5 Cup Salad is a wonderful fruit salad recipe that has lots of great flavor and texture. It’s packed with fruit and flaked coconut, but the secret is in the creamy sauce. It adds the perfect tang to compliment this sweet salad.
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When my mom would make fruit salad when I was a kid, sometimes she would reserve the juice that she drained off from the cans of fruit and let us drink it.
Key to Success #1 – Drain the Juice
It would usually be several different flavors mixed – so fun to try!
With this 5 Cup Salad, you want to be sure you drain the mandarin oranges and the pineapple well so that your salad doesn’t become soggy.
Key to Success #2 – Make It Creamy (aka The Secret Sauce)
I know that you’re thinking that sour cream in a fruit salad does not sound good, but trust me – it is!
Sour cream adds the perfect tang to balance out all the sweetness in the fruit and the marshmallows.
You can use light sour cream in this recipe if you’d prefer.
It works just as well.
Key to Success #3 – Serve it up Cold
This perfect 5 Cup Fruit Salad is best served cold.
You can either make it a few hours in advance and stick it in the fridge.
Or you can stick the cans of fruit in the fridge and then stir the salad together at the last minute.
I like to do a little bit of both.
If I want to get things cold in a hurry, I’ll stick the cans of fruit in the freezer for a few minutes.
Just make sure you don’t leave them in the freezer too long or you’ll have a frozen fruit salad!
Have you ever tried 5 Cup Salad? Plain mini marshmallows or the colored marshmallows?
Save this 5 Cup Salad to your favorite Fruit Salad Board!
5 Cup Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup mandarin orange segments drained
- 1 cup crushed pineapple drained
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
- In medium bowl, combine all ingredients except mandarin oranges. Stir well.
- Gently fold in orange segments so that they don't get crushed and broken.
- Serve cold.