It’s very likely you’ve already heard of 5 Cup Fruit Salad. In fact, you’ve probably eaten it at your grandma’s table many times as a child. It’s a simple classic recipe that has stood the test of time. Many variations of this homemade fruit salad have derived from this age-old recipe over the years.
This fruit salad is super easy to make. As I’m sure you’ve already gathered from the name – 5 Cup Fruit Salad is made up of 5 cups of 5 different ingredients. The old-fashioned southern version of this fruit salad mainly consists of sour cream, pineapple, mandarin oranges or fruit cocktail, mini marshmallows, and coconut. I reduced the coconut to one-half cup and made up the other half-cup difference with maraschino cherry halves. If you don’t like coconut you can leave it out. I also add two tablespoons of instant lemon pudding mix to mine. If you’d prefer, pineapple tidbits can be substituted for the crushed pineapple. I often add additional cups of this or that making this a 6, 7, or 8 cup fruit salad. A cup of apples and grapes make great additions. Fresh strawberries are great when they’re in season. Just make sure you add one cup of whatever additional fruit you add. Nuts can be added to the salad or sprinkled on as a garnish before serving. When you add additional fruits be sure to add more sour cream, or you can add whipped topping or even vanilla yogurt for a healthier option. It’s best when made the day before and refrigerated overnight allowing the flavors to “marry”.
This is a staple on many menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. If you’re feeling really domestic you can even add a little food coloring to the coconut to make it more festive – red and green for Christmas, pink for Easter. I’ve even seen it colored red and blue for the 4th of July.
As you can see the variations are endless. Be creative and experiment – have fun creating your favorite version. And please do come back and share in the comments what your favorite combinations are.
5 Cup Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 11ounce can cup mandarin oranges
- 1 cup 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, halved
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons of instant lemon pudding powder, optional
Instructions
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If you're using the lemon pudding, add to sour cream and stir until thoroughly mixed.
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Add the other ingredients and mix well.
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Cover and refrigerate several hours - overnight is best.
Recipe Notes
I squeeze the crushed pineapple with a paper towel in the colander absorbing as much liquid as possible.
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When using the lemon pudding, how much sour cream do you mix it with? Maybe just enough to make the pudding powder creamy?
Oh my goodness, Joyce! Somehow I missed this comment and the sour cream in the ingredients list. I updated the recipe to include the sour cream, but it’s 1 cup. So glad you asked.
salad is good.and my old woman lives the five cups salad.she add more ingredients.she put in our big refrigerstors love it specially if my woman eat it.she love to make it .