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.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Patty
This salad has been making an appearance on my family's table for years. We usually have it at big summer picnics and it goes quick. Our recipe is a bit different; no coconut, chucked pineapple and we mix miracle whip and sour cream together.
kelly
this has always been a side dish in my family too. Love the new name!
Susan
Vegetarian here, who misses marshmallows a lot!! White trash salad is catchy. But Lucky Charms barf is totally hilarious!
DzynByJules
WOW! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for for our First Annual Redneck Chili Festival, otherwise known as F.A.R.C.-Fest 2012. I was wondering how to serve up a side dish worthy of Honey Boo-Boo's kin and this fits the bill perfectly! So GLITZY!!! My friends are going to go wild! So sad we can't speak about it in public. On a similar note, we hosted a greased watermelon polo event on our lake in honor of the Summer Olympics last August. What a hoot! Never saw a bunch of retired executives act so crazy... it brought out the 10 year old in everyone that day. I'm sure this salad would be a great carbo-load dish for next years festivities! Does the Fella chow down on some of this prior to the Tough-Mudder Competition??? Thanks for the recipe Karen!
Kathleen
This is great! I was laughing so hard my husband came from his office down the hall to see what was going on. I remember this "salad" it was never served at church supers because no one would ever be able to make enough to serve 300 of us. We did have green jello and shredded carrots. In fact it alternated with lemon jello and pineapple at our monthly church suppers. I haven't had this or seen it in years but believe me I can still taste it looking at your photos.
Thanks so much for the best laugh I have had in about 2 months.
Karen
Kathleen! LOL. When I first quickly read your comment I thought you said I was your best laugh in about 2 years! I was pretty impressed with myself and kind of sad for you. 2 months .. that's acceptable too. ~ karen!
Tanya Stewart
all this talk about white trash salad has made me miss SQUEEZE CHEESE
Natalie Robison
My mom and nanny call it heavenly hash. Lol. Theirs is made with whipping cream and chopped pecans too. Yummo!! I looked forward to it every holiday!!
Molly
Oh Karen! I laughed. I cried. I remembered. I resolved to take my shameful old Ambrosia Salad out of the closet and to our next pot luck. Those are the most beautiful, flattering, appealing photos of marshmallow/canned fruit/sour cream salad on the internets. Thank you. ~molly
Karen
LOL, Thanks Molly! I'll have to go back and take a look at that post again. ~ karen
Max
Making it this weekend for a BBQ. How many would you say these measurements serve? We have maybe 6 adults and 4 young children to cater for.
Karen
Max - That'll be plenty for the BBQ. You don't eat a big heaping serving of it like potato salad. You'll have plenty, plus plenty left over. ~ karen!
Max
Thanks Karen, I ran through the numbers ingredient-wise and came to a similar conclusion :). Looking forward to it, cheers!
Claudine
I've never seen this salad looks so beautiful! Where I'm from in North Dakota, this is known as funeral salad. There's also a similar "salad" that features buttermilk instead of sour cream, canned mandarin oranges,instant vanilla pudding mix and fudge-striped cookies.
Pats
Heh. Mom made this even more white trash. Drained fruit cocktail and Cool Whip. Mixed with marshmallows, and coconut if no one objected to coconut. WE even had a dedicated bowl for it, called "The Fruit Salad Bowl." My brother has dibs on that bowl when Mom dies.
Karen
Cool Whip *is* a special occasion touch isn't it? LOL. ~ karen
Marci
Haha that’s our recipe too and I was just going to mention to Karen how much healthier our version is.
Laurel
I am sorry, but ... ewww. Those cherries in particular are glow in the dark toxic. But, hey, I am aware that that vast majority of people don't eat food because it is healthy.
Denise Potter
ROFLMAO, seriously, I'm still giggling and snorting.
Sally
Yes...this is a salad!!!! We here in Georgia consider mac n cheese a vegetable too. So sue me. Or bite me. What ever. This is still a SALAD! (cute post. ugly salad. still a salad. ::::fingers in ears:::: La alalal la lala...I can't hear you, people who think this is a dessert)
Teri on the (very) Wet Coast
Ha ha, so Georgia was where my mother went to learn to cook. Mac and cheese (yes, Virginia, it even came in a can at one time) was a vegetable served in my house when I was growing up.
And along side of something with grapes and walnuts and celery mixed in whipped cream, White Trash Salad was served at fancy times (weddings and funerals) as part of the main course. Definitely not served as dessert.
Gayla T
I forgot to tell you that Better Homes and Gardens April issue has an big article about front yard veggie gardening. I didn't have time yet to read the entire article but it looked very nice.
Karen
Ooo! Thanks! I'll look for it. ~ k
Gayla T
Well, I have to agree that your family is way way trashier than mine. We were really upper stuff because we also add a can of fruit cocktail and glued it together with half sour cream and the other half is.......WHIPPED TOPPING. Ta dah! Aren't you just completely blown away by knowing someone like us? Some times my mom would put some cooked rice in it. I've also seen her put it into a graham cracker crust for a pie. It, being food of the gods, was named Ambrosia. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Back in the day, whipped topping was really whipped. It came in a box, just white powder you put into 2 cups of milk and beat it until it was thick and creamy. I sure miss my mom when I think of these old recipes.
N.D. Weiss
I recall that stuff in a box—Dream Whip! Or Wip.
It tasted exactly like... whipped topping out of a box. But it tasted fabulous to us!
Marti
Hey Karen...
My mum makes this with Cool Whip or worse, store-brand non-dairy whipped topping. I think I've just taken it down and entire notch, yes?
If I used sour cream or "creme fraiche" that would totally class it up! Haha!
Ok, back to the soups post...
Karen
LOL! ~ k
Rose
Karen,
I have eaten this my WHOLE LIFE, and still never had a name for it! Well, I do now! In our recipe, you do use sour cream, and either white or colored marshmallows, but instead of individual cans of fruit, we just get canned fruit cocktail - with cherries and all - and just drain and dump. Voila! Much to my delight, my husband absolutely LOVES the stuff, and requests it on occasion. We've always served it as a side dish, too. No idea why. Just do.
Debbie @ Swampbilly Ranch
My mother still makes this for every holiday dinner. She actually calls it Fruit Salad. My husband loves it!
Karen
Debbie - That's the funniest thing, when people call it fruit salad! :) ~ karen
Elisa
Wow! I cannot believe this salad has made its way out of the South. I keep trying to convince myself that it will count as the fruit salad my mother in law requested. After seeing your post, I will be bringing it with me to Easter dinner!
You should tackle a good homemade pimento cheese. Apparently, it is considered white trash as well!
Pats
Mmmmm, pimento cheese. I second that.
Amy
Yes! A good homemade pimento cheese, please!
Ecochic
White Trash Salad sounds about right! My friends have taken to calling this White Person Salad. They just don't understand the allure of it. lol