Pistachio Ambrosia Salad

Pistachio ambrosia salad is a colorful spin on more traditional ambrosia recipes. One example in the great Southern tradition of dessert salads, this ambrosia salad with pistachio can be served as a sweet side dish with the meal, or as a dessert afterwards.

Ambrosia is an easy, crowd-pleasing option for potlucks and other get-togethers. This recipe plays to that, making a batch that’s plenty big enough for everyone.

Pistachio Ambrosia Salad Ingredients

• Fruit cocktail: Fruit cocktail accounts for many of the salad’s flavors and textures.
• Pineapple chunks: Pineapple chunks bring a bright, bold tropical flavor to the salad.
• Mandarin oranges: Canned mandarin orange segments add an eye-pleasing golden color to the salad, along with their tangy-sweet flavor.
• Pistachio pudding: Pistachio pudding gives this salad its pale-green color and provides a subtle but distinct nutty flavor of its own.
• Sour cream: Sour cream’s tang provides a foil for the sweet pudding and the fruit.
• Whipped topping: Whipped topping lightens the pudding, and gives the entire salad an airy texture.
• Chopped pecans: Chopped pecans are optional, but they make an attractive garnish if you choose to use them.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the salad

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Drain the fruit cocktail, pineapple and mandarin oranges, reserving 3 cups of the juice. Set the fruit aside, then pour the juice into a 4-quart serving bowl. Add the pudding mix, and stir or whisk until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the sour cream. Add the whipped topping, and stir again until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the fruit.

Step 2: Chill then serve the salad

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Chill the ambrosia for several hours (at least four to six, and ideally overnight). If desired, top the salad with chopped pecans just before serving.

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Pistachio Ambrosia Salad Variations

• Add some coconut: Everyone has their preferences where ambrosia is concerned, but for many fans it’s just not ambrosia without coconut. Stirring in shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened, adds a pleasing textural contrast and lots of fiber. As recipe tweaks go, that’s an easy one.
• Change the pudding: While pistachio pudding gives this ambrosia its color and some of its flavor, other options are just as good. Switching to a strawberry-flavored pudding gives the ambrosia a beautiful pink color, for example (take one of each to a potluck!). Vanilla is always a safe choice, and banana- or coconut-flavored pudding will complement the tropical pineapple flavor.

How to Store Pistachio Ambrosia Salad

Any leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container.

How long will ambrosia keep?

As a rule, ambrosia will keep for up to three days in the fridge. If you’ve added fresh fruit into the mix, that may shorten its storage life depending on how perishable your chosen fruit is.

Can I make ambrosia ahead of time?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, making ambrosia a day in advance is ideal, because it allows plenty of time for the salad to chill and set.

Pistachio Ambrosia Salad Tips

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Can I use whipped cream instead of whipped topping?

Yes, and it’s a nice upgrade if you do. Real homemade sweetened whipped cream packs a lot of calories, of course, but it tastes better than whipped topping and has fewer additives. The only downside is that it deflates quickly, so it’s best if you stabilize your cream with gelatin.

Isn’t ambrosia supposed to have mini-marshmallows?

“Supposed to” is perhaps a bit strong. A lot of recipes call for them, and in some families they’re considered indispensable, but not everyone cares for them. The easy answer? If you like them, add some. Otherwise leave them out.

Can I swap out the sour cream?

Yes, plain yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream and it’s much lower in fat. A thick, Greek-style yogurt is best.

It’s ambrosia salad with pistachio, so shouldn’t the garnish be pistachios?

Pecans are a regionally-appropriate topping for this Southern favorite. That said, if you have some pistachios on hand, by all means use them. They’re a more colorful garnish, and they reinforce the flavor of the pistachio pudding. It’s a good way to use up a small handful of nuts left over from making other pistachio recipes.

Would this be better with fresh fruit?

That’s a tough call. Canned fruit is predictable, and it will maintain its texture when mixed into ambrosia salad. Fresh fruit on the other hand varies in ripeness and perishability, so you’d have to pick and choose. Sliced strawberries only last a day, for example, and they shed a lot of moisture. If you make your ambrosia a day ahead, they’ll already be softening and breaking down by the time you serve it. On the other hand things like grapes, fresh pineapple or ripe pears hold up well. You’ll certainly get a fresher flavor with fresh fruit, so it’s worth the experiment. It’s prudent to cut down the recipe and do a test run with a smaller batch before you commit to a full recipe, in case it doesn’t work out.