But this old-fashioned salad uses whipping cream instead of Cool Whip, and the pink color comes from fresh cranberries, not Jello. So if you're trying to avoid artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup, this salad is a great solution. (Truth: there is some corn syrup from the marshmallows, but the salad just wouldn't be the same without them!)
Cranberry Fluff Ingredients
- Cranberries, fresh
- Apple, sweet (I use Honeycrisp)
- Sugar
- Canned pineapple, crushed or tidbits
- Miniature marshmallows (to bring the FLUFF)
- Whipping cream
How to Make This Cranberry Fluff Salad
- Core and section the apple (peeling is optional) and place the sections in a food processor with the fresh cranberries. Pulse to chop the fruit, and continue pulsing until everything is finely minced. My mom used to make this with an old-fashioned meat grinder, which worked great but was kind of messy. The food processor works so much better!
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2. Place the minced fruit in a bowl and mix in the sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight to marinate. In theory, a few hours might be enough so if you forget to do this the day before, then start this step early in the morning!
3. The next day, drain the pineapple and whip the cream until firm peaks form. Then combine the minced cranberry-apple with the drained pineapple, whipped cream and of course the marshmallows. I like to do this by scooping the minced cranberries from the bowl to add to the whipped cream, to minimize the extra liquid.
4. Refrigerate the salad for at least an hour before serving. It can sometimes seem a little watery at first but it will firm up some with refrigeration. I like to wait until serving to transfer it to a nicer bowl.
Recipe Tips
- The cranberries should be fresh and firm, otherwise they won't mince well.
- Be sure to pulse the food processor only enough to mince the fruit without turning it to mush!
- Drain the pineapple well. You can use either tidbits or crushed pineapple, per your preference. I like crushed because it makes a more even distribution of taste in the salad. 😋
- Whip the cream well, to make firm peaks. It will loosen as you add the fruit so it's good to have a strong start LOL.
- Store the salad in the fridge until time to serve. It is best eaten on the day it is made but leftovers will still be yummy the next day. With time, the fruit will continue to release liquid so you'll want to finish the salad within a day or two, which I do not find to be a problem!
📖 Recipe
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Cranberry Fluff Salad
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 cups cranberries fresh
- 1 medium to large apple sweet (like Honeycrisp)
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup canned pineapple, drained crushed or tidbits (14 oz can)
- 1½ cups miniature marshmallows
- ¾ cup whipping cream
Instructions
- Core and section/slice the apple. (Peeling is optional) Place the apple slices in a food processor with the cranberries. Pulse until the fruit is an even mince. Transfer to a bowl and add the sugar. Mix, cover, and refrigerate overnight.2 cups cranberries, 1 medium to large apple, ½ cup sugar
- The next day, drain the pineapple and then whip the cream to firm peaks. Add the fruit to the whipped cream and mix well, then fold in the mini marshmallows.1 cup canned pineapple, drained, ¾ cup whipping cream, 1½ cups miniature marshmallows
- Refrigerate for at least an hour to set, then serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Tina V.
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Sula
That's fantastic - thank you, Tina, for the kind review!