Cranberry Jello Salad is a sweet-tart dessert salad loaded with crushed pineapple, chopped pecans, cranberries and a tangy cream cheese topping! It’s perfect to serve for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, or any night of the year!
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It’s pretty well established that I love a good jello like this cherry pineapple jello salad, triple layer Christmas jello, apricot jello salad, or this lemon pineapple jello with pineapple whipped cream topping. If jello isn’t your thing, I’m sorry. Maybe you would like to try this fresh green bean casserole instead!
But it should really be no surprise to long-time readers of this blog that I would be all about a cranberry jello salad with cream cheese topping and chopped pecans sprinkled over the top. I love the flavors and textures going on in this sweet side dish, from the creamy topping to the crunchy filling to the jiggly gelatin!
Make it with fresh homemade cranberry sauce or just use the canned stuff – whichever you prefer.
If you love cranberry desserts, be sure not to miss my cranberry orange bread and fresh cranberry shortbread bars that make a beautiful addition to any cookie plate! Or create a showstopping holiday dessert with my festive cranberry coconut cake that is decorated with sugared cranberries!
I know that this recipe for cranberry salad is really more of a dessert and not a salad, but I’m not going to let that stop me from enjoying a slice of this sweet-tart deliciousness with my meal! If you want a real salad, definitely try this winter pear, pomegranate & swiss salad with poppy seed dressing!
How to Make Cranberry Jello Salad
All it takes to prep a cranberry Jell-O salad is a few minutes to dissolve a couple of packages of gelatin into hot water and then stir in the other ingredients. Give it a couple of hours to set, then mix up the sour cream and cream cheese topping to spread on top before sprinkling with nuts and slicing to serve with your favorite holiday meal or Sunday dinner.
Like many jello dishes, cutting a clean slice isn’t always easy, but nobody will care once they take their first bite!
Even More Thanksgiving Recipes to Add to Your Holiday Menu
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
- Lion House Dinner Rolls
- Easy Southern Cornbread Dressing
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Cranberry Jello Salad
Ingredients
Cranberry Jello
- 2 (3-ounce) pkgs. cherry Jell-O (or raspberry or cranberry, if you can find it)
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 20 ounces crushed pineapple (do not drain the juice)
- 1 (15-ounce) can whole cranberry sauce (or 2 cups homemade cranberry sauce)
- 1 cup chopped pecans divided
- 3/4 cup cranberry or apple juice
Topping
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
Cranberry Jello
- Add both packets of Jell-O to the boiling water in a large bowl, stirring until completely dissolved.2 (3-ounce) pkgs. cherry Jell-O, 1 ½ cups boiling water
- Stir in the crushed pineapple (juice and all) and whole cranberry sauce, using the back of the stirring spoon to break up any chunks of cranberry sauce a bit against the side of the bowl.20 ounces crushed pineapple, 1 (15-ounce) can whole cranberry sauce
- Add in ¾ cup of the chopped pecans and the cranberry or apple juice and stir to combine, then carefully pour into a 9×13-inch glass dish or jello mold and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.1 cup chopped pecans, ¾ cup cranberry or apple juice
Topping
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese on high speed with an electric mixer until smooth.8 ounces cream cheese
- Add the powdered sugar and sour cream and mix well until completely combined, then spread over the top of the set Jell-O.½ cup powdered sugar, 1 cup sour cream
- Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup of chopped pecans, then serve.
Can this be frozen?
Hmmm after it thaws I would be worried that it would get watery and clumpy. I don’t think I would recommend freezing this. It is good in the fridge for a couple of days. If you do decide to make ahead I would wait until a couple hours before you serve to put the cream cheese topping on.
Could you use jellied cranberry with the jello and no pineapple? So, more like a cranberry jello with the topping per noted above? My kids aren’t huge fans of chunks in jello. Wondered about this since a few other comments noted the jello not setting up properly. Thanks!!
Yes it should be fine with the jellied cranberry and you can leave the pineapple out.
I’ve been making this for years from my mom’s recipe. Everything is the same but it uses ginger ale instead of cranberry juice and we’ve used cranberry or cherry jello instead of raspberry.
Yum! Sounds great!
I just made this today and left the cream cheese off until ready to serve. I substituted the juice with cranberry ginger ale since that is what I had in the house. I think it looks delicious
Sounds great Barbara! I am sure it will be delicious.
I’ve made this several times and it didn’t set up, so I cut the apple juice down to 1/2 cup.
Set up much better.
It does not mention cranberries in the list of Ingredients. Does it call for these since it shows them in the picture.
The cranberries in the pictures are there for aesthetic purposes. Making it look festive! 🙂 The cranberry flavors come from the canned whole cranberry sauce and/or cranberry juice.
Yummy and easy to make. I let mine set overnight which turned out great.
Wayyy too much liquid to set properly. I left in the fridge over 24 hours and still not set. Tasted great but disappointed in the liquidy texture
Very, very delicious. Easy to make. Thank you so much.
Thank you!
I will be buying extra cranberries to freeze so I can make this all year long. Making the homemade cranberry sauce is a must.
Good idea! I like to stock up with cranberries as well!
I’ve made this before but because I’m lazy. I just mixed it all together. Delicious and a whole lot easier that icing the top of the jello layer. Yummy
Sounds delicious!
About 48 years ago up in West Virginia an elderly lady gave me the recipe for this, but she used Ginger ale and hers instead of the juice of the pineapple but I tried it your way today and we’ll see how that goes. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna taste just as delicious. Thank you for all the recipes that you put for for all of us to use.
I like the idea of using ginger ale! I’m happy my recipes are helpful to people! I do try my best!
Made as instructions stated and it did not set up after hours. It was completely liquid. I mixed up another fill box of jello with 1.5 cup of water and then mixed the entire mess together. It lightly set after this. I do NOT recommend keeping the pineapple liquid. Squeeze it dry.
This recipe has been my favorite for 3 Thanksgivings. It continues to be complimented by my guests!
Thanks Heather! I am so happy it has continued to be a favorite! It is quite delicious.
I made this for the first time this year with my homemade cranberry sauce. Everyone loved it and my husband declared it his favorite jello dessert of all time (and that’s a lot of church potluck competion)
I did use raspberry jello and topped it with fresh raspberries sprinkled on top with the pecans.
Made it just like you said. It was awesome. That topping is so good.
Thank you John!