Cranberry Salad is the perfect side for any turkey dinner! A delicious mixture of fresh homemade cranberry sauce combined with pecans, coconut, marshmallows and pineapple.
This salad reminds me of my favorite Millionaire Pie recipe with a deliciously tart cranberry twist!
Cranberry Salad
Cranberry salad is called a salad but it’s not really salad at all (kind of like Watergate Salad or Strawberry Banana Salad). It’s almost more like a dessert salad but we always serve it on the side of our turkey dinner, like Ambrosia Salad.
Regardless what you call it, my family loves this easy cranberry salad! Fresh tart of cranberries, juicy pineapple, pecans for crunch all in a sweet creamy base!
How to Make Cranberry Salad
This cranberry salad recipe starts with an easy homemade cranberry sauce. The cranberry sauce in this recipe uses a bit less sugar so it’s more tart which balances the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients. You can certainly use a store bought whole berry cranberry sauce in place of the homemade version but this does change the recipe slightly since the store bought sauce is sweeter. Creating the homemade sauce is so easy, just a 3 items in a pot and let it boil and cool. Don’t worry too much if your cranberry sauce seems a little runny, it thickens as it cools.
- Make cranberry sauce and cool
- Combine all ingredients
- Refrigerate at least 4 hours
So easy right? This cranberry salad is going to become a new favorite in your house too; a little sweet, a little tart and a lot delicious!
In this recipe I don’t add all of the cranberry sauce to the mixture because I’d like to keep the consistency a bit thicker. You can certainly add all of it if you’d like but the salad won’t be quite as thick.
The little leftover cranberry mixture can be used to drizzle on anything sweet from Vanilla Bundt Cake to ice cream or even spread over Banana Bread! Remember it’s a bit more tart than a traditional cranberry sauce so it goes well with something sweet!
If you don’t have pecans on hand, walnuts are another great option.
This cranberry salad can be (and actually should be) made ahead of time. I try to make it at least 4 hours ahead but the day before is perfect too!
More Cranberry Dishes You’ll Love
- Cranberry Waldorf Salad
- Sour Cream Cranberry Bars
- Cranberry Trifle Recipe
- Cranberry Walnut Bread
- Cranberry Feta Pinwheels
- Creamy Cranberry Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups sour cream (or plain greek yogurt)
- 2 cups pineapple tidbits well drained
- 2 cups miniature marshmallows
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 cups coconut flakes
Cranberry Sauce
- 3 cups fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick
Instructions
- Combine cranberries, sugar, water and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Cool completely (sauce will thicken upon cooling).
- Add 1 ½ cups cooled cranberry mixture from step 1 with remaining ingredients and stir well.
- Let sit 4 hours or overnight.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert, Salad, Side Dish
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REPIN this Fantastic Side Dish
I will be making this, this year for Thanksgiving. Sounds delish! Thank you for posting!
Did you use sweetened, or unsweetened coconut flakes?
sweetened!
I wonder how this would taste using whipped cream instead of sour cream?
Hmm, probably sweeter! I have no issue with readers changing the recipes, and letting me know how the meal turns out!
Have looked for a recipe similar to this for years. Only you freeze it and serve it that way. Do you think you could freeze this one? Or do you know of another one you do freeze? Thank you!
I haven’t tried freezing this recipe so I can’t say for sure how it would work out… but it sounds delicious! I just might have to try it.
Could this be done with a Splenda type sugar substitute? I would love to make this for Thanksgiving, but have some diabetics coming. Thanks so much.
Never mind. I hadn’t read the other comments yet. I may give it a go both ways and see which works best. Thanks.
It looks yummy I will try this thanksgiving
That sounds like a great idea, Tommie!
Wonder how cream cheese would taste instead of sour cream..
Is it OK to substitute ground cinnamon for the cinnamon stick? If so, how much ground cinnamon would you use? This looks delicious, and oh so pretty!
I have only tried this with a cinnamon stick. If you do make this using ground cinnamon, I would suggest you start with a very small amount (⅛ tsp) and add more if needed. I’d love to hear how it works out for you if you do try it. Enjoy!
I have made this salad for years but ground the fresh cranberries and let them sit overnight with sugar on them. I use crushed pineapple and whip cream and mix it all together the next morning it’s awesome!!
That’s the recipe I’ve used too, but I’m going to try this one this year. It’s very easy to understand, but some folks who do little cooking might need every detail instead of what I would call obvious.
This sounds really good. I’m going to have to try this and I have read the comments and I don’t understand why they are even saying they don’t understand the directions. And where they get about adding canned cranberry sauce. THIS is very easy to read n understand. I did have one question and that was about the cinnamon stick to leave it in or take it out. But I saw in the comments what to do . THANKS again and we will be trying this . God bless
Thank you Gloria! Enjoy. :)
Looks so good.
Looks wonderful, sounds easy to make also.
And how big is a “side serving?” 1/2 cup? 1/3?
A side serving is ½ cup.
Thank you. Will try this year.
Do you used sweetened coconut?
What might be a good substitution for the canned pineapple? Not all of us are pineapple fans. I would think you shouldn’t leave them out without substituting something.
While I have only made this as written you could maybe try canned mandarin oranges or extra cranberry sauce from step 1.
Would love to get this recipe for millionaire cranberry salad
The recipe is above.
RECEIPE LOOKS SIMPLE TO ME. I PLAN TO MAKE IT FOR THANKSGIVING THIS YEAR, THANK-YOU…
I made this earlier today. I let it set for 8 hours and I did use the pure maple syrup and everyone enjoyed it. I will make it at all holidays. Thank you for the recipes. I try out your recipes before the holidays that way I know what I need to do.
I’m so glad you loved it Margaret!
This looks great! Is it gluten free? I have a family member that’s gluten intolerant.
I’m sorry, I don’t follow a gluten free lifestyle so I can’t say for sure if this is gluten free or not. You will need to check the packages of the ingredients you use.
Check your specific ingredients, but all the ingredients listed are gluten free. I plan to make this soon myself!
If your marshmallows are GF, then the recipe would be GF.
Of course this is gluten-free—there are no grains in it.
This salad sounds really good. I’m going to make it. Thanks for sharing
Enjoy Nancy!