This delicious Cherry Fruit Salad recipe was originally called “pink salad” but I changed it to cherry fruit salad to better reflect what kind of salad this is. Yes, it is pink, but it’s more than just pink! It has a delicious and creamy, cream cheese and cool whip base with fruit cocktail, pineapple, maraschino cherries, walnuts and marshmallows thrown in.

Follow Me On Instagram!

It is really spectacular and sweet enough to be a dessert. Almost everyone who tries this recipe wants a copy. It’s really easy and quick to assemble, too. I recommend leaving it in the refrigerator overnight if that’s a possibility. That way the flavors can mingle with the creamy base.

I love looking through my cookbook and reminiscing about the people who gave me each individual recipe. This recipe was given to my by one of my favorite friends in the early 1980s. Bonnie Rodriguez was a gal who mentored me in cooking, hospitality, and the Christian faith. She loved to try new recipes and I can’t remember any of them failing.

She was the one who spurred me on to trying more recipes out of cookbooks and magazines — recipes that I had never tasted before — rather than just relying on recipes I had sampled. Bonnie brought this salad to a potluck in the very early 1980s and it was an instantaneous hit with our family!

Cherry Fruit Salad has been one of John’s favorite recipes through the decades, too. Many times he would prefer a bowl of this delicious salad over dessert. Anytime we took home leftovers he would have them gone in no time! Part of the reason for that is he loves pineapple, and this recipe has pineapple in it!

I used fresh pineapple this time because I was trying to use it up, and the maraschino cherries that we had on hand were pitted and sliced so that saved a good bit of time on prep work. This is a great salad to take to potlucks, barbecues, block parties, or even family reunions. Because it uses mostly canned ingredients it can be made in the winter time as well, when fresh fruits are not so readily available. I think you’ll love this recipe. We sure do.

When I first posted this recipe in September 2012, I had only been blogging about three months. My first 200 or so posts were taken with an iPhone 3 camera which, while they provided a picture, the pictures were still of a blurry, grainy quality and many times on the dark side as well.

This recipe has always been so popular on my blog I decided to remake it and take pictures again (April 2015) when we had a potluck for our Sunday school class last week. This lovely salad also makes a great side dish for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and since you make it night before, it can really be a time saver in preparation time.

Cherry Fruit Salad is a fabulous, fluffy salad recipe. One of our all-time favorites!

Here’s a quick peek at this yummy “pink” salad.

Cherry Fruit Salad is a great side dish for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients.

Soften cream cheese. Put in a bowl with powdered sugar, non-dairy whipped topping, red food coloring and 5 tablespoons fruit cocktail juice.

Mix all the ingredients with an electric mixer. Yes, it’s going to be a “pink” salad.

Add drained pineapple, drained fruit cocktail, marshmallows and nuts. Rinse and drain maraschino cherries. Pat dry and add to bowl with pink cream cheese mixture. 

Stir ingredients with a wooden spoon to combine. Garnish with more cherries, if desired.

Cherry Fruit Salad is sweet enough to serve as a dessert!

Here’s a serving for you!

Here’s the recipe.

CHERRY FRUIT SALAD

(Recipe adapted from Bonnie Rodriguez, when we attended First Baptist Church Indian Rocks, Largo, FL; Bonnie referred to this as “Pink Salad.”)

This fruity salad is great to take to potlucks because you can make it the day beforehand.

Doesn’t Cherry Fruit Salad look luscious?

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Taffy Apple Salad

Pistachio Fruit Fluff Salad

Pink Fluff