Cranberry Pineapple Berry Jello Salad Recipe

Cranberry Pineapple Berry Jello Salad makes a perfect Holiday side dish. Bright, festive, and absolutely delicious! This Jello salad is full of cranberries, whole blackberries, pineapple chunks and nuts. The texture is just right. Not too dense or too loose. A bit of nut for crunch, chunky pineapple and whole berries for a satisfying mouthful of sweet tart delight.

One of my family’s favorite all time holiday side dishes is this Jello salad. My Grandma Used to make several versions of it. Some we loved. Some not so much. I can’t get into the celery version but if that’s what you want, go ahead and chop a cup of celery in.

This Cranberry Pineapple Berry Jello Salad is my own creation. I dug around in grandma’s recipes, dug around in mine and then went to google for more inspiration. I’m delighted with the results.

It’s a lovely salad for your holiday table. In the proper light it glows like a gem. I recommend a beautiful large glass trifle bowl or pretty glass salad bowl if you have one so it can really show off to your guests for you. You can use a 13 x 9 inch pan if you prefer to serve it in flat sections.

Update: I added some pictures of this recipe from our 2018 Louisiana Thanksgiving event. Same delicious recipe. Just a different bowl and lighting.

My brother, Jeff, is the reason I made this Jello Salad. He Adores it at the holidays and WILL NOT give up his cool whip either. So dutiful sister me, I made this recipe for him. Mom made sure he had his cool whip. He loved it. I hope your family does too.

I will not usually make anything with jello anymore (and cool whip is NOT invited into this kitchen often). All those artificial ingredients you know. But it is the Holiday season. So I’m indulging our taste (and my brother) for the old favorites a bit.

I have made this recipe twice now for two VERY different holiday crowds. Once for the family and once for a group of adults I had never met. Both times the flavor and consistency of this holiday jello salad won them over. This recipe is NOT just for kids.

The cranberry sauce and berries work WONDERFULLY with the pineapples and jello. The nuts help too. Just a bit of crunch.

Cranberry Pineapple Berry Jello Salad Recipe:

I created this salad to be easy to make. It is! This is mostly canned stuff. Use any frozen berries you like. I had some frozen whole blackberries I put up from our many blackberry vines so that’s what I used. Do NOT use fresh pineapple. The salad will not set up if you do. Canned works great.

IF you want to make it with ALL natural ingredients…it’s possible…

If you feel lucky you could try my homemade cranberry sauce instead of the canned cranberry sauce I used. I went fast and easy on this recipe. If you do use homemade cranberry sauce you may have to adjust the liquids down by 1/2 cup or so to make the jello consistency comes out right.

For more on making your own natural jello go to mamanatural.com or The Splendid Table. Someday I’m going to make jello by this method. But not today. I highly recommend you make it the fast way unless you have LOTS of time to dink around with your recipe. Let me know if you succeed!

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