Ambrosia Salad is one of those iconic desserts that the Southern Population thrives on at Picnics, Potlucks, Holidays, and Family Functions. Ambrosia is lovingly Made from sweet pillowy marshmallows, heavy cream, sour cream, coconut flakes, plump juicy grapes, maraschino cherries, delicious juicy tropical fruits, and toasted pecans.
There are many wonderful variations of this popular Southern dessert called, “Ambrosia Salad“, that we love to make. They run from very plain and simple to stuffed full of fruit and nut goodies. Today I am happily sharing my most requested, Kicked up Summer Version of Ambrosia Salad. It’s so amazing and refreshing it’s ridiculous!
This amazingly deliciously kicked up Summer version of Ambrosia Salad contains an addition of fruit flavored marshmallows, sweet plump white, and red table grapes. The flavor of those sweet table grapes really shines through on this recipe with the fruit flavored marshmallows. Trust me it’s a whole new level of fantastic tasting dessert combined with all the classic flavors of Iconic Ambrosia Salad.
For those of you that have yet to have what I call, Classic Southern Ambrosia, the ingredients are a little different. More plain, simple, and to the point. To give you a better idea I have added a list of ingredients I use to make my Mama’s version that she made when we were children, and I still make for the Christmas Holidays.
PS. You can also find the recipe and instructions on the blog for Southern-Style Ambrosia, by using the search bar on the right side of my blog.
- Heavy whipping cream
- Granulated sugar
- Sour cream
- Fresh mandarin oranges peeled and chopped into small pieces
- Fresh pineapple chopped into small pieces
- 5 cups of miniature white marshmallows
- Coconut flakes
- Well-drained maraschino cherries
- Toasted chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
- Fresh mint sprigs, optional
What I love about this Ambrosia Salad recipe, is you can take a few short cuts when making it if you don’t have time or the fresh resources on hand. As you know I try to make things as easy as possible for you when I can do so. I would rather you experience a recipe then never make it due to it being too dramatic. I know we Bloggers get out of hand sometimes with our ingredient lists and time-consuming methods.
How to save time with this recipe:
- Use canned (drained) pineapple tidbits or chunks in real fruit juices instead of fresh pineapple
- Use canned (drained) Mandarin orange segments in real fruit juices
- Use Redi- Whip whipped cream instead of making Homemade Whipped Cream
Question: Will my Ambrosia Salad still taste exactly like yours if I make these changes?
Answer: To be 100% honest it will not taste exactly like mine. However, it will still turn out to be an amazing dessert. Fresh and Homemade is always better.
Ingredient List
- 1 and 1/2 cups of Heavy Cream
- 2 tablespoons of Sugar
- 6 ounces of Sour Cream
- 10-ounces of Fruit Flavored Marshmallows (1 bag)
- 1 cup Sweetened coconut flakes
- 6 Mandarin oranges, peeled, segmented and sliced or 2-10- ounce cans drained
- 2 cups Chopped fresh pineapple or 2-cups drained pineapple tidbits, drained
- 12- White table grapes, halved or whole
- 12- Red tables grapes, halved or whole
- 1 cup Toasted chopped pecans, or walnuts if preferred
- 3/4 cup of well-drained maraschino cherries

Ambrosia is lovingly Made from sweet pillowy marshmallows, heavy cream, sour cream, coconut flakes, plump juicy grapes, maraschino cherries, delicious juicy tropical fruits, and toasted pecans.
- 1½ cups Heavy Cream
- 2 tablespoons Sugar
- 6 ounces Sour Cream * may use Greek Plain Yogurt
- 10- ounces- Fruit Flavored Marshmallows * 1 bag
- 1 cup Sweetened Coconut Flakes
- 6 Mandarin Oranges, peeled, segmented * or 2-10- ounce cans, well drained
- 2 cups Fresh Pineapple, chopped * or 1 - 20- ounce can of pineapple chunks
- 12 White table grapes whole or halved
- 12 Red table grapes whole or halved
- 1 cup Toasted Pecans chopped
- ¾ cup Maraschino Cherries well drained
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Place the cream and sugar into a cold bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks are formed. Add the sour cream and whisk to combine the ingredients..
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Next, add marshmallows, coconut flakes, Mandarin oranges, fresh pineapple, red and white table grapes, toasted pecans, and well-drained Maraschino cherries to the bowl and gently fold until all ingredients are combined.
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Chill for 2 hours before serving.
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Use canned (drained) pineapple tidbits or chunks in real fruit juices instead of fresh pineapple
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Use canned (drained) Mandarin orange segments in real fruit juices
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Use Redi- Whip whipped cream instead of making Homemade Whipped Cream
Don’t forget to use the Pin and Print Options to Save the Recipe for Later!
The perfect Southern fruit salad for any gathering! Love your time-saving tips!
Hi Julia, yes those time-saving tips are pretty helpful when short on time or resources. Glad you enjoyed the Ambrosia Recipe
My sister makes ambrosia salad, and I really like it. I think it would be a great idea for me to surprise her with one. I’ll use your recipe it’s different than hers. Thanks!
Tina, I think that would be awesome. There are so many great variations of this. I have another on my blog that is a classic Southern Version too. Hope your sister enjoys it!
How come I haven’t heard of this salad before? Just reading through the ingredients list, I can tell all the kiddies will devour this and be happy to skip dessert. 🙂
A classic salad that never goes out of style! This will be great for my niece’s graduation party this weekend!
I love a good classic salad as well Beth! Glad you stopped by!
I love how easy this salad comes together with the wide variety of flavors! So good!
Me too Cindy, funny I only make it a few times a year though besides the Christmas holidays. Our family loves it!
Great recipe! And I love that you included short cuts like canned fruit and Redi Whip. That was a good time saver.
We usually don’t use the shortcuts but these days we all need a plan B! Busy, busy, busy, people lol! Thank you.
Oh my goodness, my kids will LOVE this!!! I am definitely making this for our next summer BBQ!
Ambrosia was ‘the food of the Gods’ in Greek and Roman mythology and this beautiful ambrosia salad definitely looks fit for the Gods! Can’t wait to try it myself!
Love an ambrosia salad! Such a good idea for pot luck!
Tisha, thank you, we also make it during the Holiday season as well here. It goes over great at Christmas
Now THIS is my kinda salad! What an awesome idea, can’t wait to try it on the weekend 🙂
I really hope you enjoy it, Chris!
This reminds me of fruit salad my mom used to make.