Orange Cream Fruit Salad is a delicious side dish made with oranges, pineapple & bananas topped with a sauce reminiscent of an orange creamsicle! Perfect fruit salad for Easter dinner!
Shared over 100,000 times on social media, this recipe is a hit! Check out the 5⭐️ reviews!
This Creamy Orange Fruit Salad has been a family favorite recipe for years. It’s primarily made with canned fruit, including mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits, which I usually have on hand. It comes together fast and everyone loves the creamy sauce it’s made with- it really does taste like a creamsicle!!
Why you should serve this fruit salad with oranges for Easter dinner
- It tastes FANTASTIC! You’ll love the bright fruit flavors.
- It’s special enough for a holiday menu. It’s not just plain fruit salad! The creamy topping made with frozen orange juice concentrate, milk, whipped topping and vanilla pudding mix takes it to a whole new level. Your guests will RAVE about it!
- Kids love it! Just like they enjoy a frozen creamsicle, they’ll love this jazzed up salad.
What kinds of fruit go in Orange Cream Fruit Salad?
I have made this fruit salad for family dinners, potlucks and we always have it on Easter. One of the things that I love about fruit salads is that you can so easily adapt them. This recipe is delicious with canned pineapple, mandarin oranges and bananas, but you can definitely add other fruits or swap any of those out. I’ve added grapes, apples, kiwi, strawberries and raspberries and all of them have tasted wonderful with the orange creamsicle coating.
What if my orange fruit salad is too soupy?
We’ve made this recipe dozens of times with successful results, yet we’ve gotten some comments that the salad is too soupy. Our advice is to reduce the milk to 3/4 cups initially and if the consistency is to thick for your liking, feel free to add more.
Can you replace the Cool Whip in fruit salad?
If you can’t find Cool Whip where you live or you prefer not to use it in recipes, you can use stabilized whipped cream instead. If you just use regular whipped cream, the consistency will be too light and the cream will not hold up very well when mixed into the jello salad. It’s very simple to make your own stabilized whipped cream and it just takes a few minutes!
How do you make stabilized whipped cream?
To make stabilized whipped cream, you will need the following ingredients:
- 4 ounces of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream.
- Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla until soft and smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream just until soft peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
A little tip for making whipped cream faster. Use a metal bowl for whipping the cream and place the bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you make the whipped cream. This will significantly decrease the amount of time that you will need to beat the whipped cream – the process will go much faster!
ORANGE CREAM FRUIT SALAD RECIPE
Ingredients
- 3 oz. pkg instant vanilla pudding mix
- ¾ cup-1 1/2 cups milk*
- ⅓ cup frozen orange juice concentrate
- 8 oz container Cool Whip
- 20 oz. can pineapple chunks or tidbits drained well
- 11 oz. can mandarin oranges drained well
- 2 bananas sliced
Instructions
- Combine pudding mix, milk and orange juice concentrate in a mixing bowl.
- Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes and then fold in the Cool Whip. Gently mix in the fruit and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours until ready to serve.
- Gently mix in the canned fruit and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours until ready to serve. Feel free to add more fruit. I often add more oranges or bananas, and sometimes I add strawberries and mini marshmallows too. If you are adding apples and/or bananas, wait until just before serving to add them. Enjoy!!
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How do you store fruit salad?
This particular fruit salad recipe stores very well in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, but is not ideal for freezing. There really is no need to freeze this recipe because you can make it so quickly! I usually make this jello salad several hours, or even the day before I am planning to serve it, because I like the way that the flavors of the fruit mix and become a little bit stronger. I have also served the salad just a few minutes after making it and it is still delicious!
Is this fruit salad recipe healthy?
Anytime you add a glaze to fruit, you are adding a bit of sugar and some extra calories. One way to make this fruit salad recipe a little bit healthier is to add more fruit, but keep the amount of orange glaze the same. Double the amount of fruit in the salad and the orange glaze will more lightly coat the fruit to give you that amazing creamy orange flavor with less sugar and calories.
Can I use Greek Yogurt instead of Cool Whip?
Yes! I’ve made this salad so many times, but recently decided to change it up just a little bit and I’m loving the new version! I swapped the Cool Whip out with vanilla Greek yogurt and added some strawberries too – make sure to take a peek at our Creamy Orange Fruit Salad, a new, yogurt-based version of this recipe here!
In the mood for an Orange Creamsicle? Try these!
- You can serve this Orange Creamsicle Fruit Dip for Easter too! I love making fruit dips because those who enjoy them can opt in, and those who don’t can eat plain fruit!
- We adore these little Orange Creamsicle cake bites! Perfect for a potluck as they’re 1 or 2 bite treats.
- You’ll love the creamy layers in this Orange Creamsicle Poke Cake.
- This easy, no bake Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake is always a good idea!
Bonnie says
I drain my fruit in a strainer for about 2 hours I also only used 3/4 cups of the milk and it turned out awesome.
Nellie says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Maria Browne says
Hi what could u use instead of cool whip or where do u buy that please
Nellie says
You could use 2 cups of sweetened whipped cream instead. Or here is a modified version of this recipe that doesn’t require cool whip – you actually use Greek yogurt instead. https://butterwithasideofbread.com/creamy-orange-fruit-salad/
Sheila says
Hi, I made this salad for supper, my husband declared that is was delicious but should be a dessert instead of salad. I didn’t have concentrated OJ, so instead of milk and OJ, I used 1 Cup of Tropicana Juice. The consistency turned out great. I drained my pineapple and oranges and let them sit in a strainer while mixing the pudding and OJ. I didn’t have any problem with it being to soupy. I also use bulk ingredients and used a 1/2 cup of pudding mix for my base. Do want to try it with jello sometime.
Jessica says
So glad you both enjoyed it Sheila!
Alies Richardson says
I doubled the recipe for a group of 40 and it was enough, but it was eaten up! The group LOVED it and I received many compliments of how good it was. It was easy and cheap for a crowd. I added bananas and mini marshmallows, and topped with another can of mandarin oranges right before serving. Yum!
Alison says
Alies, I love what you added to the salad, it all sounds so yummy! Thank you for your kind words, I am so glad everyone was pleased with it!
MaryP says
I was fine with this until I saw cool whip. A very bad choice. Ugh. Use real cream or leave it out. You can always add a little cream cheese.
Nellie says
You can definitely use real whipped cream if you prefer!
Cindy says
How many people does this feed? I’m going to make this for Thanksgiving. Sounds fabulous!
Nellie says
Cindy – I think that you could easily plan on it feeding 10-12 people. Especially on Thanksgiving when there are so many other foods that need to fit on the plate!
JJ says
Thank you for posting this recipe! I made this for 2 Christmases and then the recipe got buried. Hadn’t put OJ in it. Will try it. Love it
Noreen Barnett says
these recipes look so good and will be great for summer potluck get togethers – Thanks
Penny says
Delicious! I drained the fruit for a while to reduce the liquid, only used 3/4 cup milk and then made my own c**l whip with cream. Its gonna be a hit at Easter brunch!
Jessica says
Great ideas!!
Rosemarie says
YUM…I had a very old version of this but it called for orange sherbert which I can’t seem to find anymore. Thanks for another delicious post.
Nicole says
Your version sounds great, sorry to read that you cant find it, I’m sure it was delicious. Glad you liked this recipe though!
Steve says
Will be making this soon!