Thanksgiving Fruit Salad | Easy & Delicious
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Thanksgiving Fruit Salad is one of those dishes that will bring you back to your childhood. It’s a sweet tart creamy fruit salad – perfectly paired with cherries, crisp apples, pineapple, and mandarin oranges.
Although it’s got Thanksgiving in the title, it tastes great any time during the Holiday Season. I love serving this dish during Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day Brunch. It’s an easy side dish that’s just a little bit fancy!
I love a good fruit salad. Especially one that I can make ahead of time! This Fall fruit salad recipe is extra special because it has a sweet creamy dressing that makes it taste amazing. It’s the perfect fruit salad for a special occasion.
Other tasty Thanksgiving-inspired recipes you may like are Pumpkin Dip, Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts, and Instant Pot Sweet Potato Casserole.
❤️Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Are you looking for a fruit side dish for your big holiday meal?
Look no further than this tasty combination of Fruit + Cool Whip + Vanilla Yogurt. It’s half side dish and half dessert and I am here for it!
You will love this overnight fruit salad recipe for a few reasons:
1. It’s a tasty addition to your Thanksgiving feast.
2. You can make it ahead of time – even the day before.
3. It’s versatile – you can swap out the fruit for whatever you have on hand.
4. 100% Kid Approved!
We LOVE our Thanksgiving side dishes around here. Others I think you should try are Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, 30-Minute Dinner Rolls, and Easy Scalloped Potatoes.
📋Ingredients
To make Thanksgiving Fruit Salad you will need the following ingredients:
Cool Whip: Any brand of frozen whipped topping will do. It MUST be defrosted.
Vanilla Yogurt: The fat content doesn’t matter as much on this. The Vanilla flavor is what you’re looking for.
Crushed Pineapple: Not the whole chunks. The crushed is what you want because it mixes well with the rest of the fruit.
Maraschino cherries: I prefer these because they are already pitted and are slightly sweeter than fresh cherries.
Canned Mandarin Oranges: Using mostly canned fruit makes this the easiest thing to add to your Thanksgiving menu.
Apples: I like Granny Smith because they add a bit of tartness to the fresh fruit salad. Crunchy apples are the perfect addition to this wonderful side dish.
Scroll to the bottom for the complete list of ingredient measurements and printable recipe card.
📖 Ingredient Swaps
Red Apples: You can easily swap the Granny Smith apples for a red apple like Gala or Honeycrisp.
Plain Yogurt: Plain yogurt can be used, simply mix in a little bit of vanilla extract for the best flavor.
Clementine Oranges: Clementines / Cuties can be used in place of the mandarin oranges.
🔪Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Whisk together the cool whip and vanilla yogurt.
Step 2: Add the pineapple, cherries, oranges, and chopped apples to the bowl. Stir until everything is evenly coated.
Step 3: Place holiday fruit salad in an airtight container and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Step 4: Seve and enjoy!
👩🏻🍳Expert Cooking Tips
Make it your own
As mentioned above, this recipe is versatile. You can swap out any of the fruits for your favorite fruit. Some swaps you could make are pomegranate arils, dried / fresh cranberries, or red grapes.
If you do decide to change the fruit, make sure they are in bite-sized pieces before adding to the bowl.
Prep the Day Before
Make this easy Thanksgiving fruit salad the day before and store it in the refrigerator. Not only does this save you time, but it gives the flavors time to meld together.
Rinse the Cherries
It’s best to give the maraschino cherries a very light rinse before adding them to the salad. Otherwise, they will turn the dressing pink.
Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator, up to 3 days.
💭Recipe FAQs
Traditional fruits for Thanksgiving are usually a mix of seasonal fresh fruit like: cranberries, apples, and pears.
Yes. This recipe for Thanksgiving fruit salad includes a creamy dressing that will keep everything fresh in the fridge overnight.
Use lemon juice to squeeze onto your fruit to keep it from browning. You can also use Fruit Fresh, which can be found in the food preservation aisle of your grocery store.
🥣 More Fruit Salad Recipes
Want more tasty fruit salad recipes? Try one of our other favorites!
If you tried this Thanksgiving Fruit Salad Recipe or any other recipe on my website, I would love it if you could leave me a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below. ❤️
Thanksgiving Fruit Salad recipe
Ingredients
- 1 8-ounce container frozen whipped topping, defrosted
- 1 6-ounce container vanilla yogurt
- 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 10-ounce jar Maraschino cherries, drained
- 1 8-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 medium apple chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the whipped topping and vanilla yogurt. Mix well.
- Fold in the crushed pineapple, Maraschino cherries, mandarin oranges, and chopped apple.
- Mix until the fruit is evenly coated.
- Chill the creamy fruit salad for at least 1 hour. Use within three days.
Nutrition
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This is super simple! And super customizable depending on what fruits you like and don’t like. =) Keeping this in my list for get-togethers!
Oh my lands this fruit salad looks so good. My family would love this.
My husband LOVES fruit salad. I'”” have to make this for him.
This looks really delicious! My family has a lot of potlucks and this would be a great dessert to bring. I think I would add some bananas to it 🙂
Looks so delish!