Cranberry Pomegranate Salad
This delicious cranberry pomegranate jello salad is loaded with cranberries, pomegranate arils, pineapple and apples. And that creamy, sweet topping is so good!
I was introduced to this amazing “salad” late last year, and it has become a fast favorite. Not only is it festive and perfect for the holidays, but it is really, really delicious.
The best (and bittersweet) part is that it reminds me of my sweet friend, Holli, who passed away earlier this year. It’s her mother-in-law, Sylvia’s, family favorite recipe.
Holli was the one that insisted I needed to try it, adamantly saying it was “the only jello” she would eat (and that she looked forward to it all year). One taste and I fell in love, too. So many textures! So many flavors! It is fantastic.
Jello: Love it or Hate it?
Jello is a polarizing topic. I find people either love it or hate it. And it definitely inspires a lot of strong feelings (I saw this firsthand when I asked about it in my Insta stories – WOW!).
I actually find myself in the middle ground somewhere. I grew up on orange jello stuffed with canned mandarin oranges. It was a huge favorite. I slurped that stuff up every Sunday afternoon and I feel really good about those life decisions from my youth.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found I don’t eat jello as much as I used to. I’m no food purist, but the aftertaste and artificial color(s) have kind of put me off of jello over the years.
However, I find myself coming back to the jello recipes that are unique and interesting and usually loaded with add-ins (no, I’m not talking about green jello with carrots and mayo, not that kind of interesting).
This cranberry pomegranate jello salad* is just that. It has so much going on with a punch of delightful textures and flavors that you almost forget jello is even involved.
*a different post for a different time is how jello recipes got the approval to call themselves “salad”; I tried a million ways to Sunday to figure out how to rename this without salad in the title, because I guess I feel like salad should have at least one vegetable, but I gave up. Nothing else sounded right. So. Salad it is.
What Kind of Jello to Use
You can use any variety of red jello for this recipe. Top preference goes to: cherry, cranberry or raspberry.
I add a smidge of sugar as well, because this recipe is loaded with tart cranberries and pomegranates, and the additional sugar helps balance the flavors.
For the cold water portion of the jello, use the drained pineapple juice plus enough cold water to equal two cups.
We’re making jello!! What a day.
Loaded with Fruit
Once the jello is dissolved and all the liquid is added, it’s time to start piling in the real stars of the recipe:
- chopped fresh cranberries (and lots of them)
- pomegranate arils
- crushed pineapple
- chopped apples
This recipe is a beautiful study in contrasting textures and crunch and flavors and fruit.
I mean, if that isn’t a gorgeous jello salad, I don’t know what is.
P.S. don’t worry about the bubbles and foam; you can stir a bit to get rid of it, or just leave it. It won’t matter once it is served. I am far from a jello perfectionist. I hope I’m not stressing anyone out. 🙂
Let it Set Up
Like any good jello recipe, this cranberry pomegranate jello salad needs to set up until firm, anywhere from 6-10 hours. It can easily be made several days in advance.
Because it is loaded with fruit, it scoops out of the dish quite well. I cut it into squares and serve it with a spatula, but you could dig in with a spoon and go for a more rustic scoop.
The Creamy Whipped Topping
This cranberry side dish is served with a sweetened whipped topping. Just three ingredients:
- heavy cream
- sour cream
- marshmallow fluff
Yep. Go with it. It’s lightly sweet, super creamy, and really tasty.
Follow the notes in the recipe to avoid getting lumps in this delicious concoction.
The topping can be spread on the entire dish of jello before serving, or it can be dolloped on top of individual servings. (I always serve it on the side; it helps keep the leftovers from getting liquidy and also allows those who don’t want any topping to leave it off.)
Favorite Holiday Side Dish
This cranberry pomegranate jello salad is everything festive and yummy about cranberry and pomegranate season rolled up into one sweet and tart and crunchy and tasty side dish.
I love it so much. It has definitely won a spot as a holiday staple recipe.
