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This Old-Fashioned Fruit Salad might be the ultimate kid-friendly side dish or dessert. With only four ingredients, this fruit salad is perfect for a cookout, pitch-in, barbecue or whatever you call a gathering with lots and lots of food!

This Old-Fashioned Fruit Salad recipe may be the easiest fruit salad recipe ever. You might even have all of the ingredients already in your pantry! If not, you can keep all these pantry staples on-hand, and throw it together in a pinch.

Doesn’t everyone remember a fruit salad that always showed up at family gatherings or cookouts? This is definitely one of those classic recipes that everyone’s grandma had on hand.

Old-Fashioned Fruit Salad

The sweet flavor from the vanilla pudding makes this easy fruit salad a hit with kids and adults alike. And really, doesn’t marshmallows make any dish into a kid-friendly one?

Barbara found this recipe in her favorite Pot O’Gold Cookbook (surprise, surprise), and she made it for a Father’s Day cookout. It was definitely enjoyed by all.

Barbara’s oldest daughter put this fruit salad together for her, and she is only 7. It is that easy!

You basically open two cans of fruit and a bag of marshmallows and dumped them into a bowl. Once they are mixed together, sprinkle a box of vanilla pudding over it and stir.

This Old-Fashioned Fruit Salad needs to be refrigerated for at least 6 hours before serving but can be made the day before you want to serve it and refrigerated overnight.

Feel free to change it up with different cans of fruit, whatever your family prefers.

Need some more cookout recipes? How about our Vintage Barbecue Burgers, Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, Ranch Cauliflower Salad, and Glazed Oatmeal Cherry Bars for dessert?