Easy Ambrosia Recipe with Sour Cream

Easy ambrosia recipe for you that just takes a few ingredients and is really yummy. Dessert side dish with fruit and marshmallows our whole family loves. If you loved our pistachio pudding ambrosia creamy fruit salad this is an Old Fashioned Southern variation.

How to Make Ambrosia Salad

It’s quite simple with fruit, coconut and sour cream! I quickly realized after the first year I brought it to an event, it wasn’t something that everyone made. I brought it the every year after that, it was a HIT! If you’ve been looking for how to make this sweet pineapple mandarin oranges with mini marshmallows dish, we’ve got it.

Fruit Salad with Coconut

You can use fresh pineapple but typically I use canned (chunks or bits) so I can throw it all together in less than 5 minutes. Serve it right away or better yet leave it in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.

• There are seriously only 5 ingredients to this classic ambrosia salad recipe.
• Throw it all together in a serving bowl, let it chill and you can even serve it with a dollop of cool whip on top. Now that’s an easy dessert for the holidays.

The fruit cocktail, marshmallows and coconut soak up the “juice” and thicken it up which makes this ambrosia even more amazing!

What kind of fruit is an ambrosia?

If you want to cut a pineapple with a fresh one you could, into small pieces though. Yes canned works but during the summertime it is better to cut it from fresh.

• Pineapple – I like tidbits rather than chunks (drained but keep about 1/4 c. of the juice to add to your recipe)
• Mandarin oranges
• Plain white or fruit flavored marshmallows
• Sweetened shredded coconut
• Sour cream
  • could substitute greek yogurt if you really wanted

Can you make ambrosia with Cool Whip?

You could, it would just be sweeter like our Easy Fruit Salad with Cool Whip. The “sauce” would not be as rich and thick either. Believe me as it sits with the sugars in the fruit juice and marshmallows it becomes just perfect.

Ambrosia Ingredients

The main items are above and you can just leave it at that, many times we will. If you wanted to add extra wow or a bit of texture there are a few ideas below.

• Chopped walnuts
  • Maraschino cherries and coconut together are great
• Whipped cream can be added to top of each serving
• You could cut a pear or peach to add some fresh pieces

You can use less or more coconut. Or leave it out if it isn’t your favorite, I’m kinda’ obsessed though. I have used light sour cream and regular and there isn’t too much of a difference so if you want to save a few calories just use the light version.

What does Ambrosia taste like?

If you think sour cream would taste weird with fruit, it isn’t what you’d think. With all the sweet juices it just makes this thick but isn’t the traditional taste straight out of the container. Tastes more like heavy cream in this dish. You can omit the marshmallows too but quite frankly that is the kids’ favorite part and you can call it dessert if you want.

It is sweet enough and my kids have opted for an ambrosia dessert rather than ice cream before. A great side dish for any BBQ or occasion. If you love our easy ambrosia recipe you should try our creamy fruit salad with Cool Whip too. A bit different but a similar idea though using fresh fruit and the dressing is a bit different.

Why is it called ambrosia?

The word “ambrosia” actually means delicious or fragrant. The word also was used to describe the magical fruit of the gods in ancient Greek mythology. The Gods on Mount Olympus ate ambrosia to maintain immortality and without it they became weak. It is also said that the gods bathed in ambrosia and used it as perfume. Who knew??

Can I make fruit salad the night before?

Since ambrosia doesn’t contain fresh berries that can smash, or apples that can brown you can. I personally prefer to make this first thing in the morning, cover it, and leave it in the fridge all day. It gets sweeter that way. If you want to thin it out before serving just add a bit of pineapple juice.

• For fresh salads, you could cut and slice pieces the day/night before. Bananas are best left out of fruit salads, as they get “slickery”.
• Once cut, rinse white fruits in an acid liquid such as orange or pineapple juice or fresh squeezed lemonade to reduce browning.

Below is a printable recipe card for you too. Nutritional information with saturated fat etc are listed below but seriously, it’s the holidays. Just enjoy it and ignore all that boring stuff. 😉 Here’s a peek at that other version we have made with the addition of instant pudding. You could use any flavor.