This fun cherry pineapple Jello salad is sure to be a hit with your family. It is a simple make ahead side dish or simple dessert that is festive for a holiday or fun for a BBQ.

There is something nostalgic and fun about a good jello salad. This recipe is loaded with cherries and pineapple making it an extra tasty treat.
It is easy to make and fun to eat. We love it as a scoop and serve salad, but it can easily be converted into a more solid slice if you’d like.
Either way it is a tasty way to get enjoy your fruit. The whipped cream is optional, but highly encouraged!
This is one of the very first recipes I ever shared in this little corner of the internet. It was shared with me by my husband’s aunt and it was an instant hit at our house.

I shared it again in 2016 with updated pictures and shared the origin story of the site. Each recipe was getting more visitors than ever and it seemed like a good time to give the history.
Fast forward four more years and here we are. I have enjoyed sharing recipes with a growing number of people around the world with each passing year.
So it seemed like a perfect time to share both the recipe and the origin story again. This fun and fruity gelatin salad is perfect for the holidays after-all.
As it is written, it is a looser jello salad. The kind you serve in a bowl with a spoon.

It is sweet with a little bit of tang from the cherries and pineapple. It is fabulous on its own or dressed up with a bit of whipped cream.
Directions for making this salad sliceable:
It can easily be converted into a more solid slice and serve salad if you would like. The first step is to make sure you drain the pineapple really well.
Then use six ounces of cherry jello instead of the three. Dissolve it in a scant two cups of boiling water.

Stir in the fruit and pour into a 9×13″ pan. Chill for at least two hours, longer is better.
This will give you a more “solid” jiggly salad. Both ways taste great!
Blog’s origin story and post from 2016:
At the end of the year in 2014, I sent out an email to family asking for recipes. I wanted family favorites.
I wanted old recipes that have been in our family forever and new recipes that people were making and loving currently.
This was before the blog. Honestly, it was before I really even knew what blogs were.
I started getting emails with recipes people loved and I couldn’t wait to start cooking my way through them.
I had a few ideas in mind. The first was to gather the best of the best and selfishly make sure I had a copy. The second goal was to find some new favorites for our family.
It is so easy to make the same things over and over again, but so much more fun to have some inspiration to try new things! In the end, I was kind of hoping to put together a fun cookbook as a Christmas present for grandparents and parents.
On the drive home from my grandparent’s house one night early in 2015, I decided I could use a blog to organize the recipes. That way I would have a digital record of what we had tried, what we had liked and a place to put a few pictures.

As soon as I got home, I put up a random soft pretzel post that night to give it a try and figure out how this blog stuff works.
I did no research, no thinking about it. I just did it.
A few posts in, I was having fun doing it. I was able to send links to the family who had shared recipes and show them I had made their favorites.
I thought it would be a good way to share old time favorites with extended family (it turns out printing a short run of cookbooks is expensive!) So I kept at it.
Then I started noticing people were seeing what I was doing. Like real people.
Not my family people.
At first it kind of freaked me out. I knew it was a possibility, but hadn’t done anything to promote or share what I was doing.
Then the strangest thing happened. The more “real” people were seeing my work, the better I wanted it to be. The more time I spent on it, the more I wanted somebody to be seeing what I had been putting so much effort into.
It has certainly been a learning process. It has been fun, but a lot of work too. There are some posts that I am really proud of, some that could use a lot of work.
But the best part is I really do have that digital archive to reference when I want to make something, and I know there are some members of my family who reference it for those favorites rather than rifling through recipe cards too. So in the end, the work has paid off.

The blog is being used exactly as I had intended, even if it has gained a whole different life outside of that. With a full time job, a three year old, and a pretty busy calendar, this blog never quite gets everything I’d like to put into it.
It is riddled with typos and the pictures are better than those first ones, but still aren’t quite what I’d like to do. Though I’m sure even if I had all day to capture the right light and set up props and whatnot there would still be things I’d change!
All of that to say this is one of the first posts I wrote, revisited. I thought it would be fun to go back and jazz up a few posts that I did early on when I had no idea what I was doing.
The pictures were terrible and the posts were written for nobody other than myself. This recipe was one of the first that came back to me after the email call to send your best.
My husband’s Aunt Dori sent this one and a beer bread recipe that we loved as well. Little Dude was still just a tot at the time, sitting in a highchair.
So my post had a warning to spread the drop cloth under the highchair wide in case of spills. I must have written the post before we ate, as he loved it so much that he was very careful to get every bit in his mouth!

