Christmas Fruit Salad
Made with red and green grapes, crushed pineapple, and a fluffy dressing, this Christmas Fruit Salad gets loads of crunch from celery and pecans. You are going to love how creamy and delicious this classic Christmas Fruit Salad is!
If you are looking for another fast and easy side dish for the holidays, try our Strawberry Angel Food Dessert or this Christmas Cranberry Cake.
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A Quick Look at the Recipe
- ✅ Recipe Name: Christmas Fruit Salad
- ⏲️ Ready In: 20 minutes
- 👨👨👦👦 Serves: 12
- 🍽️ Calories: 223
- 💪 Protein: 3g
- 🥣 Main Ingredients: Red and green grapes, crushed pineapple, cream cheese, and whipped topping
- 📋 Dietary Info: Comfort food, Holiday favorite, Make-Ahead friendly, Kid-Approved
- 💯 Why You’ll Love It: This Christmas Fruit Salad is creamy, fluffy, and full of crunch. It is a sweet, nostalgic side that comes together quickly and always impresses.
When I was growing up, my Mom made this salad for my Dad all the time, but she called it Waldorf Salad. I think she may have added mayonnaise to the dressing and also threw in some coconut. It’s a pretty classic salad from years ago!
I’m betting my Mom used an old family recipe that she got from my Grandma Lucille. She also made the amazing Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies. I think it’s cool how so many of us are bringing these old-fashioned salad recipes back to life and serving them to our friends and family.
This salad is a comfort food that sure does soothe and satisfy. It looks kinda fancy when it’s served for a holiday meal, but once you dig in, you’ll see it’s not fussy at all – just good home cookin’. I like to serve it alongside this Cherry Almond Cake.
As a kid, I thought creamy fruit salad with nuts was completely gross and wouldn’t touch it. Now that I’m an official senior citizen, I find I’m just like my Dad. I can’t get enough this fluffy fruit salad in my life!
Ingredients and Substitutions
For a complete list of ingredients, see the detailed recipe card below.
- Cream cheese: You can easily substitute low-fat cream cheese in this salad. I like to soften my cream cheese on the counter, unwrapped, for a few hours to make it easier to work with. Or, use the defrost setting on your microwave for 30 seconds to soften the cream cheese.
- Crushed pineapple: Drain the crushed pineapple well in a fine-mesh colander, reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice. I love the texture the crushed pineapple gives the creamy dressing!
- Red and Green Grapes: You can substitute 2 (15 oz.) well-drained cans of fruit cocktail in place of the grapes, but two things will happen: 1. You won’t have the red and green colors for Christmas. 2. The salad won’t be nearly as crunchy in texture. I’d add a bit more chopped celery to remedy this.
- Whipped topping: I like to use the extra-creamy Cool Whip brand, but use your favorite. Sugar free Cool Whip works well in this recipe, if preferred.
- Mini marshmallows: Add more for extra sweetness in this salad, or to stretch the recipe and feed more people. Once, I was out of mini marshmallows, so I used my kitchen shears and cut large marshmallows into small pieces – it worked just fine.
- Crunch and texture in this salad: Chopped celery, chopped pecans, red and green grapes. You can substitute chopped walnuts or slivered almonds for the pecans, if desired.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to mash the softened cream cheese with the pineapple juice and crushed pineapple until blended.
Step 2: Add the cool whip to the cream cheese mixture and fold it together. (It will look kind of lumpy in texture due to the crushed pineapple.)
Step 3: Add the marshmallows, celery, pecans, red grape halves, and green grape halves to the cream cheese mixture.
Step 4: Gently stir to combine, then transfer to your favorite serving bowl. Salad is extra pretty when garnished with a few red and green grapes on top and sprinkled with pecans. Refrigerate overnight or at least 6-8 hours before serving.
My Recipe Tips
- If the dressing “weeps” a bit after 24 hours, just give the salad a gentle stir and it will be good as new!
- If you’d like the dressing to be a bit more on the tangy side, add 1/4 cup mayonnaise to the cream cheese/cool whip mixture.
- Don’t feel like you can only serve this fruit salad for the holidays. My Dad ate it year-round, and I think I’ll do the same, especially since the ingredients are readily available whenever needed.
Christmas Fruit Salad FAQs
When I’m making this salad just for my husband and me, it’s easy to cut the ingredients in half to make a smaller batch.
This salad will hold its shape really well in the fridge for up to 24 hours when stored in an air-tight container. Salad is safe to eat for up to 3 days, but it may not look as pretty as when it is first made.
More Dessert Recipes
Christmas dessert recipes are always a special treat in my house. A few of our favorites are this easy Kringle Dessert made with crescent rolls and pecans, and this sweet-and-salty Snickers Popcorn. If you are looking for more fruit, try this Jello Fruit Salad.
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Christmas Fruit Salad
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Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup crushed pineapple well drained, 2 tablespoons juice reserved
- 2 cups frozen whipped topping thawed, I prefer Cool Whip brand
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2/3 cup chopped pecans
- 2 cups red grape halves
- 2 cups green grape halves
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to mash the softened cream cheese with the pineapple juice and crushed pineapple.8 ounces cream cheese, 1 cup crushed pineapple
- Add the cool whip to the cream cheese mixture and fold it together. (It will look kind of lumpy in texture due to the crushed pineapple.)2 cups frozen whipped topping
- Add the marshmallows, celery, pecans, red grape halves, and green grape halves. Gently stir to combine everuthing together.2 cups mini marshmallows, 1 cup chopped celery, 2/3 cup chopped pecans, 2 cups red grape halves, 2 cups green grape halves
- Transfer the salad to your favorite serving bowl. Salad is extra pretty when garnished a few red and green grapes on top, sprinkled with pecans.
- Refrigerate overnight or at least 6-8 hours before serving.
Notes
- If you only have large marshmallows on hand, use your kitchen shears to cut them into quarters, or the size that you prefer. Sometimes I even cut the marshmallows into irregular pieces for added texture in the salad.
- This salad will hold it’s shape really well in the fridge for up to 24 hours when stored in an air tight container. Salad is safe to eat for up to 3 days, but may not look as pretty as when it is very first made.
- If the dressing “weeps” a bit after 24 hours, just give the salad a gentle stir and it will be good as new!
- If you’d like the dressing to be a bit more on the tangy side, add 1/4 cup mayonnaise to the cream cheese/cool whip mixture.