Cottage Cheese Jello Salad
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This creamy, dreamy Cottage Cheese Jello Salad is one of my favorite treats once the weather turns warm in the spring and summer. It’s perfect for potlucks, backyard barbecues, and family reunions!
This recipe has the potential to be the most divisive one I’ve posted here on House of Nash Eats. It seems to be one of those things you either love or you hate. I love it. My husband can’t stand the stuff. His loss, my gain, I say.
I grew up with this cottage cheese jello salad at every family reunion and potluck. I don’t remember it ever having a name – we just called it “the pink stuff” or “the orange stuff” depending on the color at the time. But it was always the offering I went back for over, and over, and over, loading up my plate with giant spoonfuls of the stuff.
I’m a HUGE fan of cottage cheese, especially with fruit. One of my favorite snacks since I was a kid was just a bowl of cottage cheese with sliced pears. It’s so good and quick and easy! And healthy too!
This is a perfect sweet treat for your Easter dinner table, but it’s great served all year long. We always had it for 4th of July, Labor Day BBQ’s, and any other potluck or family reunion gathering in Idaho where all my mom’s family is from.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Jello Salad
One of the best things about this quick and easy recipe is that you don’t even need to measure anything.
You literally just combine a can of drained crushed pineapple (don’t forget to drain the juice off or your salad will end up soupy), a carton of cottage cheese, and a box of your favorite Jello flavor.
Then fold in a tub of Cool Whip until combined and pop it in the fridge for an hour!
I would say it’s a one-bowl recipe, except I always mix it in a larger bowl, then transfer it to a smaller serving bowl for a cleaner, prettier presentation. I think this is best alongside a burger, chips, and baked beans. It really goes with anything, but those flavors are forever entwined in my memory of summertime!
More Fun Jello Recipes Everybody Loves
- Lemon Pineapple Jello with Whipped Cream Topping
- Orange Jello Salad with Pudding Whipped Cream
- Layered Rainbow Jello
- Cranberry Jello Salad with Cream Cheese Topping
- Coca-Cola Jello Salad
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Cottage Cheese Jello Salad
This creamy, dreamy Cottage Cheese Jello Salad is one of my favorite treats once the weather turns warm in the spring and summer. It's perfect for potlucks, backyard barbecues, and family reunions!
Ingredients
- 1 (3 oz.) package jello, any flavor
- 1 (15 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 (16 oz.) container cottage cheese
- 1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip, thawed
Instructions
- Combine cottage cheese, pineapple, and gelatin in a bowl, stirring well.
- Fold the Cool Whip in with the other ingredients until combined. Try not to overmix and deflate the Cool Whip.
- Transfer to a clean serving bowl, then cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Amount Per Serving: Calories: 170Saturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 276mgCarbohydrates: 26gSugar: 22gProtein: 8g
can you make a day ahead?
Yes, you can make it one day in advance.
Definitely! Just a little things we noticed, don’t double dip if you take a spoonful. Lol….we found out my brother has been doing that as this year we noticed it stayed fluffy for days if you don’t. Apparently the saliva on the double dip causes it to break down and get watery.
How many servings would you guess?
Sorry about that! Looks like some of the data didn’t transfer when I updated my recipe card recently. It’s 8 servings (and I’ve fixed the errors now!).
Can you use sugar free jello?
Sure!
I used orange jello powder, half as much cottage cheese, and accidentally got pineapple tidbits rather than crushed, but it turned out amazing!
Made this dessert for our book club meeting. I used sugar free jello and lite cool Whip. It was a big hit.
My mom and I have both always made this with fruit cocktail. Love this stuff!
My mother-in-law makes this for every family potluck. However, she adds chopped pecans to it. My husband loves it and it is the ONLY way I will eat cottage cheese!
“Dump Salad” is the ever-so-glorious name my family called this stuff. And we alllll love it. Except for maybe my husband who did not grow up with it, either. Oh well. Their loss!
LOL – I love that name!
We call it orange fluff! Been eating it for years
So excited to include this in our Easter dinner tonight! I love your justification for this as salad 😂😂 sounds logical to me!! Whipped it all up and added fresh strawberries, with extra pieces on top as a garnish! SO delish!!!
Just made this tonight I can’t wait for it to chill so I can have some . following you now thank you .
Jell-o reads point 3 oz
your directions read 3 oz?
Hmm, I just double checked and both the recipe and the box of jello in my cupboard say 3 ounces, not point 3 ounces.
The boxes that are 3 oz have sugar and the boxes with point 3 oz are sugar free, which work just fine. I use them all them all the time.
just made I’ve had it a long time ago at church potluck….loved it so much.. tks for the recipe
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Have you ever combined 2 jello flavors ?
I have not, but that sounds like an interesting idea! Like a fruit punch flavored version or something!
This is the recipe I was looking for! My Mom put the cottage cheese in the blender and made it smooth before putting in the cool whip and the fruit! Totally yummy, and any jello works. My favorite is lime jello!
I used cut fresh strawberries and whipped heavy cream instead of cool whip. Turned out so good.
Do you mix the jello as the package direction are with water?
No, it’s just the gelatin powder that gets added to the salad.