Rachel's Cream Cheese Fruit Salad

I was searching for a fruit salad "dressing" using cream cheese and ran across this recipe. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was DELICIOUS! The only difference was I added fresh strawberries to regular cream cheese (I didn't have strawberry cream cheese) and I added the nuts to the mixture to chop it all together. It won rave reviews from all at the table and I am adding it to my "must use" recipes.

This was great as a side to a summertime lunch-but leave the pretzels out as they will get very soggy.

My very picky son loved this recipe, as did I. I did just sprinkle the pretzel crumbs on top of the portions that I served, and it did taste better that way than without the pretzels. A great way to get my son (and myself) to eat lots of fruit.

This recipe was ok. I doubled the recipe to serve at a pitch in dinner. Really you cant go wrong with the wonderful blend of fresh fruits, but here are a few of my suggestions to make it better. First, per the advice of others, I omitted the pretzels and I didnt miss them. Second, the cream cheese sauce made this dish very soupy. Too soupy for my taste. Because of this I sliced a store-bought angel food cake and served the dish as a sauce to be poured over the cake. I also feel that mixing the sauce seperately and serving it over individual cakes with the fruit would create a great variation of strawberry shortcake. In short, the ingredients were wonderful and tastey, I just didnt like it served alone in a bowl.

My family and I love this salad. I do not use the pretzels, I think the fruit and the sauce can stand alone. I highly recommend. A+++

I thought this was great. Instead of pretzels we used candied walnuts and it was refreshing and tasty! A great side dish!

This is a good summer recipe. Pretzels are great - just don't mix them in until serving time.

This is SOOOO good. I loved the flavors, and you can use any fruit that strikes your fancy. I used toasted chopped pecans instead of pretzels and added them to each individual serving.

Very good! I left the cinnamon out because I don't usually like it, but other than that it was great. According to the other reviews, some people actually mixed the pretzels in. I just crumbled them over the top each time I served the salad. The pretzels are a great addition, but the salad is good with or without them. I even put the fruit right on my breakfast cereal.

This salad is a big hit with everyone I've served it to. It's tasty and fresh. You might want to add a small amount of milk or cream to the cream cheese to make it more mixable.

Nice change of pace from the normal fruit salad. I added the pretzels, then wished I didn't. They turned mushy and unappealing in just a few hours. I also added some raspberries. Great sauce!

Yum! This is simple, quick, and relatively inexpensive to make. Most importantly, it's delicious. Like a lot of others, I omitted the pretzels and it was fine without them. I'm sure I will make this salad again and again.

Made this for my coworkers at the end of our school year. Other reviewers are right, it doesn't keep well. Also don't add pretzels in until you are ready to eat. Will make again, but not for a buffet style meal though. Thanks for the post.

Wouldn't change a thing. This is soooo good!

This was a hit at a family get-together. I substituted pecans for pretzels, and it was wonderful! It could even make a good side dish around the holiday season on account of the cinnamon taste. A+!!

My daughters loved this. I used any nuts that I had on hand instead of pretzels. I only made 3/4 of the recipe for the dressing so that it did not over power the fruit. It stores nicely for 2 days if covered.

i loved this recipe!! i used walnuts instead of pretzels and added coconut flakes... amazing!!!

I added alittle sour cream with the dressing...I didn't have pretzels so I used mini colored marshmallows. Very tasty:)

This was so good that I made it 2 days in a row! I left the pretzels out based on the recommendation of others and I thought it was still great. My entire family loved it!

Refreshing on hot summer days.

This was delicious! We made a few changes; we increased this to 10 servings but still used one 8 oz. container berries-n-cream cheese, strawberries are not in season so the ones at the store were disgusting so we used kiwi instead, and we took other's advice and used nuts (glazed pecans) instead of the pretzels. Very yummy!

I didn't care for the strawberry cream cheese. It might be better if you mixed some Cool Whip in with it. The dressing was too heavy and leftovers became watery.

Horrible. :o( I've made this many times and this was the worst cream cheese mix I have ever tasted. I strongly suggest finding a different recipe.

I made this for a ladies luncheon and it was the hit of the meal. It reminded all of spring. Easy to make and very tasty.

Unless you are eating this immediately, the pretzels will ruin it. I made this last night, and this morning the pretzels are mush making this inedible. The flavor of the sauce is great, but next time I will skip the pretzels.

I thought this turned out awesome... I tweaked it a bit but it was really good. I used plain cream cheese, added 1/4 c more sugar and didn't use the lemon juice or pears (didn't have any on hand).

I made this salad for a breakfast meeting at work, hoping to have some leftovers to bring home to my husband. At the end of the meeting there was a little left, however, by the end of the day it was all gone. DELICIOUS! I've got to make this one again!

I made this for a group of friends and everyone loved it. It would have been much better had it been chilled for an hour or so. I made it right before the meeting and it was room temperature (not ideal). Pretzels definitely need to be sprinkled on each individual serving, not mixed in. I will make this again and again!

This recipe is SO good! I made it for a playgroup that I hosted and all the moms loved it! I did make a couple of changes though.. I used regular strawberry cream cheese instead of fat-free and I omitted the pretzels because I dont like pretzels.. and I used the store bought lemon juice instead of squeezing it from a lemon - And it turned out so wonderful! It does make a lot of fruit salad though, so next time I'll cut the recipe in half.

