This creamy, satisfying summer salad or dessert is also a family favorite at Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law could be counted on to bring this dish to all our family functions.
12/25/07 Great recipe!!! I used a small can of chunked pinapple instead crushed, didn't use coconut (no one but me likes it) although I bet it would have been good in it. And I left out the raisins. I made my own whipping cream using heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla, way better then store whip cream. This was the first time I made my own whip cream and was worried about how it would work in a recipe like this. It turned out great. I always make "Gourmet sweet potato classic" (The best sweet potatoes ever!!from this website) for the holidays and end up throwing away 3/4 of the heavy cream. I will never throw away the cream again. Thanks for this recipe! I WILL make it every holiday. BTW I put the left over fruit salad in the freezer in small freezer bags to eat later.
Read More12/25/07 Great recipe!!! I used a small can of chunked pinapple instead crushed, didn't use coconut (no one but me likes it) although I bet it would have been good in it. And I left out the raisins. I made my own whipping cream using heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla, way better then store whip cream. This was the first time I made my own whip cream and was worried about how it would work in a recipe like this. It turned out great. I always make "Gourmet sweet potato classic" (The best sweet potatoes ever!!from this website) for the holidays and end up throwing away 3/4 of the heavy cream. I will never throw away the cream again. Thanks for this recipe! I WILL make it every holiday. BTW I put the left over fruit salad in the freezer in small freezer bags to eat later.
Please note that because of the bananas, this isn't a storable recipe. I should have put that in the recipe info, but I'm new to this! Make this dish close to its serving time.
I added another can of fruit cocktail to this recipe to make it a little thicker. It was great! This was really good the first day, but really doesn't keep in the fridge well. So, if you're fixing it be ready to eat it all quick!
This was a great starting point but I made some major changes. I used green grapes, red fugi apples, fresh blueberries, canned chunk pineapple, slices strawberries. I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and light whipped topping along with chopped walnuts. It was delicious, I had many people asking for the recipe at Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing the idea!
This recipe was great! I opted to make this instead of baking this past Thanksgiving. It was a hit. My finance hates cream cheese and he actually ate some! He liked it. I tried to healthy it up some. I used lite whipped topping and used fat free cream cheese. I probably will not use this much marachino cherries next time. I'd also exclude the bananas as well and substitue another fruit like strawberries. Definite must try!
I made this for Christmas. I used Splenda and sugar-free whip topping. My mom is diabetic and she loved it. Thank you for the recipe
We were invited last minute to a Bday party and I needed to make something quick! Looking around, I saw I had an abundance of bananas and thus came across this recipe. We didn't use all of the ingredients - I don't like nuts or coconut and we didn't have cherries - but the salad is wonderful and very, very easy. A keeper!
This was good but it does need to be eaten the day you make it.
I made this for Christmas dinner, and my family loved it.
This is very good. I used Splenda instead of sugar, and light coolwhip. I also added a few more nuts. It's a winner and will make again.
I have made this several times now and have used splenda instead and sugar. Everyone loves it and wants the recipe.
Great recipe, summer cool down food and remember for extra flavor to add a package of jello's cheese cake flavor.
It's so good. I made it for thanksgiving last year and everyone loved it! I'm going to make the salad this year for thanksgiving again but this time I'm going to double the recipe.
The salad is delicious! I added the cherries but not raisins or nuts. Just used what I had. We put small amount of mini marshmallows on top.
No changes loved it just the way it was supposed to be .
Added a can of mandarin slices, made my own whipped cream and it's quickly become one of the the things people request at get togethers. Fantastic!!
Love it and it's even better now and it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving which is when it was originally served. My stepmom made this and I just picked the bananas out before storing mine and it's still THAT good. I plan to make this myself but omit the bananas all together as I'm not a fan of them anyway. Definitely a keeper and a VERY tasty dish!
Good fruit salad I would leave fruit out until 1 hour before you serve it,this way the fruit won't go bad
I toasted my pecans & coconut beforehand, used Greek cream cheese & fat-free, sugar-free cool whip. In the future I would switch out the fruit cocktail for something else - maybe mandarin oranges. I just don't prefer fruit cocktail, it was ok in this but would've been tastier with oranges to me. Thanks for sharing!
I made this salad for Thanksgiving with a few changes on the fruit due to tastes. It was a hit! Now I'm asked to bring it again for Christmas. Thanks for the recipe!!
It turned out wonderful. Gave it 5 stars cause its so easy and good. Great for a picnic or party. I made it exactly as recipe but would also be great with mini marshmallows . May next time may add mandarin oranges (drained) to the mix. The cream cheese made it tastier and creamier.
Wonderful!! I used a pkg of instant pudding instead of sugar with the cream cheese and whipped topping, mmm yummy! And also I had on hand marshmallows instead of coconut and red and green grapes, chunky pineapple instead of crushed and a apple. loved it, thank you for the recipe, the possibilities are endless
I use this recipe at Thanksgiving every year and have for the past 6 years. Everyone loves it. I do change up the fruit in it from year to year though.
Awesomeness on a plate! I skipped all the sugar as fruit, coconut and whipped cream was sweet aplenty!
So so good. Everyone in my home loved it and it was super easy and affordable to make! I made a double batch and still paid less than $15 for all the ingredients!
My Filipina friend at work LOVES cream cheese fruit salad so I found this recipe to make it for her. She loved it!! The variety of fruit and addition of pecans really made this recipe pop. I used all the listed ingredients and didn't change the recipe at all.
My Mom used to make this when we were kids. I went further on the fruit. I put in bananas, grapes, a apple, a pear, strawberries, blackberries, and a orange. I didnt put in the other stuff (nuts and coconut) because this is the way my mom used to make it. Yum!
I've made a form of this recipe for years. My family loves it-in almost any combination! I have added pudding, pie filling, and other combinations also. I like mini marshmallows, cherry pie filling (good for Christmas or Valentines Day, sometimes mandarin oranges (drained), sometimes walnuts instead of pecans . . . or not at all. I do try to keep combinations complimentary. Try FREEZING it! Can be frozen in pans and cut into bars or frozen in serving size cups (try adding sticks for frozen popsicles). Remove from freezer to the refrigerator about an hour before serving.
I could not find any Jonagold apples so I used a Fuji apple, I do not like raisins so I left them out and I forgot the pineapple but hey it turned out really good anyway.
