By: Jill Mills Posted: Nov 23, 2025

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This Cranberry Fluff Salad is a blend of chopped cranberries, crushed pineapple and mini marshmallows tossed in a sweetened whipped cream cheese mixture.

If you’re ready to try a new twist on cranberry sauce or traditional ambrosia salad, our Cranberry Fluff Salad recipe will be right up your alley. It’s so pretty and delicious! This is the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or any Holiday meal. I love cranberry recipes and this is one of my favorites along with Cranberry Apple Coleslaw, Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad, Cranberry Shortbread Cookies, and Cranberry Chicken to name a few.

Why You’ll Love This Cranberry Fluff Salad

Quick and Easy – This festive side dish is made with just a handful of ingredients and comes together in just 10 minutes, with no baking.
Easily Customizable – The ingredients and amounts are they way we love this sweet salad, but it’s very forgiving for you to adjust the sweetness make your own variations/additions (see the notes below).
Holiday Favorite – This Cranberry Fluff recipe is now a staple for Thanksgiving and sometimes we make this for Christmas. The entire family loves it!

Ingredients Needed

Here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious sweet salad (the exact measurements and full recipe instructions are below in the easy to print recipe card):

Canned crushed pineapple – Drain the pineapple before mixing in..
Fresh cranberries – Rinse and dry the cranberries before adding if they aren’t already prewashed from the bag.
Granulated sugar – The cranberries and pineapple are quite tart, so the sugar helps balance the sweetness.
Miniature marshmallows – If you don’t have mini marshmallows you can use regular-sized marshmallows and cut them into small pieces.
Pecans – Chop the pecans well. They add great crunch to the salad, but they are optional if you prefer no nuts.
Cool Whip – Thaw completely before using.

How to Make Cranberry Fluff Salad

Place the fresh cranberries into a food processor and pulse until chopped (not pureed).
Tip: if you’re using a blender you may find it more difficult to get the ingredients to break down. In this case, you may need to add a little of the pineapple juice or water to give the blender enough liquid to blend the ingredients together.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, mix in the sugar and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and then fold in the whipped cream, pineapple and mini marshmallows.
Refrigerate the Cranberry Fluff until ready to serve giving it 2-4 hours to chill. Garnish with chopped pecans and fresh cranberries if desired.

Tips and Variations

Cranberries – You can use frozen cranberries for this recipe if you prefer. Just ensure they’re thawed before mixing them in.

Sweetener – Taste the cranberry fluff before serving and if it’s still too sour for your taste, add more sugar until you like the level of sweetness. Also feel free to use a sugar replacement like Stevia.

Additions – Try adding some flaked coconut to the salad or manderine oranges would also be a great choice.

Nuts – You can leave the nuts out completely. If you’re not a fan of pecans, try walnuts or slivered almonds.

Garnish Ideas – Before serving the salad, you may want to add some garnish to the top. Here are some ideas:

Cropped pecans
Fresh cranberries
Mini marshmallows
Flaked coconut
Toasted coconut
Wedges of fresh pineapple

a big spoonful of cranberry fluff taken out of the serving bowl.

Storing

Keep the leftover cranberry fluff in an airtight food storage container. Store in the refrigerator for up to three days and stir well before serving again.

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