Every time I make it, I find myself sneaking spoonfuls out of the fridge. There’s just something about the bright, fresh flavors that keep me coming back for more.
Special thanks to Sylvia for giving me the recipe and for sweet Holli for bossing me around (she had the same talent for bossiness that I do) and demanding I try it. It’s now a forever favorite.
One Year Ago: Creamy Baked Mashed Potatoes with Buttery Parmesan Crumbs {Make-Ahead!}
Two Years Ago: Skillet Chicken Fajita Pasta
Three Years Ago: Fresh Cranberry Apple Relish
Four Years Ago: Simple Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey {Oven Bag Method}
Five Years Ago: Triple Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cookies
Six Years Ago: Amazing Crustless Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
Seven Years Ago: Melting Roasted Potatoes
Eight Years Ago: Black Bean Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust
Nine Years Ago: Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla Pie
Ten Years Ago: Lasagna Soup
Cranberry Pomegranate Jello Salad
Ingredients
- 6-ounce package cherry, raspberry or cranberry jello
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups boiling water
- 20-ounce can crushed pineapple
- 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, chopped (see note)
- 1 to 1 ¼ cups pomegranate arils, from about 1 large pomegranate
- 2 cups chopped apples (see note)
Creamy Topping:
- 6-ounce jar marshmallow cream or marshmallow fluff
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
- In a 9X13-inch pan, combine the jello and granulated sugar. Pour in the boiling water and stir until the sugar and jello is fully dissolved.
- Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice. Set aside the pineapple. Add cold water to the pineapple juice to equal 2 cups. Stir the water/pineapple juice mixture into the jello.
- Add the chopped cranberries, pomegranate arils, reserved crushed pineapple, and chopped apples. Stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set up, 6-8 hours (or up to 2 days ahead of time).
- For the creamy topping, scoop the marshmallow cream into a bowl and whip with an electric mixer (handheld or stand mixer) until smooth and slightly runny with no lumps. Gradually add the heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth and slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes. Add the sour cream and continue mixing until thick.
- Spread the sweet topping over the entire dish of jello salad and scoop and serve that way OR dollop the topping over individual servings.
Notes
Recipe Source: adapted a little from my friend, Sylvia P. (mother-in-law to my dear friend Holli)
This was such a hit for our family Thanksgiving! I didn’t have time to make the topping yet it was still a huge hit. I added an extra 1/4 cup of sugar as I only had sugar-free jello on hand. You have to make this! Soooo good!
Thanks for the cranberry pomegranate jello recipe. I made it for Christmas dinner. I did not add the sugar. I felt that the jello was sweet enough so added sugar was not needed. I had a can of ready made whipped cream on the side. Everyone loved the jello dessert. I will definitely make this again.
There is no way 1/4 cup of sugar counter-acts 12 oz. of cranberries. I threw this in the garbage. Not only did it taste bad, it upset my stomach.
Hi Dorothy – there is only 1/4 cup of sugar because the jello is very sweet, too. Sorry you didn’t love this one!
Delicious recipe. Thank you, Mel. I omitted the sugar and it out just right. I plan to bring it to our Christmas dinner and will serve it with whipped cream. Merry Christmas to you! I will be looking for more of your other recipes.
Oh my gosh! So delicious! I finally got around to making this- big hit with the fam! I used Pom pomegranate juice instead of water and 2 sachets of unflavored gelatin, about 1/2 a cup of extra sugar (instead of the amount in the recipe) and decreased the total amount of juices to 3.5 c, kept all the fruit amounts the same. I also used fresh cranberries that I had frozen after Thanksgiving, whirled them up in the food processor, and except for a slightly less uniform chop, I don’t think there was any discernible difference. So, so good! I think it would be delicious with cranberry juice, but agree it needs that extra sugar to balance the tanginess of the fresh cranberries. I had a scoop for breakfast this morning, and so did my pickiest eater- can’t say enough good things about this one!
