The Story Behind Frozen Cranberry Fruit Salad
My family loves to have this frozen cranberry salad on Christmas night. I would even venture to say that it is a family tradition. I didn’t grow up calling it Frozen Cranberry Salad, though. In our family, we call it Pink Perfection Salad. However, for the sake of that good ole SEO, I had to rename it because no one will ever search for that!
Instead of a fancy Christmas dinner, my mom made a tradition to have a Christmas buffet. One of you might be asking what is served at this Christmas buffet, so let me tell you. If you love mayonnaise, then you will probably love this dinner. We typically have seafood salad, chicken, salad, and potato salad. My mom usually buys one of those giant containers of mayo from Sam’s club and will go through the entire thing. Gag.
I don’t love mayonnaise, so my mom never fails to gross me out with it. She will get the largest mixing spoon she can find and scoop a giant spoonful of mayo out and pretend to eat it in front of me. It’s so disgusting.
Now, mayonnaise-based salads aren’t the only things served. We also had ham biscuits, a veggie tray, and my grandmother’s plastic tray that had an assortment of Christmas cookies.
The one thing that everyone loved, however, is this Frozen Cranberry Salad. My mom always would make and stick it in cupcake liners. Then she would stick in in the basement deep freezer and usually forget about it until halfway through the dinner. It didn’t matter, though, everyone still loved it even if it was late to the table.
It’s creamy and delicious. Not only is it made with whole berry cranberry sauce, but it also has crushed pineapple and bananas. This is a quick and easy side dish to whip up if you are looking to have something a little extra for a holiday dinner.
F.A.Q.s and Troubleshooting for Frozen Cranberry Fruit Salad
What should I freeze the salad in?
I grew up with my mom using paper cupcake wrappers. The problem with using those is the paper gets flimsy as the frozen cranberry salad melts. I found these awesome cups on Amazon, and they were perfect for this recipe. They can stand alone and stay sturdy which I love.
How far in advance can I make this?
Since the frozen cranberry fruit salad is stored in the freezer, it can be made 2-3 weeks in advance. Who doesn’t love a recipe that you can make ahead?
Do I have to make individual servings?
Yes, you do. Freezing the entire bowl of cranberry fruit salad just won’t work in the recipe. It would make serving it extremely difficult.
Do the bananas get gross?
Since this goes immediately in the freezer, they don’t get brown or mushy.
My cranberry fruit salad seems rather runny, did I do something wrong?
It’s super important to drain the can of crushed pineapple super well.
Can I use jellied cranberry sauce instead of whole berry?
I would highly suggest using whole berry because it gives the salad great texture. However, I think it would be just as delicious with jellied.
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