The best cranberry salad ever, made with fresh cranberries, marshmallows, pineapple and whipped cream. It’s sure to be a favorite at your holiday table.
Cranberry Salad, or Cranberry Fluff as it’s commonly called if you’re from the midwest, is sure to become one of the favorite fresh items on your table. During the holidays or any time of year, if you want a special “non-jello” fruit salad that’s easy to make, this is that recipe.
What’s in Cranberry Salad?
Fresh or frozen cranberries- Chop them in a food processor… (If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a hand chopper or even a big chef’s knife. If using a knife, I would freeze the cranberries first as they’ll chop up easily.)
Sugar, pineapple, walnuts- Stir in sugar, pineapple and walnuts. Let that mixture sit in the refrigerator for one hour to incorporate everything and dissolve the sugar. Then mix in marshmallows…
And REAL whipped cream. After it’s all mixed, refrigerate for at least 4 hours but I highly, HIGHLY recommend you make it at least the day before serving. The Cranberry Salad will just get darker and more flavorful over time. Can even be made two days ahead of serving.
How many servings are in Cranberry Salad?
This makes a lot. About 20 one cup servings. And it’s very pretty. But mostly, it’s delicious. Serve it with the meal or even as a dessert. Leftovers can be served for up to 4 days. If the juice and whipped cream separate during that time, just give it a quick stir.
How to serve Cranberry Salad or Cranberry Fluff-
Serve it in a big bowl for self serve or to really show it off, spoon it into pretty clear glasses. Also, if you want even more fruit and flavor, add orange segments or sliced bananas just before serving. Easy, colorful, and make-ahead easy… what more could you want, other than amazing flavor? It’s got that, too.
Best Cranberry Salad Ever
Ingredients
- 1- 12 oz. package of cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup sugar
- 1- 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, juice and all (the small cans, like a tuna can)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 to 2 cups mini marshmallows
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Chop 12 ounces cranberries with a food processor. Not too finely.
- In a bowl, mix the chopped cranberries with 1 cup sugar, 8 ounces crushed pineapple and ½ cup chopped walnuts. Place this mixture in the fridge for one hour for flavors to meld and sugar to dissolve completely.
- Remove cranberry mixture from refrigerator. Set aside.
- Beat the 1 pint of heavy whipping cream into stiff peaks.
- Add 1 to 2 cups mini marshmallows to the cranberry mixture, until thoroughly incorporated into the mix.
- Then slowly fold in the whipped cream, until it's completely pink and beautiful!
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but overnight is even better.
Cook's Note:
- If the dessert seems a bit watery, don't worry because the marshmallows will absorb a lot of the moisture during refrigeration. Also, as noted above, make sure your cream is whipped into stiff peaks. You can also add more marshmallows, if necessary.
- Also, I just received a tip (Thanks, Katie R.) that the cranberry salad is excellent served frozen. It serves up pretty hard so remove from freezer about 5 minutes before serving and cut into squares.
Can this cranberry salad be made without marshmallows?
Hi Kathleen, absolutely you can make the salad without marshmallows. In fact, some members of my family prefer it that way.
I found this recipe about 6 years ago and have been making it every year for Thanksgiving since. My grandchildren absolutely love it! Not only is it delicious, it is very pretty as well and dresses up any table. I sometimes freeze cranberries when in season and then thaw and make this during the summer for a refreshing and light salad . Great recipe and easy to make!
Nancy, thanks so much! We love this as well and it means a lot for me to know you’ve been making the recipe so long!
Want to make this but can you use marshmallow fluff instead of marshmallows?
Hi Barb, I don’t recommend replacing the marshmallows with marshmallow fluff for this recipe. The fluff will kind of disappear and just make the whipped cream a bit thicker, it’ll pretty much get lost in the recipe. Now, I’ve never done this and the recommendation I just made is based on what I think will happen. You can always try it to see what happens. But I’d test it before making the recipe for others. š
I had This at a bday party. Had to ASK for a Recipe. Thanks
Hi Lola, glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Easy to make & everyone loved it!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Debbie! Glad you all loved it.
Thank you for the recipe! It is sure to become a family favorite. I added a cup of sweetened coconut also. Absolutely wonderful!!
Brenda, that is awesome! Thanks for making the recipe and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Mine is in the fridge as we speak. š
Our family recipe for Cranberry Salad is similar to this. It uses slightly different quantities of some of your ingredients and contains some additional ingredients: celery and unflavored gelatin.
Pat, I am going to make this during the week with gelatin and celery! Iāll bet the crunch of the celery is great and I might try to put the salad in a ring mold with the gelatin. Thanks for stopping by with these tips!
The best and easiest of cranberry salads! Great as a salad or a dessert! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Shannon, Thanks for stopping by with this nice comment. We love this too and I stock up on cranberries to freeze so I can make it all year round. Happy New Year to you!