I LOVED this...here are my variations. I was a little nervous about using all strawberry cream cheese due to the possibility of overpowering with an artificial taste (I'm not a big fan of the strawberry cream cheese)...so I used half regular cream cheese and half strawberry. I also substituted McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice for the plain cinnamon (which is a mix of ground allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves). Because I had decided to put the sauce separate (an add-on for individual tastes), I needed the sauce a bit more liquid for the squirt bottle...so I added about a cup of cool whip (which liquidized just a little and add a little volume to the sauce which eased my mind about running out at the party). Due to the many reviews which mentioned the overpowering sweetness, I cut the sugar in half. So once the sauce was done and all the fruit cut up (strawberries, pineapple, apple, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, orange slices), I stored the pretzels (and toasted nuts/almonds) in separate containers. When I got to the party, I made a little "make-your-own" fruit salad station with fruit in a bowl, and then the additions in little bowls around the fruit. Oh...and I offered both Cool Whip (finally in a can!!) and Ready Whip for toppings. It was a hit with EVERYONE!!! I actually doubled the recipe which ended up making around 25 cups of fruit...and I went home with empty containers...ALL GONE!!! A+++

totally delicious ! i recommend diving up the batch into "serve now" and "serve later" portions, and only adding the pretzels to the "serve now" half right before you put it out. otherwise they get soggy and the leftovers can be gross. REALLY tasty though.

This light & cinnamony salad was delicious and had others begging for the recipe. I prepped fruit and glaze in the morning, then mixed together when party started at noon. Does not keep well, so don't keep leftovers. Next time I might add a dallop or two of whip cream and serve as a light dessert. Would even be yummy as treat in fall, with apples only.

I teach a home economics class, and for the fruit section i make the kids make this. It's easy and the kids absolutely love it every year. Awesome recipe!

Very good, really easy to put together and everyone loved it. I did not want to try it with the pretzels because I didn't want them to get mushy.

This is yummy; however, serve immediately & do not chill for the best taste on the pretzels. The pretzels get mushy after being chilled awhile.

I (and everybody else in my family) LOVED this fruit salad! Its a great combination of flavors. Although i didn't use quite as much sugar. I think i used a little more than half of what the recipe called for. But it was GREAT! I will deffinently make this again and again and again and again!

The dressing for this salad was really good but I had to make the salad the night before so I used fruits that wouldn't brown or breakdown. I used honeydew, cantalope, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, and blackberries. The dressing was really yummy though.

I really liked the sauce used. I thought it would be too sweet, but it was just right. I'll try it w/ different fruits too.

I love this salad! I usually use my own mixture or fruits, and I have to add milk to the "dressing" to get it the right consistency. The pretzels, while it sounds like a weird combination, are what really make this worth eating (in my opinion). This is now my favorite fruit salad.

This salad was wonderful. Fixed it for Easter and everyone raved. It wasn't too bad the next day, but beyond that I don't think it would be very good. Thanks for this great change in fruit salad. The dressing really made the difference.

It was good but I think it is too sweet. My husband loved it

I liked the flavor of the dressing, but it was a little heavy on the vanilla. I actually preferred mine w/out the pretzels, but others enjoyed the crunchy/salty addition.

Hubby and 18 month old just loved it. Thanks. I skipped the pretzels but substituted salted pistachios and walnuts. Thanks again for a great recipe.

This is quite good. The dressing is sort of a funny color (brownish), but tastes really great. I would think you need to make this pretty close to serving time- not the day before, for example. I left the pretzels off until just before serving and stirred them in.

We enjoyed this salad. However, it is quite sweet and the dressing is a strange color which is a bit of a turnoff. I would make this again with less sugar but dont know what to do about it looking so unappealing.

Made this for a summer party and it was a big hit! Just make sure it gets eaten rather quicky as it definitely does not store well at all.

Canned, drained fruit will keep longer (as it is already 'cooked' down), try freezing the leftovers. I crushed the pretzels and served them on the side. Nice garnish! (Crushed vanilla or chocolate wafers could work here too, but I really like the salty crunch.)'Garnish' is optional IMO.

y family loved this salad and definetly will make it again and again!!

I forgot to get bananas, and it was still awesome. I'm making another batch to bring to work and share in the breakroom.

This was fantastic! It took a bit of time to chop up all the fruit, but it was well worth it. The pretzels add a nice crunch, and the creamy sauce is amazing! Be ware! It makes a ton!

This salad is not great. The strawberry cream cheese and cinnamon is not a very good combination, and the brown sugar made it an unattractive brownish color. I will not be making this again.

Absolutely our favorite fruit salad now. YUM!

Like another poster, I used whipped cream cheese and crushed up strawberries to create the same flavor. So good!

We love this fruit salad and the ingredients are simple and basic. Only made tiny adjustments based on what fruit etc we had on hand. Thanks for the recipe! I will be making this again for sure!

This was good but mine came out a brownish color from the cinnamon and the second time around the pretzels were soggy. Not meant to be kept for several days.

I used a different combination of fruit: Strawberries, honeydew and red grapes. It was fabulous! I used raspberry cream cheese instead of strawberry and I forgot to serve it with the whipped topping. You'll love this recipe. I'm usually not a big fan of fruit salad, but, this was fantastic!

I mainly used the sauce part and thought it was yummy, but a lot like frosting, so I added 8oz. of strawberry yogurt frosting. that was a little better. but it was all delicious anyway!

I thought it was too sweet. Also, it made too much of the cream cheese stuff. I don't think I'll make it again, but it was fine for making it once.

I felt like the sauce completely overpowered the fruit, it was a combination of too much cinnamon and vanilla extract that I dont feel the it worked well with fruit. My husband liked the dish and it was okay this once but I will not make it again.

My husband and I both loved this. I omitted the pretzels and included walnuts instead. What a nice variation on fuit salad!