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    The Yummy Bowl » Recipes » Desserts

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad Recipe

    Oct 11, 2022 · Modified: Dec 6, 2022 by Julia | The Yummy Bowl · This post contains affiliate links · 1 Comment

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    Millionaire Cranberry Salad Pinterest

    A colorful blend of fresh cranberries, fluffy mini marshmallows, crunchy nuts, and juicy pineapple in one salad. We love making Millionaire Cranberry Salad for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and special occasions. Especially if we want to wow our guests with an extra fantastic dish.

    It is almost like Ambrosia Salad, but with a few substitutions and add-ons. Oh, and in terms of flavor, it’s nothing like Ambrosia, it’s better!

    Although some folks can find those ingredients uncommon to be mixed in one dish, the sweet and tart combination simply ''works'' in this recipe. And no cool whip or cream cheese is needed!

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad

    I would describe this millionaire salad as ultra fluffy, cool, creamy, fruity, and refreshing with a little crunch here and there.

    Easy to make ahead and a good candidate for meal prep. You’ll need to combine all the ingredients and let them chill for 3 hours before ready to serve. Don’t skip this step, this is what makes this salad that remarkable. You’ll see!

    This may be not the healthiest salad recipe on this blog, but let me tell you, it tastes spectacular (and looks too!)

    There are so many of you, different readers, here at the Yummy Bowl - some of you like to get straight to the recipe ingredients and instructions, and some of you love reading the full information with tips and tricks that I provide for the recipe.

    There is a skip to recipe button in the top left corner along with a clickable table of contents list (just below) that will quickly take you to the part you are more interested in. Enjoy!

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Tips
    • Freezing And Storing Instructions
    • More Cranberry Recipes
    • Easy Dessert Recipes
    • Millionaire Cranberry Salad Recipe

    Colorful salads are totally my jam. From Mediterranean Cucumber Salad, Chickpea Salad to Cucumber Strawberry Salad - those readers' favorites have been our go-to salads for any occasion.

    Today we are going to make something insanely delicious by combining fruit instead of veggies, and marshmallows, and topping up with tangy-sweet homemade cranberry sauce.

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad

    Ingredients

    My few comments on the ingredients + don't forget to read the Tips section!

    The full recipe and ingredients can be found in the recipe card below this post.

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad Ingredients
    • Yogurt - can sub with sour cream at least 20% fat. This can be also substituted with the cool whip but the texture will be different and the recipe will have more calories in it.
    • Pineapple - if you can get a plain, with no-sugar-added canned pineapple, is better. But even a fresh one could work. Substitute with sweet fruit, mandarin oranges, apples, and even bananas. We sometimes love to use grapes instead or in addition to pineapples.
    • The more fruit, the merrier - the star of the show here is obviously cranberry. The sauce is based on cranberries, orange juice with a touch of cinnamon. The tangy and tart flavor of these berries helps to balance the sweetness from other ingredients. However you can substitute with: mixed berries, blueberries, lingonberries, blackcurrants or red currants (very close flavor to cranberries but sweeter, if you can find those of course). Fresh is better but as we are going to make a sauce out of berries, you can also use frozen.
    • Coconut is a refreshing tropical add on, but it can be left out entirely. 
    • Crunchy nuts - Pecans, walnut or almonds add the needed crunch here and help to balance the sweet ingredients with their bitter flavor.

    Instructions

    This recipe has become one of our favorite desserts to serve on our holiday menu. It's different, fluffy, and creamy with bursting sweet and fruity flavors.

    whole cranberry sauce in a pot

    Make the homemade Cranberry sauce. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon.

    Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 12 minutes. Let the mixture cool completely. The sauce will thicken upon cooling).

    cranberry salad ingredients in a bowl before mixing

    In a large bowl add yogurt, juicy pineapple, marshmallows, walnuts, coconut.

    Pour in the cooled cranberry mixture (only about 1 ½ cups) and mix to combine. Let sit for 3 hours in the fridge. 

    In the end, you’ll be left with some extra cranberry sauce which you can use for pancakes, waffles, and cereals.

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad

    Serve the salad any time of year but it's more commonly enjoyed during the holiday season, at Christmas dinners.

    It's the perfect dish from the traditional classics, with a twist.

    Tips

    • It’s a great meal prep - it takes only 15 minutes to whip up and some chill time. Which is perfect because you’ll have enough time for casual entertaining and enjoying eating dinner. 
    • We like to complete any festive dinner with this fruit dessert salad (which it actually is) but I know some folks just like to serve this as a side dish together with main course. This is however not my vibe at all and I would still call it a dessert salad.