I made this for Thanksgiving for a new family gathering (I’ve made it a few years in a row for another group,) and I’ve been asked for a Christmas encore! I’m licking the mixing bowl as I write!
I a man allergic to pineapple. Is there something I could substitute or could it just be left out?
Hi Kara, you could either leave it out or substitute mandarin oranges but I would not put the oranges into the salad until the day of serving. Bananas are also good.
Excellent fruit salad. Never have any left overs to take home.
Make this for New Years every year. Favorite of my picky teenager!
Wondering if I can sub strawberries in the spring…Hmmm
Hi Joan, Strawberries could work but they’re quite “wet” so you should account for that and when you mash or pulse them. Strain as much of the juice out by letting them sit in a strainer for several minutes before combining with the other ingredients. The strawberries will break down and be even more juicy when you add the sugar so I’m not sure I’d let the salad sit in the fridge for more than a couple hours before serving. Thanks for stopping by!
I have made this for quite a few years. Love it.This year I used cool whip,tastes great.I make it all the night before and add the cool whip cream the next day.
I just saw this post and had to tell you in my family Christmas can’t happen without this delicious salad. My mother made it for years. Now I make it, and I’d like to tell you and all your fans that we ALWAYS serve ours frozen. It freezes hard as a rock, so take it out of the freezer about five minutes or so before serving. We cut ours into squares and serve on a seperate salad plate. I have started using Cool Whip because it doesn’t freeze as hard and is easier to cut. Mothers recipe makes a double recipe using pecans, a large can of crushed pineapple, grated rind of one orange, and a whole bag of mini marshmallows.
Katie, Serving this as a frozen treat on it’s very own plate sounds perfect! Wow, I’ll be giving this a try when I next make it with Christmas dinner. In fact, I’ll be adding this option as a note in the body of the post so everyone knows about it. Thanks so much for sharing this cool š variation with me.
I gave this recipe a trial run today for party later this week. Does the cranberry skin soften as it sits? It felt like coconut texture & that didn’t fair well with my family. I am considering cooking the cranberries. Have you tried that?
P.S. I loved it
Hi Mary, I agree the cranberries and pineapples do create kind of a coconut texture. This does become less apparent over a few days, though if your family doesn’t like the texture of coconut I’m not sure if it softens enough for that to disappear completely. I personally like the salad best on about the 4th day so if you made it today and the party is around Wednesday or Thursday, it should be awesome by then! Hopefully all the other guests will like it. I’ve actually NEVER had anyone not love it. š
Do you cover it to keep for the next day?
Hi Suzanne, Yes I cover it with plastic wrap and stir it again just before serving. Happy Thanksgiving to you and thanks for trying the recipe!
I made this last year for Thanksgiving, and it was a BIG hit. A double batch disappeared in one day! I’m making it again this year, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Really quite easy, and oh-so-amazing! Thank you!
Ann, thank you so much for taking the time to reply about one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day recipes, it means a lot! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. š
can you use coolwhip and canded cranberrys ?
Hi Vera, I’ve never used cool whip but I think someone commented that they did and it was okay. The problem with the cool whip is it separates (and just doesn’t taste as good). I don’t recommend using canned cranberries at all. They’re already way too sweet and the jelly that comes with the canned cranberries won’t mix smoothly with the other ingredients. I recommend buying a fresh bag of cranberries in the produce section. Using real whipped cream and fresh cranberries might be a bit more work, but I promise it’s worth it in the end. You won’t be sorry.
I’m making it for a catering tomorrow . Let you know how it turns out
Gisele, Wow Thank you! I’m honored.
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, Sally. I made it for the first time yesterday for Thanksgiving and it turned out really well! I think I have a new addition to the holiday menus. I did add a chopped apple (I saw that suggestion on another recipe) since I had one on hand that needed to be used. Looking forward to trying it again now after it has “seasoned” for a day! š Thanks again.
Joni, What a nice comment to wake up to the day after Thanksgiving. It is a great one, isn’t it? And I think you’ll be surprised how much improved it is today and even more so tomorrow. I LOVE the idea of adding some apple to the Cranberry Salad and I’m actually going to try that with the little bit I have left today! I’d like to add this suggestion to the recipe for others to follow. Thanks for taking the time to comment and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving celebration. I’m honored to know this recipe will be a regular for you every year. š
SO delicious! Followed the recipe exactly, and it is perfect. Thank you for sharing it!
Can you substitute mandarins for pineapple?
Hi Laura, I’ve never done that but think it would work fine. Let me know how it turns out if you do substitute!