This was a hit! Very yummy! I used cherry jello and since I was splitting it into two dishes, i just eyeballed the fruit portions ( I think I only used half of the called for cranberries because I have a small hand chopper, but it was about equal to the pomegranate, apple & pineapple ). Quick and easy to make!! Definitely will make again!!
We made this for Thanksgiving in 2021. It was amazing…except it never set. We put it out on the deck and it froze a bit so we ate it as Jello slush and we all liked it. I guess there is an enzyme in pineapple that prevents the Jello from setting. Did anyone else have this problem? Will try it again this year but would like it to be set and I am not sure what I’m doing wrong if other people get it to behave like a normal Jello Salad.
That’s strange! I’ve never had that happen when I’ve added pineapple to jello? But I guess if that’s known to happen, you could leave the pineapple out or add it after the jello has mostly set?
Just jumping in with a little food science to say: don’t use fresh pineapple. There are enzymes in fresh pineapple that break down protein. So long as you use canned pineapple (as specified in the recipe) this won’t be an issue, as the enzymes are deactivated by the heat of the canning process. Happy gelling!
This was hands down our favorite dish at Thanksgiving! We decided at Thanksgiving it needed to make an appearance at Christmas, too, but I don’t think I can wait that long. We loved it! And we talked about you and Holli and were grateful for you both! I made the recipe as written and wouldn’t change a thing.
Delicious! I reduced the water + reserved pineapple juice to 3 cups total. The jello salad set up perfectly.
Favorite thing on our Thanksgiving buffet! So refreshing! People thought there were nuts in it from the aril seeds. It is a magnificent bowlful of jelly! Don’t make the smaller version of the topping. We did and wished we hadn’t. Haha. I made it in a cut glass serving bowl and it was a jewel!
This was delicious! Lots of texture and pretty unique. I used my Vitamix for the cranberries and it was great! Thank you so much.
Okay, this recipe is delicious!! Due to probably user error, the jello didn’t set up for me. I had made Mel’s buttermilk drop biscuits for another day’s breakfast, so I ended up putting it over them with the whipped marshmallow cream and I’ve gotta say, as a seasonal shortcake situation, it’s **unbeatable**. ♥️
Pretty tasty! This definitely deserves to be called a salad since it’s loaded with so much fruit! I was only disappointed that I couldn’t get the topping to whip up nicely. It stayed very runny, so we ended up using whipped cream instead. Any tips for that? I loved the flavor of it.
Hi Vicky – what brand of whipping cream did you use?
Amazing. I made it for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. I did have an issue with the topping – it was a little runny and never got thick after I added the sour cream. I whipped the heavy whipping cream before adding it to the marshmallow creme, and I used regular sour cream. Any ideas on why it didn’t thicken? It was still really yummy, just runny.
Hi Beth – what brand of whipping cream did you use? Was the mixture thick when you added the whipped cream to the marshmallow creme?
I used Meadow Gold and whipped it until it was pretty thick, then added it to the whipped marshmallow creme. It was somewhat thick, but it got thinner when I added the sour creme and never thickened. Is it possible to whip something too much?
Hi Beth, yes sometimes whipping cream (especially if there’s other ingredients) can liquify if whipped too much. If you make this again, you might try just whisking in the sour cream until just combined.
Thank you for the tip because I’ll definitely be making it again! I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
My favorite salad as well – but with some variations!! I grind up the cranberries and a whole orange, seeded and ends cut off. To cut back on sugar, use sugar free raspberry jello and sugar substitute. We had pecan trees, so lots of crushed pecans were added. We had pomegranates – but never thought to add them 50+ years ago!! It wasn’t the “thing!!” But I think I will give your salad a try this year – along with the topping that has sour cream in it!! Yum! I’m
I’m just eating a small bowl of this by myself on Thanksgiving night and I’m in love. It didn’t quite set up, hence me trying it out so late, but it’s so delicious I don’t care. The texture and flavors with the incredible creamy topping are so delicious. I made it with cherry Jell-O and pink lady apples. Can’t wait to have everyone else try this tomorrow!
