Creamy Pomegranate Fruit Salad made with pomegranates, fruit and marshmallows is sure to become a favorite holiday side dish! This simple fruit salad recipe is perfect for fall – it’s been a family tradition to serve this for Thanksgiving for many years!
This recipe has been in our family for years and is made every year for our holiday dinners. The pomegranate seeds add a seasonal flavor and a wonderful crunch too. Plus, any salad that has marshmallows in it has to be good, right?!
One of the things that I love about this salad is that it isn’t overly sweet. You don’t add any sugar to the whipped cream, so all of the sweetness comes from the fruit (and the marshmallows).
How to cut a pomegranate
I avoided pomegranates for a lot of years because I was a bit intimidated. Not sure how to get it open and not sure how to get the seeds out. Turns out, it really isn’t that hard. There are a lot of different methods for removing the seeds, but here is the simplest one that I’ve found.
- Cut the pomegranate in half.
- 2. Put one half (cut side down) over a bowl and use a sturdy wooden spoon to whack the pomegranate several times. You have to whack kind of hard, but it works. You’ll hit the fruit a few times and then turn it a little bit and whack again, continuing until you’ve removed all of the seeds. There may be a little bit of pith that falls into the bowl, but you can easily remove that when you’re done.
Time saving cheats for using pomegranates
I have always gotten the seeds out of the pomegranates myself, but I just recently discovered that you can buy pomegranate seeds that are already extracted. If you buy the pomegranate seeds this way, this salad comes together even more quickly! Costco usually has pomegranate seeds in the fall and so do most grocery stores.
Creamy Pomegranate Fruit Salad Ingredients
Whipping cream – Regular or heavy cream will work. Placing a metal bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before whipping the cream will speed up the process by quite a bit.
Shredded coconut – Sounds complicated but no actual coconuts or shredding is involved. Just buy a bag of shredded coconut in the baking aisle – it’s usually right by the chocolate chips and other yummy stuff. You can leave the coconut out if you really don’t like it, but you should definitely try it even if you don’t normally like coconut.
Pomegranates – You’ll need 2 of them. Just the seeds. You can cheat like I do and use pomegranate seeds that have already been extracted.
Crushed pineapple – A 20 ounce can (one of the big ones). Make sure to drain the pineapple before adding to the salad. This can most easily be done in a fine mesh strainer.
Mandarin oranges – Make sure to drain the oranges well and then cut each of them in half before adding to the salad.
Miniature marshmallows – The best part of any fruit salad, right?
Bananas – Slice the bananas and add them in right before serving. Bananas that are still pretty firm work best – try to avoid using any that are overly ripe.
How to make Creamy Pomegranate Fruit Salad
In a large bowl, beat the whipping cream with electric mixers until stiff peaks form.
Fold in all of the ingredients except for the bananas. Must be refrigerated until ready to serve.
Add bananas immediately before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Creamy Pomegranate Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 2 pomegranates seeds only
- 1 can 20 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 can 15 oz. mandarin oranges, drained and cut in half
- 3 cups miniature marshmallows
- 2 bananas sliced
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the whipping cream with electric mixers until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in all of the ingredients except for the bananas. Must be refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Add bananas immediately before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Nutrition
📫 Save this recipe! Send it to your email! 📩
I consent to receiving emails from this site.
HOW DO YOU WHIP CREAM?
Whipping cream is easy to do, especially if you know a little trick! Use a metal bowl and freeze it for at least 30 minutes before whipping the cream. This cuts so much time from the process! Before I learned this trick, it would take 8-10 minutes of beating the cream before it would get stiff, but now it only takes 3-4 minutes!
Place the whipping cream in the bowl immediately after removing the bowl from the freezer. Use an electric mixer turned up fairly high to beat the whipped cream. The whipped cream is ready when stiff peaks form as you lift up the beaters.
Make sure to use a fairly large bowl, even if you don’t have much cream – it does tend to splatter if your bowl isn’t big enough! You can whip the cream a few hours or even a couple of days in advance – just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Want to try some more creamy fruit salads? Here are the best ones:
— Berries and Cream Fruit Salad
— Peaches and Cream Fruit Salad
— Raspberry Vanilla Jello Salad
— Creamy Cranberry Fruit Salad
Creamy Pomegranate Fruit Salad has been a favorite holiday side dish for many years. Perfect fruit salad recipe for Thanksgiving!
Katie says
Looks good, can’t wait to try this one!
Renee Goerger says
I’m always looking for new recipes for pomegranates. This one is a true winner. Thank you!
Asif nazir says
Excellent quick delius
Jessica says
thank you!
Terry Crylen says
Wow. That looks heavenly, I’d love to try this!