Fruit and Marshmallow Holiday Salad is sweet, fluffy, and a holiday dinner table staple. Enjoy as a gluten free dessert or sweet side dish.
If you’re a long time reader of IGE, you might recognize the recipe for Fruit and Marshmallow Holiday Salad.
It’s kind of an unfortunate recipe name but trust me, the original was even worse: Grandma’s Holiday Salad. One is a little 1985 church cookbook-y, while the other conjures up images of creamy green jello chock full of celery and walnuts. Am I midwestern-ing too hard right now?
Anyway, it doesn’t matter WHAT you call this yummy fluffy holiday salad, all that matters is that you make it for your holiday dinner table!
Creamy Side Dish for the Holidays
We’ve been devouring Grandma’s Holi– whoops! Old habits die hard. Fruit and Marshmallow Holiday Salad as a sweet side dish/dessert with holiday meals for decades. I first shared the recipe years ago but decided to resurface it with new photos that better conveyed how creamy and whippy it is.
I can’t tell you how fun it is for me to see my kids not just eating, but begging for a scoop of this delicious side dish, knowing I grew up doing the same!
A 5-minute homemade custard (fancy talk for eggs, sugar and cornstarch simmered in a saucepan until thickened) is combined with store-bought whipped topping, red grapes, crushed pineapple, bananas, and mini marshmallows. Seriously – THE BEST. It’s always the first thing I dig into once I’m hungry enough for leftovers.
You can also assemble this salad a day ahead of time so you’re not having to chop, simmer, or assemble one more thing the day of Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter, which is when we enjoy it.
How to Make this Recipe
Start by making the custard base which again, is super easy – promise!
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, and a pinch of salt until smooth. In a small dish stir together cornstarch and juice from an 8oz can crushed pineapple that’s been drained, then pour into the eggs and sugar and whisk to combine.
Pour the mixture into a small saucepan over medium heat then whisk constantly and quickly until the custard is just shy of bubbling. If the eggs begin to scramble (which they shouldn’t if you’re whisking quickly) remove the pan from the heat then stir stir stir before returning to the burner.
Turn the heat to low then switch to a spatula and continue stirring until it feels like the custard won’t thicken any more, 5 minutes.
Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl or plate with a rim then cool completely. You can make the custard up to several days ahead of time – place a piece of saran wrap directly on the custard to ensure a skin doesn’t form on top.
All that’s left to do is add the cooled custard to a large bowl with the drained crushed pineapple plus whipped topping (I like SoDelicious CoCoWhip, which keeps this recipe dairy-free) and stir to combine.
Fold in red grapes and mini marshmallows then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Fold in sliced bananas just before serving then scoop and devour! I hope you LOVE this fluffy Fruit and Marshmallow Holiday Salad, and it becomes as much of a staple at your holiday table as it is at ours. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained and juices reserved
- 2 cups whipped topping, I like SoDelicious CoCoWhip
- 2 cups red grapes
- 3/4 cup gluten free mini marshmallows
- 3 small or 2 large bananas, sliced
Directions
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and salt until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together cornstarch and 1 Tablespoon reserved pineapple juice until dissolved then add to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk to combine.
- Pour the mixture into a small saucepan then turn heat to medium and whisk constantly until the custard is just about to simmer. If the eggs begin to scramble, remove pan from the heat then whisk quickly to smooth back out.
- Turn heat to low then switch to a spatula and continue stirring constantly until the custard is very thick, 5 minutes. Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl then set aside to cool. Can be done up to several days ahead of time – cool completely then refrigerate with a piece of saran wrap placed directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.
- Add the cooled custard to a large bowl with the drained pineapple and whipped topping then stir to combine. Fold in grapes and marshmallows then refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight. Fold in bananas just before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I am bad at custard. I’ve never been successful. I have questions. How do I know it is just before bubbling and once it cools is it suppose to be super thick?
No worries, Jackie! You will see some very thick bubbles trying to raise to the top – that’s when you know it’s just shy of bubbling. The custard will be very thick, almost pudding-like, when it cools!
Sorry…can’t leave a comment right now. I’m off to pick up the ingredients for this amazing new addition to our holiday menu. As a responsible cook and hostess, I will, of course, test and eat the whole recipe in advance!
Hahaha! It’s the right thing to do! Enjoy, Nancy!!
Made this last Thanksgiving and it is delicious. Definitely making it again!
I’m so glad to hear it, Terry!! Thanks for your feedback and recipe rating too!
Not sure if I can find So Delicious® Cocowhip, but in case I can’t find it, is just regular Coolwhip an alternative?
I was wondering if you could use cocoanut cream whipped instead of the So Delicious cocowhip?
Hi Elizabeth! Do you mean whipped cream from a can of coconut milk? Otherwise SoDelicious CoCoWhip is coconut whipped cream.
This is one of my favorite holiday dishes. We had always called it “Ambrosia” Salad.
I’ve heard of that too, though I never knew what was in it!
It’s so funny that Nicole said it reminded her of a Filipino dish, as it makes me think, “yay, Iowa!!” This is such a “home” dish to me. Over the years, we’ve switched it up a bit: my sister hates mini marshmallows, I think maraschino cherries are needed, we now skip bananas and add mandarin oranges, walnuts have made an appearance a time or two, and I’ve never tried grapes in there!! But, it’s really the same deal, and it WAS my grandma’s recipe that we tweaked, so either name works for me. Thanks for sharing this “Iowa salad,” though clearly it has other roots. :)
I think every family and generation has a version of this salad – love it! :D
What a treat to see this recipe. A slight variation of this salad was my favorite salad growing up – back in the 60’s. I dug out my mother’s recipe and it added oranges. Thanks for this wonderful memory!
I think every generation has a version of this yummy salad – I love the addition of oranges/mandarin oranges!
Yum! This reminds me of the Filipino fruit salad that’s actually made out of canned fruit cocktail, canned preserved fruit, and whipped cream. So bad for you but oh so delicious!
Yes, definitely a holiday-worthy splurge! :)
Yum, this recipe sounds great! I’ve been searching for Thanksgiving dessert recipes and this sounds like it would be ideal!
It’s awesome for dessert! Hope you love it, Melissa!