Creamy Cranberry Salad with pineapple and apples is a holiday favorite! This pretty side dish is sweet and tart with the perfect amount of crunch.
Dessert salads always make an appearance during the holidays. Cranberry salad is popular for both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. It is an irresistible combination of flavors and textures!
Cranberry Salad Ingredients
The ingredients needed to make cranberry salad should all be available at your grocery store during the holiday season. You may need to look for the whole cranberries in the freezer section. Scroll down for the complete recipe with ingredient measurements.
- Cranberries: This recipe calls for a bag of fresh cranberries. You can also use frozen cranberries but they need to be thawed ahead of time.
- Sugar: The sugar sweetened the cranberry sauce and helps it thicken.
- Pineapple Juice: The pineapple juice come from the can of crushed pineapple.
- Pineapple: We used crushed pineapple so that it is more consistent throughout the salad.
- Apple: This recipe calls for a medium apple. We used honeycrisp. You don’t need to peel the apple but it does need to diced.
- Cream Cheese: The cream cheese helps hold the salad together and makes it creamy.
- Cool Whip: The cool whip lightens the texture and adds to the sweetness.
- Marshmallows: The mini marshmallows add sweetness and texture.
- Sugared Cranberries: We garnished this cranberry salad with gorgeous sugared cranberries. You can find my sugared cranberries recipe here.
How To Make Cranberry Salad
To make cranberry salad, you’ll start by making cranberry sauce. Once the sauce has chilled the other ingredients can be stirred in. Scroll down for the printable recipe card and complete instructions.
- Cranberry Sauce: Combine the cranberries, sugar, and pineapple juice in a saucepan. Cook and stir until the cranberries start to break down and the sauce is thickened. Then, chill the sauce in the refrigerator.
- Fruit: Once the cranberry sauce has chilled, stir in the crushed pineapple and diced apples.
- Creamy Sauce: Beat the softend cream cheese and then stir in the cool whip. Add the cranberry sauce mixture and mini marshmallows and stir to combine.
- Garnish: We garnished this salad with sugared cranberries but you could use fresh cranberries or even mini marshmallows for a garnish.
Cranberry Salad Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. It does separate somewhat so stir it before serving. Or you can leave the cranberry sauce, fruit, and cream cheese mixture separate until close to serving time.
You can store cranberry salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
You could add chopped glazed pecans or walnuts. Other popular additions include mandarin oranges and diced celery.
Want more sweet salad recipes? Try these next:
Strawberry Pecan Pretzel Salad is one of the MOST POPULAR recipes. It’s cool and creamy with caramelized brown sugar pretzels and diced strawberries. There won’t be any leftovers of this dessert salad!
This Apple Snicker Salad with pumpkin spice recipe is cool and creamy with crispy apples and chewy Snickers. It is perfect for fall celebrations.
Blueberry Pretzel Salad is a mouthwatering combination of a creamy filling, crunchy sugared pretzels, and sweet blueberries. Everyone will want the recipe!
This fluffy Strawberry Jello Salad recipe is perfect for every occasion from summer barbeques and holiday dinners! It is a dessert salad that everyone loves.
Cranberry Salad
Creamy Cranberry Salad with pineapple and apples is a holiday favorite! This pretty side dish is sweet and tart with the perfect amount of crunch.
Ingredients
- 12 oz fresh cranberries (or use thawed frozen cranberries)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup pineapple juice (reserved from can)
- 20 oz can crushed pineapple (drain the pineapple and reserving the juice)
- 1 medium apple, diced
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 8 oz cool whip
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- 1/2 cup sugared cranberries, optional
Instructions
- Drain the crushed pineapple, reserving the juice. Set the pineapple aside. Put cranberries, granulated sugar, reserved pineapple juice in a saucepan. Stir and cook over medium heat for 12-15 minutes, until the cranberries start to break down. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator or over a bowl of ice water.
- Stir in the crushed pineapple and diced apple.
- Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the cool whip. Add the chilled cranberry mixture and mini marshmallows. Stir to combine.
- Garnish with sugared cranberries, if desired.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Leave a Reply