I made this again the other day. We still love it. My husband even got a small bowl of the leftovers to eat at dinner the next day. That is really saying something!
He isn’t normally a sweet person at all, and sweet sides really aren’t his thing. So you know this is good. I think it would be a festive and fun treat for your Christmastime dinners as well!
Storing Jello Salad
You will want to make your jello salad at least several hours in advance of serving it to allow the jello plenty of time to set up. It is a good idea to make it the day ahead to ensure it has plenty of chill time.
Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator. They are good for up to a week, but we have never had them stick around that long!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review in the recipe card below!
Cherry Pineapple Jello Salad

There is something nostalgic and fun about a good jello salad. This recipe is loaded with cherries and pineapple. It is easy to make and fun to eat. We love it as a scoop and serve salad, but it can easily be converted into a more solid slice if you'd like. Either way it is a tasty way to get enjoy your fruit. The whipped cream is optional, but highly encouraged!
Ingredients
- 3 oz box cherry gelatin
- 1 cup boiling water
- 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
- 20 oz can cherry pie filling
Instructions
- Drain pineapple
- Mix gelatin in boiling water until dissolved
- Add pie filling and drained pineapple and mix well
- Refrigerate until firm (at least an hour or two)
- Stir before serving. See notes if you would prefer to make a cut and serve salad.
Notes
It can easily be converted into a more solid slice and serve salad if you would like. Just use six ounces of cherry jello instead of the three. Dissolve it in a scant two cups of boiling water. Stir in the fruit and pour into a 9x13" pan. Chill for at least two hours, longer is better. This will give you a more "solid" jiggly salad. Both ways taste great!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 89Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 11mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 1g
All nutritional information is estimated and will depend on the exact ingredients you use.

Claudia
Monday 4th of July 2022
We always make a version of your Cherry Pineapple Salad...Using a 21oz can of Raspberry pie filling, 6oz of Raspberry Jello, small can of crushed pineapple....We top this with 8oz of Sour Cream, 8oz bar of cream cheese and 1/2 cup of powered sugar...It's been a hit at every pot luck i've ever taken it to...Recently a 4th of July Picnic...Several people asked me for the recipe....Thanks for putting up such an interesting site...
Carlee
Tuesday 5th of July 2022
Mmmm! Your raspberry version sounds delicious! I'm going to have to make it soon.
Unknown
Sunday 15th of November 2020
Which size gelatin?
Carlee
Friday 27th of November 2020
It's a 3 oz box, thanks for asking. I will clarify in the recipe. Though if you use a 6 oz box and 3 cups of boiling water it will set firmer and could be served more as a jello salad. Both ways taste great!
Unknown
Wednesday 25th of November 2020
Yes, please give size of jello
Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai
Saturday 11th of November 2017
Hi, Carlee,
Just sending you a quick note you know that your Dori's Cherry Pineapple Gelatin Recipe is a FINALIST in the Merry ThanksChristmas Recipe Contest! Be sure to check it out. And, good luck in the final voting. Winners will be announced on November 15th.
~Lorelai and the Co-hosts
Carlee
Saturday 18th of November 2017
Eeeeeek! Thank you so much for including me in the finalists!
Unknown
Monday 2nd of January 2017
I, for one, am so happy that you started the blog, and I love the sentiment behind it. You have such great recipes, marrying the old and the new, keeping the old alive and bringing it to the next generation. I also love the stories behind the recipes, so much fun to read your posts! And this does look delish! Pinning to try it!
Carlee
Tuesday 3rd of January 2017
Thank you so much, Nikki, that really means a lot! I always love hearing from you.
Jess
Wednesday 21st of December 2016
What a neat recipe!
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Carlee
Thursday 22nd of December 2016
Thanks!