Ultimate Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad is an easy, quick and delicious fruit salad. It’s full of pineapple, cherries, and pecans and it would be perfect for serving for an Easter or Mother’s Day brunch, lunch or dinner, or anytime for that matter.
Light and refreshing Make Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad takes less than ten minutes to add all of the ingredients to a bowl, mix and pop in the freezer for an unforgettable salad/dessert that your entire family will love! And, yes, even though this luscious dish is technically a salad, you could easily have it for dessert with all of its creamy sweetness.
In fact, I did just that yesterday, I ate some for lunch, then had another serving after dinner for dessert, and just might have a bite for breakfast this morning. After all, with all that fruit, it has to be healthy, right? Well maybe not healthy, but still sort of healthy? At least that’s how I rationalize it!
This is an old-fashioned salad/dessert, one that I’m sure you have had some variation of at some point in your life. It seems to have fallen out of favor along with jello salads and molds, but it’s a southern classic and deserves a place back in your stash of favorite make-ahead salads/desserts.
For an unforgettable Easter or Mother’s Day Brunch menu, how about serving Sweet Potato Biscuits with Country Ham and Cranberry Aioli, Southern Cheese Grits Casserole, and a yummy Lemon and Blackberry Bread Pudding for dessert along with the frozen fruit salad?
Need even more Easter meal ideas? Check out my posts for 38 Easter Dinner Recipes, Easter Dinner Side Dish Recipes and Menu Ideas, and 45 Dazzling and Delicious Easter Desserts.
Need even more ideas, check out my easy 32 Mother’s Day Breakfast and Brunch Recipes!
Ultimate Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad Ingredients:
The ingredients for Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad include canned dark sweet cherries (not pie filling), canned pineapple chunks, toasted pecans, frozen whipped topping (you can substitute homemade whipped cream), lemon yogurt, lemon zest, and mayonnaise.
How to make Frozen Fruit Salad:
When you are ready to make Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad, gather the ingredients and combine the cherries, pineapple, and pecans in a bowl.
Combine the thawed whipped topping, lemon yogurt, mayonnaise, and lemon zest in another bowl and mix until well combined.
Add the whipped topping mixture to the fruit mixture and gently fold everything together.
Spoon the mixture into an 8×8 dish; cover and freeze at least 8 hours, or until firm.
Take the dish out of the freezer 15-30 minutes to let it thaw just a little before you are ready to serve it. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce leaves if desired.
Sharon’s Expert Tips:
- To toast the pecans, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Watch the pecans carefully; they can go from perfect to burned in just a minute.
- If you can’t find the canned dark sweet cherries in the canned fruit section of your grocery store, try looking where the pie fillings are kept. But, don’t use cherry pie filling.
- You can substitute homemade whipped cream for the frozen whipped topping.
Ultimate Make-Ahead Frozen Fruit Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 16-1/2 oz can dark sweet cherries drained and pitted*
- 1 15-1/2 oz can pineapple chunks drained
- 1/2 cup pecans toasted and chopped*
- 8 oz frozen whipped topping thawed*
- 5.5 oz container lemon yogurt regular or Greek
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
Instructions
- Combine the cherries, pineapple, and pecans in a bowl.
- Combine the thawed whipped topping, lemon yogurt, mayonnaise, and lemon zest in another bowl and mix until well combined.
- Add the whipped topping mixture to the fruit mixture and gently fold in.
- Spoon the mixture into an 8x8 dish; cover and freeze at least 8 hours, or until firm.
- Take the dish out of the freezer 15-30 minutes to let it thaw just a little before you are ready to serve it. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce leaves if desired.
I can hardly wait to try this recipe.
Hi Nancy,
I hope you enjoy it!
Sharon
Do you think the frozen cherries would work?
Hi Lorna, I haven’t ever used frozen cherries but I can’t think of any reason they wouldn’t work.
If you decide to use them, if you have time please leave a comment letting me know how they were.
All my best,
Sharon