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This ambrosia salad recipe is loaded with pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut and miniature fruit-flavored marshmallows. This creamy fruit salad takes only 10 minutes to make and is ready to enjoy after chilling for 2 hours in the fridge. Serve it as a sweet side dish or dessert—it’s always a hit at holidays and potlucks!
I fondly remember my Nana making her ambrosia salad recipe for pretty much every church function. My Nana’s original recipe has been long since lost, but I spent months recreating it until I nailed down a version that tasted just like hers did.
I have been making this recipe for decades. It is one of my favorite dishes to make for every holiday. If there’s one thing you can count on being on our table whether it’s Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, it’s a big bowl of ambrosia.
My version uses vanilla yogurt along with whipped topping and I love to include fruit-flavored marshmallows in the mix, too. It only takes 10 minutes to throw together. Let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours (or more!) and it’s ready to take to all of your potlucks.
What readers are saying
“Love this recipe. I am asked to make this recipe at every family event.” – Jennifer
“An excellent traditional Ambrosia Salad recipe. Delicious!!!” -Lynn
“Absolutely delicious and very easy to make. I’ve made ambrosia as a young mother, but with only the whipped topping. Adding the vanilla yogurt gave this recipe a nice change of flavor.” -Jeanne
“I made this ambrosia for Easter and my family loved it, especially my husband! I liked the cool whip and vanilla yogurt dressing. It made it especially good!” -Debbie
A note from Jamie
2026 update: I first shared my ambrosia recipe back in 2014, although I’d been making it for ages even before then. It is still one of my readers’ favorite recipes, and for good reason.
Jamie’s recipe testing tips
- Use vanilla yogurt for more flavor. Some ambrosia recipes use cottage cheese (similar to my orange fluff recipe) and others use sour cream or vanilla pudding. I like to use vanilla yogurt instead. You still get some tanginess to balance the sweetness, but also get some added vanilla flavor to round things out.
- The citrus fruit keeps it from becoming too sweet. The acidity of the oranges and pineapple balance the sweetness of the other ingredients. If you aren’t a fan of the texture of canned mandarin oranges, you can use fresh clementine segments instead.
- Mix gently. Trust me—if you stir this together too vigorously, the fruit will break down and you’ll end up with a bowl of mush. Gently fold the salad together so you keep bigger chunks of the fruit intact for a variety of textures.
Ambrosia ingredient notes
⬇️ For the full recipe, including ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below!
- Whipped topping: Such as Cool Whip or TruWhip, thawed according to the package directions. If you want to avoid using whipped topping, you can use stabilized whipped cream instead.
- Vanilla yogurt: You can use regular vanilla yogurt or use vanilla Greek yogurt for a bit more tang and a slightly thicker texture.
- Sweetened shredded coconut: Feel free to omit this if you don’t care for coconut or have an allergy.
- Canned mandarin oranges: Drained.
- Canned pineapple: You can use tidbits or crushed pineapple here. Make sure to drain this as well.
- Maraschino cherries: Drained. To make things quicker and easier, look for maraschino cherries without stems.
- Chopped pecans: I love the crunch these add. If you have time, try toasting the nuts first. These can be omitted if you have a nut allergy.
- Mini marshmallows: I like to use the fruit-flavored marshmallows for even more flavor and color, but regular mini marshmallows work just as well!
Make ahead and storage
This ambrosia salad recipe needs to chill in the fridge before serving, so it’s great for making ahead of time. You can make it up to a day ahead; store it covered in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
If you want to keep the crunchy texture of the pecans and the springy texture of the marshmallows, feel free to wait to add those until just before serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Do not freeze this salad.
Ambrosia Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces frozen whipped topping thawed
- ½ cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges drained
- 1 (8-ounce) can pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple drained
- 1 cup maraschino cherries drained
- ½ cup chopped pecans optional
- 1 ½ cups mini fruit-flavored marshmallows or regular mini marshmallows
Video
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the whipped topping and yogurt.8 ounces frozen whipped topping, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
- Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold remaining ingredients into whipped topping.1 cup shredded sweetened coconut, 1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, 1 (8-ounce) can pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple, 1 cup maraschino cherries, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1 1/2 cups mini fruit-flavored marshmallows
- Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
Ingredients
- A number of readers have made this recipe using stabilized whipped cream in place of the whipped topping.
- Feel free to omit the coconut and/or the nuts to accommodate allergies.
Make ahead
- This recipe can be made up to a day ahead of time. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If you prefer, you can wait to add the pecans and marshmallows until just before serving to maintain their texture.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Do not freeze.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Frequently asked questions
Honestly, it’s both!
My family loves to eat it as a side dish, similar to my cranberry fluff; we love a little bite of something sweet alongside something savory. But plenty of people also enjoy it as a dessert!
Yes! For a dairy-free ambrosia, use a dairy-free whipped topping, such as CocoWhip, and dairy-free vanilla yogurt. Since the recipe already has coconut in it, using a coconut-based whipped topping and yogurt would both be extra delicious.
More sweet salad recipes
If you love ambrosia salad as much as my family does, you might also enjoy some of these other sweet salads:
- Watergate salad: Similar to ambrosia, but using a pistachio pudding base.
