Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello

The best Jello salad recipe! Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello is stuffed with goodness and topped with a cream cheese topping! It’s a holiday must-have for my family! 

Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello Salad Recipe

I’m usually not much of a Jello person but I make my Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello every Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and it is so good! I just can never get enough! My sweet grandmother taught me this recipe when I was about 13 and having Thanksgiving with her in Arizona.  It was the first time I has Jello salad and wow was it amazing! I loved all the textures and the creamy topping!  She passed away in April so I decided I needed to revamp my post for this recipe.  The first time I posted this recipe (I’ve updated it a little here) it was in 2010 and oh goodness my photos were terrible!  If you need a good laugh check out Grandma’s Jello!

Holiday Jello Salad

This is a holiday recipe in my family only because it has fresh cranberries in it.  The tartness of the berries balances out the sweetness of the jello and I love the texture of the fresh berries. Most cranberry Jello salad recipes call for cranberry sauce… no thanks! I’ll stick with my fresh berries! Just roughly crush them in a food processor or a little at a time using a blender.  You’ll add those, a can of crushed pineapple, cold water and walnuts (optional) before letting the Jello set.

You’ll notice I use raspberry jello and strawberry jello.  I sometimes swap in cranberry jello when I can find it or I will use all raspberry jello!  Strawberry is just too sweet to me, but you can pick whatever red Jellos your family prefers!

How to Make the perfect Jello Salad

Jello Salad can be tricky to get to look pretty! If you saw my old post I linked to you understand!  I wanted part of this update to make it look as good as it tastes! I even experimented by making it in a bundt pan!  It’s very pretty in the Bundt but I will say it’s much trickier to serve.  I’ll probably stick with the casserole dish version and the added fresh strawberries on top is a new must for me, they taste so good with Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello!

The trick to spreading on the topping is to place a few dollops all around the jello and then “connect” them by spreading them together!

Mmm… I love having a slice of this Jello on my plate every Thanksgiving.

How pretty is this Jello in a bundt pan? I just piped on the topping instead of spreading it on!

I hope you love my Grandma’s Cranberry Pineapple Jello as much as I do!

4.5 from 2 votes

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Grandma's Cranberry Pineapple Jello

Servings 15

Ingredients

• 1 large pkg raspberry jello
• 1 small pkg strawberry or raspberry jello
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, with juice
• 8 oz bag fresh cranberries chopped
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped optional

Topping:

• 12 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped optional

Instructions

1. Pour jello packages into 9X11 casserole dish (or large bundt pan) and add boiling water.  Stir until jello is dissolved. (You can pinch the liquid and if you feel any grains between your fingers keep stirring.)

2. Add cold water, crushed pineapple with juice, chopped cranberries (I'll chop them in a blender or food processor), and walnuts.  Stir.

3. Let set in fridge for at least 4 hours.

4. Topping: Using a stand mixer or hand beater combine all ingredients until smooth.  Spread evenly over firm Jello and top with fresh strawberries!