Hi!! My family loves this salad. I have to make it every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I prepare mine 2 days before and I use a stainless steel bowl which removes the bitter taste of the cranberries. I have always used cool whip and cut the sugar done to 3/4 of a cup and it is perfect for my family. There are never left overs. š
Yolanda, I’m making mine as we speak! Good tip about the stainless steel bowl. I have one and will try it. Glad you and your family likes it as much as mine does. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks so much for stopping by. I’m honored to have this dish on your family’s table.
My family loved this for Christmas! I wanted to make it again with fresh cranberries, but they were unavailable due to the growing season. May I use a can of Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce, reduce the sugar, add the crushed pineapple, marshmallows, and whipped cream? How much sugar should I add since their is sugar in the cranberries?
Cathy, I have never made this with canned cranberry sauce, but would experiment by maybe not adding any sugar until all the other ingredients are mixed together. Then taste it and add what you want according to taste. We love this recipe so much that at the end of the “fresh” cranberry season, I buy A LOT of bags of fresh cranberries and store them in my mom’s big freezer so I have cranberries for this recipe as well as to be used in smoothies throughout the year. Cranberries can be frozen for 10 months, just so you know next time they’re available. š
I made the cranberry salad tonight and after trying it…omg! It is delicious!!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe !
;D
I want to make this for Christmas. My family are raspberry lovers but they are more delicate than cranberries. Should I use fresh or frozen and are there any alterations to the recipe for it to turn out as delicious as your cranberry version? Would I still chop the raspberries in the food processor? Use the same amount of sugar?
Hi Vicki, I am leaning more toward frozen myself but that is only because the fresh raspberries currently in my refrigerator are quite flavorless this time of year. : But if that isn’t the case where you live, fresh should work just fine. I would not process the raspberries in the food processor because I think you’d end up with juice and seeds. I would, however, mash them up a little with a potato masher to release some juice but leave at least half of them pretty intact. Since the raspberries are more delicate than cranberries, you might need more than is called for in the recipe, say an extra cup. I have confidence your raspberry-loving family will love this recipe. Let me know how it is. Merry Christmas!
p.s. Vicki,the first time I made this for my extended family using cranberries, they thought the cranberries were raspberries. š
what are your thoughts on making ahead and freezing it?
Joyce, I would not recommend it because I’m not sure how the whipped cream would stay together upon thawing. Maybe you could make everything else ahead besides the whipped cream and add that later.
Your opinion on adding mandarin oranges or grapes?
I think either or both would be fabulous!
Just made this yesterday and it was SO GOOD. Notice I said was?! It’s gone and I didn’t even have much help eating it!! I did not have the issue with this being runny as others did. I used fresh cranberries and made sure to dry them very well after I had washed them and before running through food processor. Also made sure the heavy whipping cream was whipped into stiff peaks and used all the marshmallows called for! Anyway, thank you for sharing this yummy recipe! It has won a place in my make again holiday recipes!
Ashley, glad it worked out for you and that you liked it, lol. (Notice I said like-D) Thanks for commenting. š
How long should it take to get the right texture for whipping cream? I’m using a kitchen aid whipper and I can’t imagine doing this by hand! š
T, I used a handheld electric mixer and it takes about two minutes at most. (My beaters are pretty powerful though – Krups Brand.) Beat until there are stiff peaks like normal whipped cream you would dollop on top of pie or such.
I too used a handheld electric mixer but it took me more like 5 minutes at highest speed to get the “whipped” cream consistency. It does help to have your bowl and beaters chilled to speed up the process, which I did not. Easiest way to tell is to dip a spoon into the mixture, if it doesn’t fall off the spoon, it’s stiff enough. But like Sally said, normal whipped cream consistency. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi again, I made this yesterday with the intention of serving it tomorrow (Thanksgiving) but we needed a last minute dessert for tonight’s meal so I offered it up tonight. HUGE hit! I’ve been reading the comments about others being watery. When I was folding in the whipped cream, I did notice some of the juices on the bottom of the bowl, so I did give it the occasional stir while it chilled throughout the day. Also, I did add 2-2 1/2 cups of marshmallows. I started with 1 cup and it didn’t seem like much for the volume yielded so I tossed in more. By the time you eat it, you can tell the marshmallows have absorbed liquid because they almost dissolved in your mouth. The only other thing I can think of for those having issues with a watery texture is perhaps making sure your cream is whipped stiff. One last thing, when you tell people it’s a cranberry dessert, they are expecting a strong sweetened cranberry flavor which is not the case because fresh cranberries are quite tart. All in all, it was fabulous! Will be a regular from now on. Thank you!
Stacy, thank you so much for taking the time to add these helpful comments. Don’t worry everyone, it will turn out just fine.:) Happy Thanksgiving to you.
I’m making this for tomorrow (right now actually lol!). The store didn’t have any heavy whipping cream. So my question is, can I use cool whip instead and cut back on the sugar? I know cool whip is sweet as it is. So far I’ve only put in 1/2 cup of sugar to offset it. Also, if I make it tonight with cool whip will it be watery tomorrow? Thanks!
