Ambrosia Fruit Salad

Whether you grew up eating Ambrosia Fruit Salad or you’re discovering it for the first time, you’ll love this fruit salad! Juicy chunks of fruit tossed with crunchy nuts, marshmallows and yogurt is a side dish the whole family loves.

Reasons To Make This Fruit Salad:

• It’s an incredibly quick and simple recipe to make. 
• The ingredients are very flexible, you can substitute a lot in this one.
• This is a great choice to take to a summer BBQ, potluck or picnic. 
• Not only is it full of flavor, it’s packed with nostalgia as well. 
• It can work as a side dish, or a dessert. 

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, “Ambrosia” (fruit salad with marshmallows) was everywhere. Any church potluck, picnic, holiday gathering or family reunion seemed to include at least one version of this dish. There’s a good reason for that–Ambrosia Fruit Salad is delicious, easy to make and almost universally beloved! 

Over the years, I’ve tried lots of variations on Ambrosia Fruit Salad recipes. The good news is that it’s almost entirely impossible to mess it up. You make this with just about any combination of fruit you like, with or without nuts. This recipe is wonderfully flexible, allowing you to really work with what you have on hand, or your family’s favorite fruits. 

The recipe I’m sharing today is my very favorite iteration yet! With tart apples, juicy grapes and chopped pecans, it’s been a hit at every party or picnic I’ve brought it to.

Once you learn how to make ambrosia fruit salad, you can get creative and have fun customizing to your heart’s content!

Ambrosia Fruit Salad Recipe

Here’s what I use in my ambrosia:

• Fruit cocktail – Your standard canned fruit cocktail mix from right off the store shelves. Drain the juices first!
• Pineapple chunks – Use canned, unsweetened if you can, and drain the juices first. 
• Red grapes – Make sure to use seedless grapes, here. You can cut them in half if you’re serving to small kids or prefer smaller pieces, but it’s not strictly necessary.
• Apple chunks – Peel, core and chop the apple in to bite sized pieces. Green apples are my favorite, but any will work. 
• Chopped nuts – I like slivered almonds or chopped pecans best, but both are strictly optional. Feel free to leave them out. 
• Vanilla yogurt – Plain yogurt works here, too, although I love the vanilla flavor. 
• Mini marshmallows – Add puffs of sweetness that give ambrosia its classic flavor! 
• Shredded coconut – Sweetened coconut flakes work great in this salad.

Making ambrosia fruit salad couldn’t be any easier: You just toss everything together in a bowl and keep cold until you’re ready to eat!

Ambrosia Salad Variations

There are almost endless ways to mix and match your fruits and nuts for making this ambrosia your own. That’s one of the reasons it’s such a staple. Pretty much whatever fruit I have on hand, I can make some iteration of ambrosia that’s sure to be delicious. 

Fruit Options

Just make sure the total amount of fruit adds up the same as in the recipe below and you’re good to go. No pineapple on hand? Use twice as much fruit cocktail or replace it with mandarin oranges. Like banana in your fruit salad? Omit half the apples or grapes and replace with banana. Don’t have enough red grapes? Add in some green. While I prefer green apples in this recipe, I didn’t have any on hand, so I used what I had. Truth be told I often make this recipe by just throwing fruits in a bowl, without too much worry over specific measurements. 

Dressing Options

Another swap that I often make is using sour cream in place of yogurt. This is how my mother made her fruit salad growing up, so it has a nostalgic flavor for me. Some people like to go a bit heavier on the yogurt or sour cream, while others like more of a light dressing. There really is no wrong way to make this dish.

Feel confident that you can get creative, or work with what you have on hand, and still create a delicious marshmallow fruit salad. 

Ambrosia Fruit Salad delivers a full serving of fruit in every bowl made delightfully sweet by the presence of miniature marshmallows. Make this quick and easy recipe next time you need a sweet side dish everyone will enjoy.

More Recipes To Try

If you like this recipe, I have a few others you might want to try. My Easy Rotini Pasta Salad is another flexible salad recipe, and one that’s great for potlucks, parties and bar-b-ques. Sweet Tooth Salad is always a summer favorite for me, combining healthy greens with sweet and crunchy ingredients. Keep the fruit theme going for dessert with a Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza. Finish off by washing any of these delicious recipes down with a refreshing Pineapple Cranberry Cooler.

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