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An Ambrosia Salad Recipe is the retro 1950s marshmallow fantasy you’ve been dreaming of! It’s a creamy marshmallow fruit salad – the sweet medley of fruit is absolutely delicious. It’s an easy dessert salad that you’ll be making over and over again for potlucks or holidays!

A bowl of creamy Tropical Fluff fruit salad topped with a bright red cherry, surrounded by colorful mini marshmallows and two more bowls of the same salad in the background. A spoon rests beside the bowl on a white surface.

Ambrosia salad is my favorite kind of creamy fruit salad. For those unfamiliar, ambrosia is a fruity marshmallow dessert that is popular for gracing the tables of each and every housewife hostess in midcentury America. I remember my grandmother serving this sweet salad recipe at holidays – whipped cream with fruit and marshmallows? The salad of every kids dream. It’s the perfect light dessert for holidays, a summer bbq, or any potluck.

Five bowls with labeled ingredients: vanilla pudding mix, mandarin orange segments, colorful mini marshmallows, pineapple chunks, and maraschino cherries, arranged on a white surface.

How to Make Ambrosia Salad

I always add sour cream or greek yogurt to my ambrosia to give it a little tangy base. When I first added sour cream to my strawberry fluff, I realized it tempers the sweetness and really makes a better recipe.
The traditional fruits for ambrosia include mandarin oranges, pineapple tidbits, and maraschino cherries. You can mix and match different fruits if you like.
Be sure to drain the excess liquid and dry the mandarin segments as well as the pineapple and cherries. You can also cut the cherries in half if they’re large.
Feel free to use white marshmallows or fruit-flavored marshmallows – but be sure to buy minis.
While many people make fresh whipped cream, I prefer using cool whip. Whipped topping is easier, plus it holds up better. It’s kind of a family tradition.

Variations

Add chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
Use 3 cans of fruit cocktail (drained) in place of all the fruit added.
You can omit the sour cream base and use greek yogurt or 4 ounces softened cream cheese.
Some people also add green grapes for a nice crunch.
Often you’ll see unsweetened coconut added for a tropical marshmallow salad flair.

Three bowls of creamy Tropical Fluff fruit salad topped with maraschino cherries, surrounded by pastel mini marshmallows on a light surface, with two spoons placed nearby.

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Expert Tips

Unlike Watergate salad or banana pudding fluff, you do not use instant pudding in this. The creamy fruit salad recipe base is made with whipped topping instead of pudding.
You need to drain all the fruit well so it doesn’t water down the salad.