Easy, Southern Grape Salad is full of plump, juicy grapes, covered in a tangy dressing made with cream cheese and sour cream, and topped with crunchy roasted pecans and brown sugar.
This whimsical, make-ahead side dish can be served as a salad or dessert and only takes minutes to prepare. Served cold, creamy grape salad makes a lovely presentation, and it’s a light and refreshing addition to any meal.
Easy Grape Salad is a Southern classic. You can almost always find a big bowl at potlucks and backyard neighborhood barbecues. And, this old-fashioned fruit salad is always one of the first dishes to be gobbled up.
Sometimes referred to as holiday grape salad, because it’s often served during the holidays, it also makes a lovely side dish for an Easter or Mother’s Day Brunch or ladies’ luncheon.
Ingredients – here’s what you will need:
- Red and green grapes – grape salad is delicious with any kind of grape; half and half is more colorful, but feel free to use just green or just red.
- Cream cheese – is the base of this dressing and provides a tangy creaminess.
- Sour cream – combines with the cream cheese to make a luscious “cheesecake” like rich and creamy dressing.
- Granulated sugar – is also part of the dressing and is what makes it sweet.
- Vanilla extract – enhances all of the other flavors in the dressing and brings them all together.
- Brown sugar – combines with the pecans to provide another layer of deliciousness to this dish.
- Roasted pecans – add a rich buttery crunch to the topping and, combined with the brown sugar, is what makes this salad so dreamy.
Directions – here’s how to make it:
- Rinse the grapes in a colander under cold water and spread them out on a clean kitchen towel to dry. Remove any bruised or damaged grapes.
- Add the softened cream cheese to another bowl and whip with an electric mixer until the cream cheese is smooth and creamy with no lumps. Add the sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.
- Spoon the cream cheese-sour cream mixture over the grapes and toss gently until they are coated.
- Combine the brown sugar and toasted pecans and sprinkle evenly over the top of the grape salad. Cover the salad and refrigerate for at least one hour or until you are ready to serve it.
Frequently asked questions:
Grape salad is certainly more of a dessert than a salad. I’m not sure why it’s called a “salad” because it includes sour cream, sugar, and cream cheese. But, I’m more than willing to go along with it in the name of “health,” especially since grapes are nutritious.
To prevent lumps, be sure your cream cheese is soft and beat it until it is smooth and creamy before adding the sour cream or any other ingredients.
You can use any seedless grapes you like. I usually like to mix it up and use red and green grapes because it looks more colorful. But, you can use all red or all green or you could also use black grapes. The most important thing is to make sure they are seedless.
When buying, look for grapes that are firm, plump, and vibrant in color. And, make sure that the stems are green and full. The stems of older grapes will be dry and brown.
Fresh grapes will stay fresh much longer if you don’t wash them when you bring them home. Store them in the fridge in the bag they came in and they should last at least a week or more.
Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days. I do not recommend freezing this salad.
According to the New York Times, grape salad was originally served by a Minnesota heiress who claimed it was always part of her family’s holiday buffet.
It’s not clear how this unique cold salad came to be a hallmark of entertaining in the South, but for at least the last 50 years, you would be hard-pressed to find a potluck, holiday, church supper, or special occasion without a big bowl of grape salad front and center.
Grape salad is popular anytime dessert or salad, but it really shines in the summer at outdoor cookouts or neighborhood barbecues. Because it travels well and can be served cold or at room temperature, it is perfect for potlucks.
I like to serve it with grilled main dishes such as Grilled Ham Steak, Simple Lemon Grilled Chicken, or Grilled Flank Steak. It also pairs nicely with fried main dishes such as Southern Fried Fish, Crispy Fried Grouper, Fried Spanish Mackeral Nuggets, Easy Crispy Pan-Fried Shrimp, or my favorite, Crispy Fried Oysters.
Variations:
Although I think this is the best recipe, and it’s my favorite, there are lots of different variations. I have not tried any of these substitutions, but I’m listing them here in case you want to reduce the number of calories in this recipe or are out of an ingredient and need a substitute.
If you do try any of these variations, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
- I prefer regular cream cheese in this recipe. However, you can save a few calories by using reduced-fat cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese.
- For sour cream, I also recommend the full-fat version. Substitutes include reduced-fat sour cream, vanilla yogurt, or unsweetened Greek yogurt. You can also substitute frozen whipped topping or marshmallow cream.
- Stevia or your favorite sugar substitute can be substituted for granulated sugar.
- For the topping, instead of the brown sugar and pecans, you could try chopped-up Heath Bars or Snickers. You will also find quite a few recipes that use crushed Butterfingers as a topping. I have also seen recipes using granola.
- As far as nuts, I’m a pecan gal myself, but you could also substitute pistachios or walnuts.
Sharon’s tips:
- This recipe, as written, makes twelve servings. Feel free to scale it up or down to suit your needs.
- Occasionally, grapes, especially green ones, are a bit tart. If that’s the case with your grapes, feel free to add a tablespoon or so more granulated sugar.
