This old fashioned Cranberry Fluff Salad with mini marshmallows, pineapple, and nuts is folded into real whipped cream for a festive holiday side. It's sweet, creamy, and as pretty as it is delicious.
I found this exact recipe for Cranberry Fluff Salad a handful of times in cookbooks from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, which tells me that it’s been a family favorite for decades.
It's a great make-ahead side for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The salad turns a prettier shade of pink as it sits, and it holds up beautifully in the fridge. I was surprised that even the walnuts stay nice and crunchy! It has that classic tart cranberry flavor, sweetened with sugar and plenty of mini marshmallows peeking out from the cloud of whipped cream.
If you'd like more fruit or crunch, a diced apple, sliced banana or halved grapes are all great additions that showed up in some of the old recipes. And if your family loves retro salads as much as mine does, try my Cranberry Jello Salad too. It would be right at home next to this one on the holiday dinner table!
The Secret to Fluff That Isn’t Watery
When whipped cream is mixed with fruit, which often contains a fair amount of water, it has the ability to turn watery quickly.
This cranberry salad, however, has an extra step to ensure it doesn’t get watery, and the salad ends up staying fresh for days as a result.
The secret is draining the cranberry mixture for a few minutes before mixing it with the whipped cream. Tossing the cranberries with a little salt draws out the moisture, and as it sits in the fridge for a few hours, the cranberries will start to release a little juice. The draining process ensures all the liquid stays out of this beautiful pink salad. In fact, the salad I made is still in great shape as I write this, 5 days later in the fridge!
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What You’ll Need
You can use fresh OR frozen cranberries for fluff salad. Since draining them is part of the recipe, that’ll get rid of any excess water that frozen cranberries are holding onto. If you have more cranberries to use up, try this old fashioned cranberry pie or this classic cranberry relish with apples and oranges next!
I’m partial to walnuts for this salad, but pecans would also be a nice choice.
Don’t have mini marshmallows? You can cut large marshmallows into quarters using kitchen shears (spray the kitchen shears with a little nonstick spray first).
How to Make Cranberry Fluff Salad
- Pulse the cranberries until they have the same texture as a coarse relish. You can also do this by hand with a sharp knife and a bit of patience.
- Mix the chopped cranberries, sugar, crushed pineapple, and salt in a bowl. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Drain the mixture for several minutes in a mesh strainer, letting the extra juice drip out.
- Whip heavy cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Fold into the drained cranberry mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I like serving the salad in little parfait glasses.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make the fluff up to one day ahead. It turns a prettier shade of pink as it sits, and it holds up beautifully in the fridge. Even the walnuts stay crunchy.
Absolutely. A few older recipes for this salad called for a diced apple, a sliced banana, or a cup of halved grapes. Add them when you fold in the whipped cream.
Yes! Fold in about 2 cups of thawed Cool Whip in place of the whipped cream. Cool Whip is already sweetened, so cut the sugar in the recipe in half.
Yes. Thaw and drain them first, before pulsing them in the food processor. Any extra liquid will be drained off later, so frozen cranberries work just fine in this recipe.
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Fluff Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple
- Pinch of salt
- 1½ cups mini marshmallows
- ½ cup chopped walnuts toasted, if you like
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Pulse 12 oz fresh cranberriesin a food processor 10 to 15 times, until finely chopped but not mushy. They should look like coarse relish.
- Place 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple in a mesh strainer set over a bowl. Drain the pineapple, pressing on it gently with a spatula to remove most of the juice.
- Place the cranberries in a large non-metal bowl, stir in ¾ cup granulated sugar, drained pineapple, and a Pinch of salt. Cover, and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- After letting the mixture rest in the fridge, place it in a mesh strainer and let the extra juice drip out for a few minutes. If you skip this, the fluff will be watery. Save the juice for punch or spritzers.
- Stir 1½ cups mini marshmallows and ½ cup chopped walnuts into the cranberry mixture.
- Beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream to medium-stiff peaks, then gently fold it into the fruit mixture.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. It keeps nicely in the fridge for several days and can be made a day ahead.
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