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Why You’ll Love My Recipe

Sweet, sour, and fluffy, this cranberry salad is a perfect combination of flavours and textures for people who enjoys dessert salads.

For more great Cranberry recipes, why not try this Cranberry Orange Bread? Or, for some more sweetness, this Cranberry Orange Muffin recipe? Don’t forget to try making Homemade Cranberry Sauce over the holidays.

Karlynn’s Recipe Notes

Skill Level: This is a very easy recipe.
Total Time: Making this salad takes about 20 minutes.
Variations: Try walnuts instead of pecans, or another type of fresh berry instead of mandarin orange slices. Use multicolored mini marshmallows for extra pops of colour in the salad. Sprinkle on some shredded or toasted coconut. White chocolate chips or shavings also tend to go well with cranberry desserts.
Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need a food processor or knife and cutting board, a large bowl, some plastic wrap, a mixing spoon, and a can opener.

What You’ll Need For Ingredients

Cranberries: Use fresh cranberries for this recipe, or fully defrosted frozen cranberries, drained of any extra moisture. You can adjust the exact amount of sugar that you use based on how tart or sweet you’d like the berries to be.

Mini Marshmallows: You can use plain marshmallows for this recipe, or have fun and use the multicolored variety. If you can’t find mini marshmallows, you can chops up some larger ones, but the pieces will probably stick together.

Oranges: Canned mandarin orange segments will add juicy sweetness to balance out the tart cranberries. Make sure to drain them well so they don’t make the salad watery.

How to Make Fluffy Cranberry Salad

This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.

Use a food processor or sharp knife to chop the cranberries up into small pieces.
In a large bowl, combine the white sugar and chopped cranberries. Adjust sugar amount to your personal taste.
Mix in the whipped topping and then add the oranges, marshmallows, and pecans until everything is thoroughly coated.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 3-4 hours.
Garnish with whole cranberries and orange slice is desired.

Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Fluffy Cranberry Salad

Serving Suggestions: You can use this recipe as a dessert on its own, maybe with some ice cream or extra whipped topping. You can also use it as an alternative to cranberry sauce for your next turkey dinner, along with The BEST Buttery Garlic Mashed Potatoes and some Turkey Gravy. If you use this as a dessert, why not serve it with a plate of simple shortbread or sugar cookies on the side for people to dip and scoop the salad with?

Whip It: Frozen (and defrosted) whipped topping will work best for this recipe because it has some added stabilizers. Alternatively, you can make your own whipped cream and add a powdered stabilizer or some bloomed gelatin. You could even try making this with strawberry or lemon whipped cream to change up the flavour profile a bit.

Storage Instructions

This fluffy salad needs to be refrigerated. You can keep it covered and in the fridge for 3-4 days. At that point, the pecans will start to lose their crunch and the fruit will start weeping extra moisture into the salad. Don’t try freezing this.

More Delicious Marshmallow Recipes

Looking for more tasty ways to use marshmallows?

Try this Easy Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows as another dinner side.

Or make something retro like a Watergate Salad or Ambrosia Salad.

For something citrusy, try a Fruity Marshmallow Lime Chiffon Cheesecake Dessert.

There you go, everyone. Another dessert salad with plenty of acidity to contrast with the sweetness. Try out this recipe and let me know what you think.

Happy Cooking!

Karlynn