Hello Heidi! Cool Whip will be fine and the lower sugar is a great idea to off-set the extra sweetness. I’ve never made it with Cool Whip myself but I’m thinking it SHOULD be fine with the Cool Whip added tonight… But to be sure (since it’s for Thanksgiving!), I might add everything except the Cool Whip tonight and then stir that in first thing in the morning. If my reply is too late and you’ve already added the Cool Whip, just give it a stir before serving if it seems to have separated tomorrow. Good luck, thanks so much for making the recipe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you SOOO much!! I will add it tomorrow then. Thank you for your FAST response! I really appreciate it! Happy Thanksgiving and again thank you!
The taste is fantastic! I just made this with frozen cranberries and it’s a bit soupy. Will it thicken up in the morning? I should have used fresh cranberries, but I had to chop them with a knife and used my frozen batch. Either way, it does taste great. I may just have to start it again with fresh cranberries and invest in a food processor. Thanks!
Hi Bety, I can’t remember if the last time I made this I used fresh or frozen but that shouldn’t matter. It should be fine tomorrow. If it’s still soupy, give it a good stir and add a few more marshmallows if you can.
sally, I just made this and it’s very watery… I guess it’s the pineapple juice. I don’t know. What can you suggest?
Angel, If it is still watery in the morning, maybe add more marshmallows. But it should turn out fine tomorrow after a good stir.
I drain the pineapple very well before adding to the salad. This keeps the salad from “pooling” while it sits.
Good tip, thanks Joanne!
My Mom used to make a similar salad starting back in 1965! I found a recipe last year that’s similar to hers, but I’ll try yours this Thanksgiving. I like the reduced amount of sugar (my recipe calls for 2 cups, which I cut back to 1 1/2 cups). Using 1 cup should be just about right. I’ll make it the night before too & see how that works out. Thanks for the fresh ideas!
Lynda, thanks for using my recipe to revamp your mom’s recipe and carry on the tradition. I think you’ll like the lower sugar content. I experimented until 1 cup seemed perfect. Happy Thanksgiving to you and thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot.
First i am making this looks amazing. Question does it get watery if I make it the day before thangiving?
Hi Nikia, I highly recommend making it the day before serving, so do that for sure. It is soooo much better on the second day. It doesn’t get watery on the second day, but the 3rd day it does a little but all you have to do is stir it and the water incorporates right back in. Happy Thanksgiving!
These are uncooked, fresh cranberries? Looks delicious and can’t wait to try!
Yep! š
Could you use cool whip instead of fresh whip cream?
Hi Barb, I never have used cool whip for this recipe so I’m not sure how it would hold up. It might not taste as fresh, but otherwise I think it would be fine.
Is there a preference between fresh vs frozen cranberries? Does the water content of frozen berries make a difference in the texture? Thank you in advance!
Hi Stacy, I almost always make this with fresh cranberries. I’ve made it with frozen as well however, and did not notice there being too much moisture in the salad. Thanks for your inquiry. Good question!
Thank you so much for the quick response! I plan to make it this Thursday. Cheers!
What kind of mini marshmallows? The ones you can find next to the big marshmallows or the ones that are in cocoa packets?
This looks delicious, I’m making for Thanksgiving!
Hi Juliana, Use the mini marshmallows that you find next to the big ones. š Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy this recipe.
This sounds very good.
I make a similar recipe that was handed down to me from my husband’s aunt. My recipe calls for pecans instead of walnuts and a large can of pineapple. It also includes chopped celery, marshmallows, unflavored gelatin and water. The recipe sets up firm.
I think I will try your recipe as it will not make as much and will go together a little faster.
Hi Pat, thanks for sharing your family’s recipe! That sounds like a delicious variation on the Cranberry Salad. Love the ingredients, I’d like to try that.
This looks so yummy! One question…..do you sweeten the whipping cream before adding to the fruit mixture or is the fruit already sweet enough?
Hi Steph, I do NOT sweeten the whipped cream before incorporating into the recipe. The sugar called for that you mix with the fruit is more than sufficient. Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!
Sally, did I tell you I made this (omitting the walnuts for allergies) and it was amazing. Seriously! We declared it our new favorite and it will be at our Christmas table every year!
Right? We loved the taste as well and all my extended family declared the same, that it is a must have every year. So glad you tried it and liked it, my friend. Love you.
Oh, Sally, I feel like I need to make EVERYTHING you post. I’m totally subbing this in for the fruit salad I already had planned for Christmas. This looks amazing!
Mel, we are definitely in sync with our taste in recipes. Next week, I plan on making your Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup and that amazing apple pie you just posted! š
Yummy!! My family always called this
Cranberry Fluff…It was my favorite…