An old vintage classic jello salad. This Cherry Marshmallow Jello Salad is colorful, easy to make and still is a huge hit at holidays and bbq’s. The perfect side dish for a quick meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a classic, traditional… vintage, if you will…. recipe. You probably had it as a child or if you didn’t, someone you know did.
- Cherry Marshmallow Jello Salad is a very easy recipe, that can be changed up in flavor or added to with additions of your choice.
- This is a great side dish for the holiday’s in addition to all your favorite recipes.
- It is easily doubled or tripled as a side dish or dessert to feed a large crowd, making it a staple for large holiday gatherings.
Recipe Summary
We know Jello Salads aren’t for everyone, but we make this one for nearly every major holiday in our home.
The only thing we change up is the flavor of Jello we use and sometimes we add different fruit.
Definitely an old-school recipe, with throwback flair, but it tastes great and is a true classic.
What do you need to make Jello Salad?
- Jello – any flavor you want, but for this salad, we used Cherry flavored Jello.
- crushed pineapple – the crushed pineapple adds a lot of flavor to the Jello Salad.
- mandarin oranges – we buy the canned mandarin oranges for this, but if you had fresh mandarin’s you could totally use those.
- whipped cream – we just use the regular old cool whip, but you could use any of the lite or sugar free varieties or even make your own homemade whipped cream.
- mini marshmallows – you can choose white mini marshmallows or colorful marshmallows.
We tend to use colorful marshmallows for holidays and such, but white mini marshmallows for a more elegant setting or dinner party.
If you like Jello like we do, you should try our Creamy Jello Ice Cream or these Easy Jello Meringue Cookies. We also have this incredible Patriotic Blueberry Jello Cheesecake Salad.
I hope your family likes this fun jello salad as much as mine did!
Fun Jello Salad Flavor Combinations and/or Substitutions
- Pina Colada Jello Salad – use Pineapple Jello and sprinkle coconut throughout.
- Creamsicle Jello Salad – mix orange Jello and Vanilla Pudding.
- Cherry Cola – mix cherry Jello with a can of cola.
- Root Beer Float – instant vanilla pudding instead of Jello flavor, remove pineapple and mandarin orange, add 1 can of root beer.
- Raspberry Lemonade – lemon Jello with raspberries swirled in before chilled.
- Strawberry Lemonade – lemon Jello with strawberries swirled in before chilled.
Be sure to pick up small packets of unflavored gelatin to add into salads if needed to thicken them up a bit.
A Great Vintage Jello Salad
This vintage jello salad is so festive and perfect for any holiday meal.
It’s perfect as a side, or as a different dessert.
The kids love it and even the adults can’t resist.
For whatever reason this reminds me of childhood with every bite!
Recipe for Cherry Marshmallow Jello Salad
Cherry Marshmallow Jello Salad
Ingredients
- 3 ounces instant cherry jello or any other flavor
- 20 ounces crushed pineapple
- 15 ounces mandarin oranges drained
- 8 ounces whipped cream
- 10.5 ounces marshmallows we use the colorful ones for fun, the white when we’re being “formal”
Instructions
- In a big bowl, dump the crushed pineapple WITH the juice (don’t drain it!!). Dump the jello in with the pineapple. Stir the entire thing until it’s thickened. Fold in whipped cream and stir well.
- Add in the mandarin oranges and stir. Add marshmallows. Put in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
I was looking for measurements for the recipe. These are different than my measurements. Can I have measurements for recipe. Thank you.
I’m not sure what you mean Lynn. The sizes for the products are listed. Do you mean in cups, tablespoons, etc?
The reason I give the actual product sizes rather than actual measurements is because you use entire products for this recipe.
do i prepare the jello with water or just dump in the dry jello?
Hi Wendy,
I know I already responded to you personally, but wanted to make sure I left a comment here for anyone else who might also wonder.
You do not prepare the jello, you simply use the packet of dry jello. Enjoy!
with this recipe, how many people will it serve? I would like to make this for a group of people and was also wondering if I can substitute bananas instead of mandarin oranges. I want to make this for 20 people but need to have correct amount of ingredients please. Thank you so very much!
This recipe serves about 8-10 people, depending on how big of a scoopful they get. It goes fast because it is so good. I would caution you to use the 8 people serving size with making it for a large group and triple this recipe.
I suppose you could use bananas but you would need to coat them in lemon juice or literally serve immediately after or you will wind up with brown bananas in what would otherwise be a pretty salad.
I hope that helps!
Can you use fruit cocktail instead of mandarin oranges?
I don’t think this is going to work, since the fruit in fruit cocktail is very wet and is probably going to change not only the consistency but the flavor. If you decide to try it though, I would love to hear your results to see if it actually can work.
Hi can I make this a day ahead? And how long does it stay good in the fridge?
You can make this a day ahead, but it only lasts about 2-3 days in the fridge before it gets a bit too liquidy… in our house is NEVER lasts longer anyway.