- Pineapple fluff: For the people whose favorite part of ambrosia is the pineapple, this recipe focuses just on that!
- Creamy grape salad: The perfect balance of tangy, sweet, and refreshing.
- Strawberry pretzel salad: A Midwestern favorite made with layers of a salty-sweet pretzel crust, tangy cream cheese filling, and strawberry jello topping. Raspberry pretzel salad and pineapple pretzel salad are also big hits!
I make my grandmother’s recipe . She always made a custard then folded in heavy whipped cream , she also put green grapes cut in quarters , back then 50s and 60s she had to remove the seeds . The custard was folded in to the pineapple, green grapes red cherrys , coconut , mandarin oranges. This one of my favorite desserts .
@John Downen, can you break down the recipe in order of making it. Thanks
@John Downen, I’m from Australia and we tried Ambrosia salad at a Christmas lunch (during one of our visits with friends in the US one year) and loved it! We don’t have ‘cool whip’ here, so I was thinking of just whipping some cream, but making some custard and folding in whipped cream sounds a lot better!
I grew up in the 50’s with my mom always having this for dessert at Christmas served in fancy glass cordial stems. I remember helping her make it and because we had a very diabetic family, she used fresh sectioned oranges, cut apples, coconut and some kind of filler…probably sour cream…plus mini marshmallows. As much as I like the taste of maraschino cherries, I have always been a purist and don’t use any kind dyed or preserved food. I will try to find some dye-free or dried cherries and I get my marshmallows from Whole Foods. I have my mom’s recipe somewhere and found this great thread bringing all the memories and now want to reproduce it for my four young grandchildren. I must say the carb count listed here is ridiculously high, and since I am a Type 1 diabetic, I will use all fresh fruit with the marshmallows having the only added sugar and unsweetened coconut. The mandarins sound fun too.
So happy to hear that this recipe brought back sweet memories for you. Definitely let me know how it turns out with your tweaks. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
-Jamie
OMG! This has always been my favorite since I was …well, since I can remember. My grandmother ALWAYS prepared it for Christmas and Thanksgiving day. I literally thought about it all year and cpuld not wait for the holidays! It was my fav as a kid and still is. My grandma passed away some years ago but we honor her by always making this recipe. Her version had no nuts and no yogurt/sour cream. Instead she used cream cheese and Cool Whip m. Some of her versions were just Cream Cheese (leave some of the fruit juices in for incredible flavor!) We used white marshmallows for Thanksgiving and colored foe Xmas (tree lights. .lol. That’s what she’d say). Anyway, thanks so much for sharing. Memories are wonderful!! Especially now that I have grandkids and they love this, too!!
I make mine a little different, you can see as follows:
Mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, cherries
Cool whip coconut chopped walnuts chocolate chips, mini marshmallows
I cook the juices down with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of flour to make paste, then I add juices and an egg cook until thickens like jelly.
I preside to cook pasta (very little pasta like mini stars) until tender, don’t over cook. Drain pasta and let cool after juice mixture is cool you can add to pasta with the fruits.
Refrigerate overnight then add coconut walnuts, choc chips and marshmallow
My mom always moved miracle whip with the cool whip. But it sounds great with the yogurt, too!
That is super interesting! I love Miracle Whip in tuna and egg salad. :)
This is awesome!! I am a child of the 80s so this was at every holiday and family gathering! My mom’s recipe was sponsored by the Thank you brand pudding in a can so that is what she used instead of yogurt. Can’t find that anymore so we substitute instant vanilla pudding but I am interested in trying the yogurt!! Also, the colored marshmallows are a nice touch! My kids actually asked for this at Thanksgiving this year!
So great with vanilla pudding too!
This is fabulous! I made it with vegan cool whip, yogurt, and marshmallows. It was just as fabulous the day after!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
This looks the closest I have found to my grandma’s ambrosia. Looking forward to giving this a try this holiday season
The Ambrosia salad looks and sounds like it should be a desert instead of a salad. I am attending a coop diner party this Thursday and was looking for something simple yet delicious, I think I have found my dish!
This diner party is seven single guys who know so little about what happens in the kitchen, other than grilling steaks, microwaving noodles from a styrofoam container or where to find the beer!
We are self taught chiefs (I use the term lightly), who find recipes that sound good, good for you, cook them and share with each other. We have tasted recipes that are not only good, but would fix for a date (a real date).
I have joined your group for recipes and will be trying different foods. I hope to report back that my choices turn out edible and that I won’t be single forever (not kidding)! And help my buds to find healthy relationships, too!
Thanks, Ciao!
Jimm
Thanks so much for stopping by, Jimm! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Happy Baking!
-Jamie
The recipe I have used for a ton of years uses a medium container of sour cream not frozen whipped cream & yogurt. This salad is already sweet enough with the marshmallows, sweetened coconut & fruit. I use one can of fruit cocktail with the juice & add what I like as another fruit, pineapple & mandarin oranges. You can add cherries too but the sour cream is the bomb & doesn’t make it sour!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Carol! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Happy Baking!
-Jamie