I’m glad you like it, Carmen! It was the first thing gone on our Thanksgiving spread this year. I was bummed because I was hoping for leftovers!
We get to do Thanksgiving twice, first with my family and a few day’s later with my in-laws. I made this for Thanksgiving #1 on Sunday, and everyone loved it – even the one person who shys away from trying new things!! I will definitely make it again for Thanksgiving #2!
I used raspberry jello (delish). The full amount of cream topping was perfect for us. Adore the textures and flavors. The pop and crunch of the pomegranate seeds is really fun and tasty.
This is the interesting, deliciously different dish everyone wants to sample and talk about!! Love it! Thanks, Mel, Sylvia and Holli!
Joy! Thanks for letting me know what you thought of this! I’m making it for Thanksgiving this week, too. That’s kind of fun you get to have Thanksgiving dinner twice (although, phew! That’s a lot of work). Thanks for the comment!
Wonderful !!!
This is absolutely delicious! I made half a batch to see what my family would think about adding it to our Thanksgiving menu. It was a hit! Thank you for always providing such great recipes. I hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving and I will think of you and your sweet friend Holli as I am making this.
Your comment made my night, Robin. I’ll be thinking of Holli, too, when I make this next week. So happy you liked it!
I’m proud of you for letting some Jell-O recipes be part of your site. 🙂 Only the best ones.
Jello literally makes my stomach turn and I still shudder at the thought of seeing my mom’s “stained glass” jello concoction setting up far too often in our refrigerator growing up.
But this recipe and these photos oddly don’t make me gag. It’s very pretty. Don’t know if I’ll be able to ever bring myself to make it, but I’m definitely intrigued!
I try to steer away from Jell-o because of the food dyes, but this looks delicious! I decided to do a quick search and found two brands of dye-free Jell-o on Amazon – Simply Delish and Simple Mixes – so I may have to give it a try! Thank you for being such a dependable site for amazing recipes!
For anyone else interested in dye free jello, Aldi carries their brand of strawberry and orange gelatin and they are both colored naturally, no red40. I use this to make jello for family things as some nieces and nephews are particularly sensitive to did dyes.
I didn’t even know those existed – thanks for sharing, Kellie!
i have not made the dessert yet, but i didn’t know you could eat the seeds in pomagrante.
Jello traumas from my youth: orange jellow with shredded carrots and pineapple ( i think it was called sunshine salad ) and every christmas a weird aunt made some kind of fruit jello thing grape jello with fruit cocktail and nuts and celery. I always took a spoonful of it because no one ever chose it and I wanted it to look like some of it was eaten so she wouldn’t feel bad. I never ate it, just moved it around on my plate.
I love jello, even plain, but I know it isn’t the healthiest thing. I need to start experimenting with the unflavored again and fruit juice.
On the theme of childhood holiday salad, my mother always got a couple of cans of jellied cranberry sauce, mashed the jelly with a can of ginger ale, and froze the result. I liked it a lot — zingy, sparkly, easy, nice contrast with everything else. That’s what I’m planning for this Thanksgiving, but your salad has tempted me. Maybe I’ll try it for Christmas.
I absolutely love the sound of that.
This is similar to a favorite family recipe from my grandmother that I have been making for decades. I would be curious to try this one to compare, but would probably have a mutiny on my hands! My grandmother’s recipe didn’t use pomegranate (my grandmother had probably never heard of them!), but did include grapes, orange and nuts.
It’s funny (and awesome) how loyal we are for generations to certain holiday recipes. I definitely do not think it’s wise to change that up and have everyone mad! 🙂
My favorite thing about this recipe is that it prompted my daughter, who is away at college, to text me to ask if I had seen it. I’ve been cooking your recipes for years, and she must be following you on Instagram. Looks like we’ll be trying a new dish this holiday season! 🙂
Oh, that made me smile, Valerie! Thanks for sharing.
