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Frozen Cranberry Salad – Easy Make-Ahead Recipe

Frozen Cranberry Salad is a molded salad recipe that can easily be made ahead of time. Our cranberry salad recipe is delicious and will be striking on any Holiday table.

Top-down photo of three individual Frozen Cranberry Salads on small white plates over a red striped towel and walnuts scattered about.

Frozen Cranberry Salad adds beauty to any Holiday table without a lot of work.

This easy Cranberry Salad recipe can be made ahead of time so you can focus on enjoying the people at your table.

Using simple ingredients, this delicious salad comes together in a jiffy.

During the holidays, I do everything that I can to ease the work load. At first glance this recipe looks like it’s time-consuming with layers of work.

3/4 angled of a molded Frozen Cranberry Salad sitting on a white plate over a red striped towel.

It’s not! Using cranberry sauce and not jello, you get a lot of smooth creamy flavor that doesn’t take long to make.

Groceries you may need

  • Jellied Cranberry Sauce
  • Lemon Juice – you could also use orange juice
  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Yogurt – you could also use mayonnaise
  • Powdered sugar
  • Walnuts – this is optional but we believe that nuts add to this festive salad recipe.
3/4 angled of a molded Frozen Cranberry Salad sitting on a white plate over a red striped towel.

How to Make this Cranberry Salad recipe

  1. Put the cranberry sauce in a bowl with the lemon juice and crush it together with a fork. Spoon the cranberry sauce mixture into a mold, small dishes, or a muffin pan.
    • This cranberry salad is meant to be served in individual servings so you want your dishes sized accordingly.
  2. Whip up the whipping cream and fold the yogurt, powdered sugar, and walnuts into the whipped cream. Spoon the whipped cream mixture over the cranberry layer.
  3. Freeze.

How to easily serve this Frozen Cranberry Salad for your Holiday

We made our individual salads using this bundtlette pan. Once they were frozen, I popped them out of the pan and kept them covered with plastic wrap on a baking sheet, and stored them in the freezer until we were ready for them.

Before our meal, put the cranberry salads on individual plates or fancy little dessert bowls and set them on our table.

Individual Frozen Cranberry Salad servings frozen on a baking sheet.

As you can see, they have an opaque coloring before they thaw but they will turn red once thawed. Pinky swear!

You can set them on a pretty piece of lettuce and even sprinkle additional chopped walnuts over them if you want to get fancy.

Once they thaw, they can run a little on the plate. That’s a good reason to serve them in their own dish.

A Frozen Cranberry Salad on a white plate sitting over a red striped towel. Two more salads sit in the background.

These salad recipes are always a hit over the holidays too!

We love a good salad! You can find all of our salads here!

Pin it!

Two photos for pinterest. The bottom photo is a top-down photo of three individual Frozen Cranberry Salads on small white plates over a red striped towel and walnuts scattered about and the top photo is a 3/4 angled of a molded Frozen Cranberry Salad sitting on a white plate over a red striped towel.

This recipe for our Frozen Cranberry Salad will be a hit on any holiday table.

Put them in a heart-shaped mold for Valentine’s too!

Still looking for cranberry recipes? Here are some of our favorites!

3/4 angled of a molded Frozen Cranberry Salad sitting on a white plate over a red striped towel.

Frozen Cranberry Salad

Author: Julie Menghini
Frozen Cranberry Salad is a molded salad recipe that can easily be made ahead of time. This cranberry salad recipe is delicious and will be striking on any Holiday table.
4.75 from 4 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Freeze 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 20 minutes
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword: Cranberries, Cranberry Salad, Thanksgiving
Servings: 12

Ingredients
 
 

  • 16 oz  jellied cranberry sauce
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • ¼ cup yogurt Can also use mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions
 

  • Crush the cranberry sauce with a fork.  Add lemon juice. Spoon into a mold 3/4 full.
  • Whip the whipping cream and fold in the yogurt, powdered sugar, and walnuts.
  • Freeze for 6 to 8 hours.
  • Remove from the freezer and let thaw 4 to 5 minutes. Turn out onto a serving plate and serve. Using a thin knife makes it easier.

Notes

For simple serving, I inverted the little salads onto a plastic wrap covered cooking sheet and put them back in the freezer. When it’s time to serve them put them in a pretty bowl or on a plate.  You can also garnish them with crushed walnuts.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 202kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 20mgPotassium: 77mgFiber: 1gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 307IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 29mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

4.75 from 4 votes (1 rating without comment)
Recipe Rating




Deb Clark

Thursday 5th of November 2020

These are so bright and pretty! We loved the sweet/tangy combination - what a lovely side dish!!

Michaela Kenkel

Wednesday 4th of November 2020

I did a little "test run" on some new side dishes for the holidays. I always host Christmas. These were perfection! I adore anything cranberry and the flavor of these little salads was top notch! They will look so pretty on the table!

Julie Menghini

Wednesday 4th of November 2020

Thank you, Michaela! They are definitely easy to make and delicious to eat!

Amy Nash

Monday 2nd of November 2020

These were delicious! I opted for the mayo because I love the extra bit of tang! I was worried about them being cloudy when I first took them out so I was glad when I went back to check the post and saw that you had warned about that. Somehow I just missed it, lol.

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