Frozen fruit salad is a blast from the past. This vintage recipe is a cool and delicious way to eat your fruit. It is at home at all of our holiday meals, but would also be a fun summer side dish!
This vintage fruit salad recipe comes straight from my great-grandma’s recipe box. It is a fun twist on a fluff style salad, but even more refreshing because it is frozen!
It is perfect for holidays or as a refreshing summer side dish. Frozen fruit salad could even be a light dessert.
This recipe is still a staple at my family holidays. My Aunt Jenny usually makes it now and it is part of the menu at every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I have a handful of recipes from my Great-Grandma, so I was going through them trying to decide which one I should make first.
When I got to this one, I knew I had to make it. I am familiar with a few of the others, but this one is still a tradition!
Though the combination might seem a little odd these days, it really isn’t that much different than fluff salads or creamy fruit salads. It just has the added bonus of being frozen!
I love trying vintage recipes like this, don’t you? It’s like taking a little step back in time, right into the kitchen of a loved one.
I think my great-grandma must have come to age in a time of fruity dishes like this, because another favorite from her recipe box was the green Jello salad that is loaded with pineapple and cream cheese. There is definitely a nostalgia to both recipes.
My great grandma wasn’t only known for her fruity side dishes though. She also made delicious cookies.
I have shared her peanut butter cookies as well as her oatmeal raisin step-on cookies. Both should be on your list of recipes to make soon.
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Great-grandma wasn’t the only good cook, her mom is the one that brought us dutch apple cake. I put a spin on that recipe to make our favorite peach breakfast cake.
When and how do you serve frozen fruit salad?
My family always serves frozen fruit salad as a side dish at holiday dinners. It is a small way to have great grandma there with us and part of the tradition.
Frozen fruit salad would be perfect side dish for a summer BBQ as well. It would be such a refreshing addition to the menu.
Serve it on a lettuce leaf for a little extra vintage flair.
You can also serve frozen fruit salad as a light fruity dessert. It’s a great make ahead and you can grab a piece whenever you want it.
For an extra fun twist on frozen fruit salad, freeze it in a cupcake tin. Then it’s single serve and the perfect way to have a piece whenever you want!
Or you can freeze the mixture in a loaf pan or two. Unmold the salad and cut it into thin slices while it is still frozen solid.
Can I use something besides fruit cocktail?
You can use any mix of fruit you would like, but fruit cocktail adds great flavor. It is a fun way to get the pineapple chunks, grapes, cherries, and more without having to chop fresh fruit. Plus the canned fruit are a little bit softer, which helps give you a great texture when everything is frozen.
Do I have to use mayonnaise?
If you are concerned about the mayonnaise in fruit salad, I understand. It does sound strange.
Believe me though, it works. It helps to give a nice creamy texture when it’s frozen.
If you really want to skip it, try using some Greek yogurt instead.
Frozen Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3½ cups fruit cocktail well drained
- ½ cup drained Maraschino cherries
- 2½ cups mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Quarter cherries
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened 6 ounces cream cheese and 1 cup mayonnaise until smooth.
- Add ½ cup drained Maraschino cherries, drained 3½ cups fruit cocktail, and 2½ cups mini marshmallows to the cream cheese mixture. Stir until combined.
- Whip 1 cup heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into the fruit mixture.
- Put into a glass 9×13 pan or similarly sized freezer safe serving dish. Freeze until solid.
- Remove from freezer 10-15 minutes before time to serve.
- Use a sharp knife to cut into squares and enjoy.
Notes
Video
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Can you use COOL WHIP, rather than Whipped cream in this recipe??? Thanks for responding. I want to make it tomorrow.
THX!!MM
Yes, you can use Cool Whip instead of whipped cream. Enjoy!
When I made this, I used 8 oz of cream cheese, added some juice from the cherries to give it a nice color and flavor. I also added a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to perk up the flavor. I sweetened my whipped cream before folding it in.
That sounds perfect!
This is exactly the frozen fruit salad my mother made way back in the 1960s and 50s. She also made an Ambrosia salad and another canned fruit salad from my Grandmother that involved whipping cream, cream cheese and marshmallows — all of which were delicious and not really “salad” at all!
But it does feel better to call them a salad! 😉 Some of those retro fruit salads are really good!
My kids liked fruit cocktail made with instant vanilla pudding, using the liquid from the canned fruit to mix up the pudding, had to add just a little water also, but very tasty
That sounds delicious, I’ll have to give that a try!
how many cans of fruit cocktail are needed for 3 !/2 cups
About 2 standard size cans.
I am also a mother and grandmother and I can say for 100% that your recipe is made the same way my grandmother and great grandmother made it..I have their original had written recipe.
can you use whip cream instead of whipping heavy cream??
I am sure you could. I have only ever made it they way my great-grandma did, but it should be a pretty forgiving recipe. So there would be a lot of ways you could substitute stuff and make it your own.
I’m a mother, grandmother and great grandmother and can attest mayonnaise, cream cheese, or canned fruit cocktail has never been an ingredient in the original vintage 5 cup salad, or as some refer to it, Ambrosia Salad which could be made a day before or frozen more often than not, made the day before or in the early morning of.
5 cup or ambrosia salad consisted of, 1 10 oz. tin mandarin oranges drained, 1 cup mini marshmallow or regular size marshmallows cut into small pieces to measure 1 cup, 1 small tin pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple drained, 1 cup shredded coconut, 1-8oz. container cool whip thawed or other brand of whipped topping or home made fresh whipped cream.
The recipe featured here for frozen fruit salad recipe leans more toward Watergate Salad that does call for canned fruit cocktail, mayo and cream cheese as well as instant pudding mix which is simply someone else’s version of a frozen fruit salad which would be great for picnics or BBQ’s, but it is far from being the original 5 cup/ambrosia salad most grandma’s and great grandma’s and a good many mother’s always made sure was on the dinning room table for holiday dinners and other special occasions every year.
Your version of fruit salad sounds tasty too. That is one of the best parts about food and food memories, every family has their own twist on some of these classics. This recipe happens to be the way our family has enjoyed it for generations.
@Joyce, This frozen salad and the 5 Cup Salad are two different recipes.
Her recipe is not Ambrosia Salad. It’s Frozen Fruit Salad…no coconut, it’s a totally different recipe!
@Carlee, Your recipe is exactly the same as my grandmother’s. I’m 71, so that may make my grandmother and your great-grandmother around the same age. We’re from north Florida. Thank you for sharing this!
I love that. It is fun how certain recipes seem to get popular during certain eras. We still enjoy this fruit salad at all major holidays, including last night at our extended family Christmas Eve.
@Joyce, the salad you’re describing is not the frozen fruit salad described in this recipe. There are many frozen fruit variations. My grandmother had several of her own.
Hello,
I just discovered your site and appreciate all the recipe ideas.
I am making the frozen fruit salad and was wondering (silly question) But can I freeze it overnight?
Thanks!
Tina
Yes! You can make it several days in advance if you want to!
This used to be one of my faves, but haven’t had it in years. I was just reading that this was Martin Luther King’s favorite dessert. So, in honor of this great man I’m going to make it this weekend. Thanks!
I didn’t know it was a favorite of MLK, what a great idea!