Ambrosia Salad

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 

5 from 11 votes

Print

Ambrosia Salad

Prep Time

30 mins

Chill

2 hrs

Total Time

2 hrs 30 mins

 

_{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.}

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Southern

Keyword: ambrosia, Ambrosia Salad, Fruit Salad

Servings: 8 People

Author: hmccallum

Ingredients

• 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

Instructions

1. _{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..}
   
   
   
   

2. _{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.}

3. _{Chill for 2 hours before serving.}

Time saver Ideas:

1. _{Use canned (drained) pineapple tidbits or chunks in real fruit juices instead of fresh pineapple}
   
   

2. _{Use canned (drained) Mandarin orange segments in real fruit juices}
   
   

3. _{Use Redi- Whip whipped cream instead of making Homemade Whipped Cream} 
   
   

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