Cheap And Easy To Make Classic Ambrosia Salad
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Ambrosia salad—a.k.a. ambrosia fruit salad—is an easy fruit salad recipe that you can put together in a jiffy. It’s wonderful for a side dish for special occasions, but it’s always a hit in informal family gatherings.
Classic Ambrosia Salad Recipe
Classic Ambrosia Salad is the perfect vintage recipe to bring back fond memories of thanksgiving and Christmas meals of the past. This 5 Cup Fruit Salad is a simple recipe to make and even easier to remember with only a handful of simple ingredients.
This particular southern ambrosia salad comes from my trusty Pot O’Gold Cookbook. The original author called it by two names – Five Cup Salad and 24 Hour Salad. Why did they have such specific names for it?
Five Cup Salad: With only five simple ingredients (coconut, sour cream, mandarin oranges, canned pineapple and mini marshmallows), the recipe calls for only 1 cup of each ingredient.
24 Hour Salad: The original recipe recommends that you let this marshmallow salad sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving to let the flavors develop, the marshmallows to plump and the texture to set up.
24 Hour Salad
Many vintage salads use a base of Cool Whip; but this version is an ambrosia with sour cream. It’s the perfect balance of tang from the sour cream to counteract the sweetness from the canned fruit, coconut and marshmallows.
Let’s talk about the marshmallows. They act like little sponges, soaking up the flavors and plumping to a soft texture.
Ingredients
Why is it called 5 Cup Salad?
The recipe literally takes 5 cups of ingredients.
- Mini marshmallows, 1 cup
- Sweetened shredded coconut, 1 cup
- Drained mandarin oranges, 1 cup
- Drained pineapple chunks, 1 cup
- Sour cream, 1 cup
Ambrosia Salad with Sour Cream
You’ve probably eaten some type of fruit salad with sour cream and marshmallows. It’s made an appearance at parties, potlucks, family reunions and holidays for decades. That’s because it’s yummy, simple to make, and can be prepped ahead.
I made this for lunch during the social distancing of 2020. Most of these 5 easy ingredients are already consistently in my pantry and refrigerator. Except, I went to grab the sour cream, and low and behold, I didn’t have any. Crud! What’s a grown woman to do in this instance? I called Mom, and she rescued me. But don’t worry, the exchange of the sour cream followed the social distancing protocol.
5 cups and 24 hours later, Mom and Dad were rewarded with my marshmallow salad with sour cream (HER sour cream). And, she gave it two thumbs up.
How to Make 5 Cup Salad
- In a large bowl, gently stir the following ingredients: drained mandarin oranges, drained pineapple chunks or tidbits, mini marshmallow, sour cream and coconut. It’s ok to estimate the amounts of the ingredients.
- Refrigerate for 12-24 hours to let the salad set up.
Storage Instructions
Place in an airtight bowl or cover bowl with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 to 7 days. To make storage really easy, use one of these plastic covers instead of plastic wrap.
For the full instructions and ingredient amounts for Pineapple, Mandarin Orange and Marshmallow Salad, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Can ambrosia salad be made ahead of time?
Yes, ambrosia salad is the perfect recipe to make ahead at the holidays. It actually tastes better as it sits in the fridge for a day or so. Save yourself time on the morning of the holiday by whipping it up the day before.
Our Favorite Vintage Dessert Salads
Our grandma loved her dessert salads and luckily she wrote some of her favorite recipes down and we’ve found other keepers in our old church cookbook collection.
Here are some that we’ve shared already on the blog – Lazy Daisy (Ambrosia) Salad, Pink Lady Salad, Cherry Fluff, Vintage Pineapple Pretzel Salad.
Recipe FAQs
- This marshmallow salad is very versatile. Here’s some ideas:
- Double or triple this pineapple, mandarin orange and marshmallow salad to feed a crowd.
- Use pineapple tidbits, chunks or the crushed pineapple or even a can of fruit cocktail; be sure to drain before adding to the classic ambrosia salad.
- Add maraschino cherries for a nice spin.
- Fold in your favorite nuts such as chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Substitute whipped topping or plain Greek yogurt for sour cream.
- For Easter, use pastel colored mini marshmallows.
- All of the ingredients except for the sour cream are pantry staples in our houses. Check out our Pantry Essentials in our Amazon Store.
