It seems very wrong to call anything containing several cups of marshmallows a salad, but history dictates that's exactly what this is. It's Marshmallow Salad with canned fruit; similar to ambrosia but served with the meal not as a dessert.
I know a salad made out of marshmallow and canned fruit seems like a joke but this mixture of mini marshmallows, shredded coconut, mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, maraschino cherries and sour cream (not Cool Whip) is serious stuff on the holiday dinner table.
And one of those holidays will be here momentarily.
UNTIL THE 4 DAY EASTER WEEKEND
You'll note the addition of *sour cream* instead of Cool Whip which makes my recipe super classy.
It's kind of how I made Brussels sprouts classy (edible) by tossing them in dijon mustard and honey. After deep frying them.
For as long as I can remember, my family has served Marshmallow Salad at holiday dinners. Sometimes we'd call it Ambrosia, on occasion we'd refer to it it Sour Cream Salad. Truth is, we really never knew what to call it, other than an embarrassment.
We're not the fanciest people on earth, but we're fancy enough to know anything that includes marshmallows should at least be served as a dessert. We serve it as a side dish.
There it sits on the table, right beside the perfectly respectable green beans and mashed potatoes; a big bowl of marshmallows, fruit and coconut winking, "Here I am, in all my tacky glory. Caught ya lookin'!".
Table of Contents
Marshmallow Fruit Salad
If you change it up a bit and call it a fruit salad with marshmallows it sounds almost healthy.
Ingredients
- 10 oz. Can of Mandarin Oranges (drained very well)
- 14 oz. Can of Crushed Pineapple (drained very well)
Speaking of pineapples, I tested out the pulling apart a pineapple hack you can see the results here.
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- ⅓ cup Maraschino Cherries (cut in half)
- ¼ cup Sweetened Coconut
- 3 cups Mini Marshmallows (use the coloured ones for added trash)
If marshmallow salad was a dinner guest, she'd be the sparkly, hooker-with-a heart-of-gold that your Uncle Nick brings to Easter dinner every year. An embarrassing, loud, colourfully dressed dish that you can't help but love.
Plus it's sort of understood you don't talk about either one of them in public.
Steps
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl.
2. Then fold everything together. Cover it up and let set in fridge overnight.
Where did it originate?
Ambrosia (the inspiration for marshmallow salad) was first recorded in a recipe book from 1867 called the Dixie Cookery in the Southern United States. Here's the best part. You can STILL buy the Dixie Cookery cookbook.
I found a copy of the entire Dixie Cookery cookbook online through the Library of Congress. The second recipe in the book starts with "Boil a calf's head".f
I like marshmallow salad. Even though they may not admit it publicly, so does everyone else.
White or Coloured Marshmallows?
If you make marshmallow salad with white mini marshmallows it'll look a bit more like a trifle. It tastes a little different as well because the coloured mini marshmallows are actually fruit flavoured.
But making it white and putting it in a cup classes it up a bit.
Marshmallow Salad (also known as White Trash Salad)
Ingredients
- 1 10 oz can mandarin oranges drained very well
- 1 14 oz can crushed pineapple drained very well
- 1 cup sour cream
- ⅓ cup maraschino cherries cut in half
- ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 3 cups mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl and fold together.
- Cover with plastic and let set in the fridge overnight.
Nutrition
If you're looking for another dish to horrify your guests with (until they try them) whip up these bacon wraps made from bacon, condensed milk, dijon, cheese and bread. You would NEVER think those ingredients would make up anything even close to delicious but they're a favourite of everyone who's tried them.
I'm not sure when it happened, but I've taken over the Marshmallow/Sour cream/Ambrosia Salad tradition. It is now my job to smuggle it out of the house under the cover of ageing Tupperware, to all of our holiday dinners. If the neighbours ask, I lie and tell them it's something a little more respectable than marshmallow salad. Like a 3 bean salad. Or a shrunken head.
The good news is, this dish now officially has a name in our house. One year it was dubbed White Trash Salad. The name stuck quickly like Crazy glue to a hard hat. Or sparkles to a stripper.
Here's to strippers, hookers, marshmallows and not caring what other people do or think. Here's to ... white trash salad.
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Britt
Wow... my family must be more White Trash because we make a similar salad only ours is encased in yellow jello... Looks disgusting but tastes soooo good!
Allyson
We have that every year for Thanksgiving! Except we use Cool-Whip instead of sour cream. Because apparently the marshmallows don't make it sweet enough. We add actual cut up fruit too, like apples and bananas.
I guess it's to make up for the cool-whip.
Kim
So glad you're taking this public! Our family has "enjoyed" this salad for 4 generations. We call it 5-Cup Salad...made almost the same as yours Karen, minus the coconut. One cup of each ingredient all mixed together.
Your name is definitely going to come up at the dinner table this weekend!
Love the variety on your site, Happy Easter.
Karen
Thanks Kim. :) ~ karen
Audrey
Nice. I actually love ambrosia. I also like Waldorf Salad and I'm pretty sure they are in the same family of "what-the-what is that?!". I am going to be trekking back to my home state in a few months for a family reunion..I think I'll be bringing multicolored marshmallows this year.
pegr
What a flash back to the 70's. Stoners used to love this stuff. FYI, waldorf salad has chicken.