    Chilling time is necessary. It helps the soft marshmallows to increase in size and absorb the sauce. After cooling the salad becomes fluffy and more delicious. Just don’t ‘’over chill’’ this.

    • For this creamy cranberry salad, I like to keep the cranberries whole, but you can puree the sauce once it’s cooked in a food processor or an immersion blender. If you gonna puree this, use more cranberries or reduce the orange juice so the sauce is not too runny in the end. 
    Millionaire Cranberry Salad

    Freezing And Storing Instructions

    Properly sealed and stored his salad will be good in the fridge for 1-2 days.

    No freezing is recommended. Fruit and creamy dressing just don’t freeze well. Fruit will become soggy, flavor will be off and yogurt become runny.

    More Cranberry Recipes

    For more festive recipes be sure to take a look at our Christmas recipes.

    • Cranberry Orange Mini Loaves
    • Cranberry Sauce With Mandarin Oranges
    • Roasted Butternut Squash With Cranberries
    • Almond Cranberry Tart

    Easy Dessert Recipes

    We also love making these chewy delicious gluten free chocolate chip cookies with peppermint during holidays (and not only!).

    ALL DESSERT recipes.

    • Coconut Caramel Sauce
      Coconut Caramel Sauce Recipe (Vegan Caramel)
    • Gluten Free Apple Cobbler
    • Fried Apples With Cinnamon
    • pumpkin caramel sauce in a jar with drizzles of sauce on edges over the glass
      Pumpkin Caramel Sauce

    I hope you'll enjoy this millionaire cranberry salad recipe, please leave a rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo of your food and tag me on Instagram @theyummy_bowl. I love seeing your creations!

    Thank you for reading,

    Love,

    Julia

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad

    Millionaire Cranberry Salad Recipe

    A colorful blend of fresh cranberries, fluffy mini marshmallows, crunchy nuts, and juicy pineapple in one salad. We love making Millionaire Cranberry Salad for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and special occasions. Especially if we want to wow our guests with an extra fantastic dish. It is almost like Ambrosia Salad, but with a few substitutions and add-ons. Oh, and in terms of flavor, it’s nothing like Ambrosia, it’s better!
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Pin
    Author: Julia | The Yummy Bowl
    Course: Dessert, Salad
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Chill Time: 3 hours
    Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
    Servings: 8 servings
    Calories: 487kcal

    INGREDIENTS

    For Salad

    • 2 cups plain greek yogurt
    • 2 cups canned pineapple
    • 2 cups mini marshmallows I used tri-color
    • 1 cup walnuts chopped or pecans, almonds
    • 2 cups coconut flakes

    For Cranberry Sauce

    • 3 cups fresh cranberries
    • ¾ cup sugar
    • 1 cup orange juice
    • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

    INSTRUCTIONS

    • Homemade Cranberry sauce. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 12 minutes. Let the mixture cool completely. The sauce will thicken upon cooling).
    • In a large bowl add yogurt, juicy pineapple, marshmallows, nuts, coconut. Pour in the cooled cranberry mixture (only about 1 ½ cups) and mix to combine. Let sit 3 hours in the fridge.
    • In the end you’ll be left with some extra cranberry sauce which you can use for pancakes, waffles, and cereals.
    • Serve the salad any time of year but it's more commonly enjoyed during the holiday season, at Christmas dinners. It's the perfect dish from the traditional classics, with a twist.
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    Nutrition Facts
    Millionaire Cranberry Salad Recipe
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 487 Calories from Fat 216
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 24g37%
    Saturated Fat 13g81%
    Trans Fat 0.003g
    Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
    Monounsaturated Fat 6g
    Cholesterol 3mg1%
    Sodium 40mg2%
    Potassium 552mg16%
    Carbohydrates 65g22%
    Fiber 7g29%
    Sugar 52g58%
    Protein 9g18%
    Vitamin A 189IU4%
    Vitamin C 61mg74%
    Calcium 96mg10%
    Iron 1mg6%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    (Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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    Comments

    1. Julia | The Yummy Bowl

      October 11, 2022 at 9:06 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious creamy and fruity holiday cranberry salad.

      Reply

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    I'm Julia and welcome to The Yummy Bowl. I share easy and healthy recipes for the whole family. Everything you see here is Gluten-free and mostly made with whole food ingredients. Hope you enjoy! Love, Julia

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