- This ambrosia salad with sour cream gives it a nice tang to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallows and coconut.
- Don’t waste the drained juice from the pineapple. Make Amaretto Pina Coladas!
- Marshmallow ambrosia is also called 24 hour salad because it tastes better and sets up perfectly after sitting in the refrigerator for a day before serving. What a perfect make-ahead recipe!
- Try a couple of our other favorite vintage salad recipes including Cherry Fluff and Pink Lady Salad.
Our Favorite Canned Pineapple Recipes
Canned pineapple appears in many recipes across the board of dessert to dinner. Here’s seven of our favorite recipes using canned pineapple.
- Cherry Almond Dump Cake
- Island Sweet and Sour Pork
- Pineapple Cheese Ball with Pecans
- Jalapeno Pineapple Limeade
- Crock Pot Baked Beans with Pineapple
- Slow Cooker Hummingbird Cake
- Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs
Classic Ambrosia Salad – 5 Cup Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut
- 1 cup canned pineapple, drained (tidbits, chunks or shredded)
- 1 cup canned mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Gently mix all ingredients together.
- Cover and refrigerate approximately 12 to 24 hours before serving.
Notes
- This marshmallow salad is very versatile. Here’s some ideas:
- Double or triple this pineapple, mandarin orange and marshmallow salad to feed a crowd.
- Use pineapple tidbits, chunks or the crushed version; be sure to drain before adding to the classic ambrosia salad.
- Add maraschino cherries for a nice spin.
- For Easter, use pastel colored mini marshmallows.
- This ambrosia salad with sour cream gives it a nice tang to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallows and coconut.
- Don’t waste the drained juice from the pineapple. Make Amaretto Pina Coladas!
- Marshmallow ambrosia is also called 24 hour salad because it tastes better and sets up perfectly after sitting in the refrigerator for a day before serving. What a perfect make-ahead recipe!
- Try a couple of our other favorite vintage salad recipes including Cherry Fluff and Pink Lady Salad.
- Please note that the carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on the products you use. The auto-calculation is an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
Nutrition
thanks for sharing i was looking for this recipe but all the ones i found oline called for whipped cream i remember my original recipe was only sour cream marshmallows pineapples, mandarines and coconut same as yours i think whip cream would make it too sweet and i like the idea of colored marshmallows for Easter what great colorful idea for this wonderful occasion
This is exactly how my mother-in-law made her Ambrosia Salad and I never wrote down the recipe. I am thrilled to see it in print so I can pass it to my daughters and of course, make it for myself.
The sour cream is definitely the secret to creating this delicious dish.
thank you!
My son insists on this ‘salad’ every Easter because grandma always served it. Now his 11year old daughter prepares it for out Easter dinner.
This is the exact recipe that we used at Waldbaum’s deli – a job that helped pay my college tuition. The manager would top it with Maraschino cherry halves and a sprinkling of shredded coconut.
Thank you for sharing; I plan to bring this to a couple of cookouts this summer!
How great is that! Enjoy!
My grandmother called it Tomorrow Salad. I had lost her handwritten recipe card and am so happy to have found the ingredients again. I think she added cherries instead of coconut. Thank you for posting!
Love when a recipe sparks a memory like this. Thanks for sharing.
This salad always appeared for holidays! Like Easter, Thanksgiving and of course Christmas!
Everyone loved it!
Yes!!!
I’m from the deep south. True ambrosia from way back (about 65 years) was orange segments, coconut, maraschino cherries and nothing else. Labor intensive, but so much better than with all the marshmallows.
That sounds like a great recipe…though we still love the marshmallows! Thanks for sharing.
My Grandmother made this, I make it and now my kids make it. The sour cream balances with all the sugars from the other ingredients. Obviously, this takes time for the flavors to blend in the fridge. I never make it more than 12 hours ahead. I am usually running late, and it is definitely good after a very short period in the fridge. It really should be eaten up by the third day otherwise the marshmallows have completely broken down by then.
I made it once 40 years ago in high school for a demonstration in Speech Class. The kids gross out that I added sour cream, but when they tasted it, they loved it! There was no fridge time at all that day. Still good!
I mix all the white ingredients first, then fold in the drained fruit last, so the orange segments don’t break.
So good! I’m going to go make some now!!
Love that story. Thanks for sharing.