Cranberry Jello Salad
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Cranberry Jello Salad is a new staple for your holiday feast! Whether you serve this cranberry salad for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, it is sure to be hit with Jello lovers. Featuring canned whole cranberries, crushed pineapples and sliced grapes, this is a colorful and refreshing holiday side dish.
Growing up, my mom has always served a jello salad during for our Christmas dinner. In fact, any holiday dinner from Thanksgiving to Easter to Father’s Day, gets at least one kind of gelatin salad, sometimes two kinds or some knox blox when she just can’t choose. So it is hard for me to imagine a holiday dinner without jello as a side dish. It is refreshing and my kids just love all the fun flavors. This recipe is one of my favorites because it is virtually foolproof and oh so good!
You’ll only need a few basic ingredients to pull this salad together and about 10 minutes of your time. What could be easier than that? If you struggle with when is the right time to add ingredients without them sinking, this salad is for you. It is super forgiving.
Cranberry Jello Salad Ingredients
- raspberry jello
- crushed pineapple
- whole cranberry sauce
- green grapes
- water
- whipped topping
- fresh cranberries and rosemary for garnish (optional)
How to Make Cranberry Salad
To make this cranberry salad, you’ll want to start out by pouring your raspberry jello into a large bowl. Add boiling water and then stir until completely dissolved, around two minutes.
Stir in your crushed pineapple and whole cranberry sauce until the well combined. You’ll need to stir a bit for your canned cranberry sauce to break up. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Stir in your sliced grapes and pour the mixture into a 2.5 liter glass bowl. This is a pretty standard size but if you don’t have this, you can go a bit larger or divide into individual bowls. I like to use glass so you can see the pretty colors on the bottom but a pretty white dish would also look great.
Kitchen Tip: You can find this size bowl in the standard 3 piece Pyrex glass bowl set or get this 2.5 liter glass bowl with a lid!
Once it has had a chance to chill and fully set (around four hours), remove your jello salad from the refrigerator and top with whipped topping.
I used about half of an 8oz. container of COOL WHIP, which is approximately 1 1/2 cups. However, if you like a lot of whipped topping on your jello salad, you can definitely add more!
To make this look even more like a Christmas jello salad, I garnished the top with fresh cranberries and a couple of springs of fresh rosemary. It looks so festive! Cover and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If you are searching for a fluffy jello salad that is great for feeding a crowd, try this marshmallow jello salad.
Alternative Jello Salad Options
This easy cranberry jello salad recipe is fairly customizable. While I would not recommend changing the cranberry sauce or crushed pineapple, there are many other ways to switch this gelatin to suit your tastes.
- add two stalks chopped celery for a nice crunch
- stir 1/4 cup chopping pecans with the grapes
- use red grapes instead of green or 1 cup of each
- canned mandarin oranges, drained in place of grapes
- replace raspberry jello with any red gelatin such as cranberry or cherry
- garnish with fresh pomegranate arils
- use fresh mint instead of rosemary
Cranberry Pineapple Salad Video
While this jello salad is very easy to make, I’ve got a step-by-step video to show you just how simple!
How Long will Christmas Jello Last?
This cranberry pineapple salad kept in my refrigerator for a full four days and still tasted amazing. I am sure it would have been great still after another day or two. The look of the salad also held up so you can easily make this one a day in advance without worrying about it getting watery or the colors bleeding into the whipped topping. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Cranberry Jello Salad
Ingredients
- 1 6 oz box raspberry gelatin
- 1-1/2 cups boiling water
- 1 20 oz can crushed pineapple undrained
- 1 14 oz can whole-berry cranberry sauce
- 2 cups seedless green grapes halved
- 1 1/2 cups whipped topping thawed
- fresh cranberries and rosemary sprigs for garnish optional
Instructions
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In large bowl add gelatin and pour in boiling water.
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Stir until dissolved, around two minutes.
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Gently stir in crushed pineapple and cranberry sauce until well combined.
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Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
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Fold in grapes and pour into a 2.5 liter glass bowl.
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Refrigerate until fully set, about 4 hours.
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Top with whipped topping and garnish with fresh rosemary and fresh cranberries if desired. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
There are many ways to change this jello salad to suit your tastes.
- add two stalks chopped celery for a nice crunch
- stir 1/4 cup chopping pecans with the grapes
- use red grapes instead of green or 1 cup of each
- canned mandarin oranges, drained in place of grapes
- replace raspberry jello with any red gelatin such as cranberry or cherry
- garnish with fresh pomegranate arils
- use fresh mint instead of rosemary
I hope you love this salad as much as my family. One of my kids doesn’t care for jello but the other two can’t keep their hands off this when I make it. They beg for more! Cranberry Jello Salad is super easy to prepare with just 10 minutes and 5 ingredients! This jello salad recipe is full of flavor and a refreshing side dish. Your whole family will love this new addition to the Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner table.
Looking for more delicious recipes with cranberries? Be sure to check out all of my wonderful cranberry recipes!