Karen
Pegr - I can't imagine stoners could get their shit together enough to make this salad! LOL. Oh. And classic Waldorf salad doesn't have chicken at all. That's a variation of Waldorf that people occasionally make. It's normally just fruit and vegetables. Although ... I make a variation on a curried chicken/Waldorf salad that has all of those things and it's delicious! ~ karen
jen
Lets not forget Watergate salad. With marshmallows,pineapple chunks,cherries and pistachio pudding with cool whip.
We also make a mix of pretzles,peanuts,m&ms,chex and cherios cearel mix it with melted white chocolate chips and that is what we call white trash. So funny how much white trash there can be at ones dinner table.
Dd51
We use a melted chocolate with peanut butter instead of White chocolate, we call it dog food, but I think the proper name is puppy chow. So I can say in total honesty, my kids ate dog food growing up.
Brittany
In my family, we call it Waldorf Salad and we have it every year for Thanksgiving as a side dish. Not really sure why, since most of my family can't stand it, but hey, what's Thanksgiving without tiny marshmallows?
Karen
Brittany - LOL, that's really strange. Does your family know Waldorf Salad is an actual salad? (that doesn't have marshmallows in it?) If I recall Waldorf salad is apples, celery, walnuts, raisins and some mayo. Or maybe you've just added marshmallows to Waldorf salad. I'm so confused. Do you see how confusing salads of the 60's are making my life? :) ~ karen
Brittany
Ours is like real Waldorf Salad and your salad had a baby. A delicious, too-sweet baby that results in left-overs for weeks because no one wants to eat it. But let's see, in our bastardized version, there's no raisins but we do use mayo instead of sour cream...but then we have the mandarin oranges, cherries, walnuts, celery, apples and marshmallows. Oh and bananas. It kind of looks like cat vomit, to be honest.
Karen
Brittany - Well ... after that description can I just say "Yum!". ~ karen
My Texas Table
Where is the "like" button for this string of conversation?
Beckie
We eat this at thanksgiving in my fam.. but we add cold, cooked rice and it is dubbed "heavenly rice"... and it is, it truly is heavenly!
Colleen
To make the salad even more white trash substitute Cool Whip for the sour cream (too uptown). Guilty pleasure!
Shari
Love it!! We make it with whipped cream and pineapple chunks!
Amie
That's the craziest shit I have ever seen!
Jocelyne
On Top Chef Masters last week, the chefs had to update (mostly) tacky 60s food. One of those foods was ambrosia which I had heard tales of, but never seen or tasted. What a strange little concoction...
Karen
Jocelyne - What a GREAT idea for a show, to update tacky 60's food! It is a strange concoction, that's for SURE. ~ karen
Suzan
When my sister was a young bride she brought ambrosia to a large family gathering. She used colored marshmallows. My brother took one look and said, "Look, Julie brought Lucky Charms Barf!" and that is what we have called it ever since. "White Trash Salad" is a MUCH nicer name!
Beth
Oh my gosh Suzan --- LUCKY CHARMS BARF!!!! I just scared the bejeebies out of the cat sitting on my desk in front of the computer - by laughing OUT LOUD and just about screaming!! And I thought White Trash Salad was hilarious!!!
Karen - thank God for your blog - between you and your readers - I never fail to get a good laugh, and that's just what I needed today!! Getting ready for Thanksgiving at my Sister-in-Laws in a couple days - I'm thinking White Trash Salad (or Lucky Charms Barf) will have to be making an appearance this year!!! (though I know for sure the coconut will have to bow out, or I will be thrown from the premises!) I know my 12 year old will probably make sure the leftovers disappear!!! Thanks for the laugh and hope everyone has a blessed Holiday season!!!
Karen
Thanks Beth! Glad you enjoyed it! ~ karen
Denise Potter
I laughed so hard reading this post that tears started sneaking from my eye. Thanks for sharing this!
den
where i come from, it's not salad unless it has gelatin. :( think of it as a jiggly, fake-fruit-flavored crouton.
Rea Niece
LOL Love the name. I am making that for Easter dinner...and I always make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas too. The family will get a kick out of the new name!
Adrienne Audrey
The only food I will mix marshmallows with besides smore ingredients and rice krispies is yams. My family's thanksgiving tradition is to add marshmallows to the tops of the yams and cook it under the broiler for a few minutes. Sounds gross but it's yummy!
Kate S
I have never had the please but it sure reminds me of Edward Scissorhands.
Pati
Yummm! Love your name for it! Also grew up with this on our table at every family gathering...we used plain white mini marshmallows tho..and no cherries. It always sat beside the green jello, grated carrot, weird shaped salad...
In my adult life I have made Ambrosia once and it was for dessert, I just don't get it as a side dish? But it is yummy!
Karen
OMG I am making that this weekend. Seems scrumptious!!
Oh, and is Sister Wives worth watching? Like start at Season 1 and watch them all?
Karen
Karen - Meh. It's more of a have it on in the background kindda show. Paying too close attention might make you itchy. ~ karen
Rebecca
Oh man, I love that stuff! I'd totally forgotten it existed. My kids'll go apeshit if I serve that with dinner. Thank you, Karen. Oh, and I think there actually is something with an inkling of nutrition in marshmallows. Not that I'm saying this is not total white trash, but maybe they keep your fingernails strong or something! Must go google...