Cranberries Of some variety are amongst my assignments for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I was jazzed to read this recipe and then I remembered how mean my fil gets after consuming red40. Guess we’ll go with old faithful… your cranberry fluff. Aint nobody wants angry relatives at the thanksgiving table!
Haha, that is the truth! Plus, that cranberry fluff is a FAVORITE.
Sandee, You might experiment with using know unflavored getaltin and fruit juice instead of the jello. That would avoid the red40. I think a cranberry juice mix would go well with this, but any red fruit juice, especially a berry related one should work. Years ago, my Grandmother couldn’t have Jello and we subbed the unflavored and apricot nectar very successfully. The instructions are a bit different, but weren’t that difficult.
It does sound good, but I would have to skip the topping since I have to be definitely low-fat and since I cook mostly just for myself, I may try to reduce the quantity and try it out.
I really would like to try this recipe for my Thanksgiving dinner in place of the typical Waldorf Salad, but I need a bit of advice first, please. One of my guests is HIGHLY allergic to pineapple of every variety; Can I replace the pineapple with something else, such as mandarin orange segments?
Thank you!
Hi Barbara! I bet you definitely could! Maybe mandarin oranges or more apples or something like that.
This looks yummy! I’m thinking to make it more festive u could put a mint leaf on top or half a green cherry!
It is bittersweet when u have a recipe that reminds u of your friend and the same time u miss her!
I know bc I lost my childhood friend many years ago, her ex to be shot her!
Her birthday is around the holidays.
I think of her even more esp when I make the food that I made when I gave her a big birthday party!
Little did I know that a few yrs later she would be up in heaven!
Have a fantastic week Mel!
I’m so sorry about the loss of your childhood friend! Makes my heart hurt for you, but I love that you have many memories to continue to remember her by.
So you don’t use the pineapple? Or did I read the recipe wrong?
I wondered about the pineapple, too.
I think the pineapple was inadvertently omitted from the instructions. She has it pictured above being added to the mixture, so she def uses it.
Wondering the same thing about the reserved pineapple juice…
Hey Natalie (and others) – sorry about that. You add the drained, crushed pineapple with the other add-ins (and use the pineapple juice with the cold water). I edited the recipe to include that.
This looks awesome. We are having a “retro” Christmas party, complete with Jello competition. Could this jello be made in a Bundt or jello mold and hold up? I want something that looks amazing, but tastes just as good. No retro nasty jello recipes for me.
Oh my gosh, that is the greatest Christmas competition ever. I love it! This is on the softer side of jello creations (not as gelatinous) so I’m not sure it would work well in a bundt pan or mold. I can see it falling apart during the unveiling/unmolding.
This is very similar to my grandmother’s cranberry salad, and my grandmother always did it in decorative bowls or molds. It holds together well in my experience, and the raw cranberries are amazing.
For what it’s worth: Years ago I remember reading the advice, I think in a Jello cookbook, to reduce the cold water from a cup to 3/4 of a cup if you needed it solider for a mold.
I’d love to read a future post about how Jell-O dishes came to be called salad as I grew up with those. I enjoy some jello recipes but it’s the fact that they are called and served as salad rather than dessert that turns me off.
Someone shared this article with me and it was fascinating!
https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-jell-o-salad
Salad originally meant any mixture or assortment, so a jello salad definitely qualifies. (It’s actually from the latin for salt.)
I make this, but with strawberries instead of cranberries. Try adding 2-3 mashed bananas and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans! It’s so yummy that we eat it without the topping.
Love all the variation ideas!
My mom made something similar, but had chopped celery instead of pomegranate. Probably so she could call it a salad . I’m guessing the pomegranate is an improvement!
I love the crunch in this salad!
Oh, I love this, Mel. It reminds me exactly of a delicious dish my mom used to make. I miss her more when I see the pic but am so happy to find this recipe- here- today. (Can’t wait to make it for the holidays.) Thank you!
It’s so bittersweet how food can bring back many memories of those we love, isn’t it? I’m happy this one reminds you of your mom!