Ambrosia Fluff Salad – Light, sweet, and loaded with sweet pineapples, mandarin oranges, and cherries, this classic Southern no-bake dessert is always a crowd favorite.

This is a great recipe to have your young kids help you make. Typically, if they help make a recipe they’re more likely to eat it. At least this was the case with my boys. Additionally, it’s full of fruit that most children like.

It’s a perennial potluck, family reunion, and church social favorite.

Additionally, all the ingredients are pantry and refrigerator staples making it easy to keep the ingredients on hand for an unexpected need.

Table of Contents

Ambrosia Fluff Salad

You can use regular or light Cool Whip in this recipe. I couldn’t tell the difference in taste or texture.
You can also use non-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream. I almost always use Greek yogurt for the little extra protein. If you go with sour cream, you can use regular or light.
As always, if there’s an ingredient you don’t like, omit it or reduce the amount. I’m not a huge fan of coconut. Therefore, I either leave it out or sprinkle it on top more as a garnish (so I can spoon around it when I’m getting a serving.😊)
I drain the fruit before I start cutting the cherries to allow them plenty of time to drain. Any extra liquid will make the salad watery and thin. You’ll need to press on the crushed pineapple with a spatula to press more liquid from it.
I really like the crunch nuts give this. You can use almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia, pistachios, or sunflower seeds. Some nuts have a bad reputation for being high in calories and fat. However, when it comes down to the actual numbers there’s not a huge difference.

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Ambrosia Fluff Salad

Light, sweet, and loaded with sweet pineapples, mandarin oranges, and cherries, this classic Southern no-bake dessert is always a crowd favorite.

Author: Paula

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 1

Servings: 12 servings

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Ingredients

8 ounces Cool Whip regular or light
½ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream, regular or light
20 ounces pineapple crushed and drained well
11 ounces mandarin oranges drained well
10 ounces maraschino cherries drained and halved
½ cup sweetened coconut flakes shredded or flakes
1 – 2 cups mini-marshmallows as little or as much as you like
1 cup pecans coarsely chopped, can use almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia, pistachios, or sunflower seeds

Instructions

Romove stems and quarter cherries.
In a large bowl, fold sour cream and Cool Whip together.
Fold in remaining ingredients making sure the pineapple, oranges, and cherries have been drained well.
You can serve immediately or refrigerate. I like to refrigerate it for 30 to 60 minutes before serving.
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container and use within 48 hours. This salad begins to get watery and decline in texture after 48 hours.

Nutrition

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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