- If your grapes are large, cut them in half or quarters.
- To soften the cream cheese, unwrap it, and place it in a microwave-safe container — microwave for about 30 seconds.
- This salad can be made twenty-four hours ahead of time and is even better on the second day.
- To roast pecan halves, put them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in a 350-degree F. oven for 10-12 minutes. If in pieces, the pecans will cook faster, so only roast them for six to eight minutes. Check often and stir to make sure they don’t burn. I usually roast one pound of pecans at a time and then store them in the freezer until I need them.
- Since you only need a small number of pecans, you can also toast them in the microwave. To do this, place them in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave in one-minute intervals until they are browned and toasty, which takes four to six minutes.
More fruit salad recipes:
If you like fruit salads, you might also like these popular recipes on my blog:
- Amazing Pistachio Pudding Salad
- Old-Fashioned Southern Ambrosia
- Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad
- Breakfast Fruit Salad with Orange Syrup
- Watermelon Feta Salad with Basil and Blueberries
If you need more menu ideas or recipes, here is a link to all of my salad recipes.
★★★★★ If you make this dish, please leave a comment and give this recipe a star rating. I would love to know how you liked it!
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📋 Recipe:
Southern Grape Salad Recipe with Pecans
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green seedless grapes about 4 ½cups
- 2 pounds red seedless grapes about 4 ½ cups
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces sour cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup toasted pecans pieces
Instructions
- Wash the grapes in a colander under cold water and spread them out on a clean kitchen towel to dry. Remove any bruised or damaged grapes.
- Add the softened cream cheese to another bowl and whip with an electric mixer until the cream cheese is smooth and creamy with no lumps. Add the sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.
- Spoon the cream cheese-sour cream mixture over the grapes and toss gently until they are coated.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar and toasted pecans evenly over the top of the grape salad.
- Cover the salad and refrigerate for at least one hour or until you are ready to serve it.
Notes
- This recipe, as written, makes twelve servings. Feel free to scale it up or down to suit your needs.
- Occasionally, grapes, especially green ones, are a bit tart. If that’s the case with your grapes, feel free to add a tablespoon or so more granulated sugar.
- If your grapes are large, cut them in half or quarters.
- To soften the cream cheese, unwrap it, and place it in a microwave-safe container—microwave for about 30 seconds.
- This salad can be made twenty-four hours ahead of time and is even better on the second day.
- To roast pecan halves, put them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in a 350-degree F. oven for 10-12 minutes. If in pieces, the pecans will cook faster, so only roast them for six to eight minutes. Check often and stir to make sure they don’t burn. I usually roast one pound of pecans at a time and then store them in the freezer until I need them.
- Since you only need a small number of pecans, you can also toast them in the microwave. To do this, place them in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave in one-minute intervals until they are browned and toasty, which takes four to six minutes.
I can’t wait to try this. It’s just my husband and myself so I think I’ll cut it in half.
I love this dish! I put about 1/2 cup of chopped green onions in also ! Definitely a salad version
I have never heard of adding onions, but I’m intrigued and will have to give it a try! Thanks so much for leaving a comment and I am so glad you enjoyed the dish.
All the best,
Sharon
As promised, I made this recipe again but this time bought the grapes from my least favorite place to buy groceries. What a difference in prep time! None of the red grapes had seeds, and only about 20% of the green grapes had them. My bunco group enjoyed the salad, and we’ll be enjoying the leftovers for a while.
Awesome! So glad it worked out better this time!
Sharon
First let me say that this was surprisingly delicious for a dish with so few ingredients. I made it for a Garden Club potluck, and I got great feedback from those who tried it. But the actual prep time was more like 45+ minutes. I bought red and green “seedless” grapes from my favorite grocery store. They were huge, so I decided to halve each grape, and I’m glad I did as they were far from “seedless.” The majority of the grapes (approximately 65% of the red ones and 95% of the green ones) had brown to black seeds. While these weren’t going to break anyone’s tooth, grape seeds are bitter, and this dish was designed to be sweet. So I removed the seeds, and it took at least 45 minutes to de-seed four pounds of grapes. Each seeded grape had 2-6 seeds. The result was delicious. So would I make this again? Yes. In fact, I’m making it again for a southern themed buffet for my bunco group next week. This time I’ll better know how much time to allow to prepare this great salad.
Oh, Susan, 45 minutes is crazy! Seedless grapes shouldn’t have seeds in them! However, saying that the last batch of grapes I bought that were labeled seedless had seeds in them so I don’t know if it’s some type of labeling or quality control issue or what’s going on. I’m so sorry it took so long. But I’m glad all of your hard work paid off and everyone enjoyed the salad. It’s one of our favorites. Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
Really Easy to make and the whole family loves it. I thought it was a big batch but it disappears like magic!
Hi Shari, thanks so much for leaving a comment. I’m so glad you like the grape salad. It really is a fun dish.
All my best,
Sharon