This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read our disclosure policy.
This delicious Mandarin Orange Salad is simple, easy, and quick to throw together. Just a few minutes of active time to put together this perfect dish for a holiday potluck, family gathering, or a quick dessert salad. Most importantly, it tastes great. Give this classic Jello salad a try today!
🍨 What makes this recipe special?
I am a sucker for dessert salads and this one ticks all the boxes. First, it tastes great, which is the most important thing. Also, it is easy to throw together and quick. Have this mandarin orange salad thrown together in minutes and ready for your event tonight.
If you are into Jell-O salads, you could also try this Coca-Cola Salad recipe. Some other great dessert salads we have are this Classic Frog-eye salad and Dessert Snickers Salad. No matter what you make for your dessert, this is a great opportunity to treat yourself!
🍊 Mandarin Orange Salad Ingredients
Mandarin oranges and Jell-O are the stars of this show, but we need a few other ingredients to make this a special one.
- Cool Whip
- Orange-flavored Jello packet
- Cottage cheese
- Canned mandarin oranges
- Fruit cocktail
- Coconut
- Mini marshmallows
The cottage cheese might feel counterintuitive to a few of you, but trust and believe. It is an excellent addition to the recipe and helps bring it together.
See the recipe card for quantities.
🍲 Instructions
Such an easy recipe. It is as simple as mixing all of the stuff together.
Of course, you can top it off with some extra mandarin oranges, cherries, or any other thing that will make it look tasty.
🤷 Substitutions and variations
There are a few great ways to mix this recipe up and make it your own.
- Fruit – I think the mandarin orange is the only essential part of this. I love the addition of the fruit cocktail, but most canned fruit would be a good substitute.
- Marshmallows – I recommend using mini marshmallows, but any brand will do. If you don’t like them, you can also leave it out.
- Coconut – This adds a little crunch to the mandarin orange salad and I really like it. You can omit this or maybe try walnuts (which is aso pretty good) if you like some non-coconut crunch.
📦 Storage
Keep this dessert in the fridge for a few hours and up to overnight before serving. We enjoyed this treat for several days after making it, but did need to stir it up before serving.
This dish would not hold up well to freezing and I would not recommend it.
🎓 History tidbit
While gelatin is something that has been used for quite some time, the mass production of Jell-O combined with the creation of Cool Whip and the modern kitchen really created a Jell-O Salad frenzy.
Packaged Jell-O brought gelatin to the masses in the early 1900s. Whipped Cream was revolutionized when Cool Whip figured out how to freeze it in the 1960s. By this time, the modern refrigerator was commonplace, but this was really just an advent of the first half of the 1900s.
A combination of these advancements along with the affordability of Jell-O made it a perfect candidate for an easy dessert. A person could create an entire dessert salad and have it ready in the fridge in just a few hours. The 60s, 70s, and 80s became the golden age for Jell-O salad recipes!
❓ FAQ
The advent of commercially sold gelatin combined with modern refrigeration made Jell-O salad a fast and easy dessert that was also budget friendly.
Clementines are a type of mandarine orange. So, they are different in that not all mandarines are clementines. All clementine oranges, however, are also mandarins.
📝 Tips and tricks
- Make sure to fold everything really well, but don’t mix too vigorously. There is value in retaining the air in the cool whip.
- You can make many substitutions with the canned fruit and Jell-o flavors if you want to change it up!
- I suggest allowing to rest in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving, but it could really be ready right away.
🛠 Products used in this recipe
😋 Did you make this recipe?
That is awesome, and thank you so much for giving this Classic Jello Mandarin Orange salad recipe a try. If you could leave a rating in the comment area below, it would be greatly appreciated. This lets me know how I am doing and also helps others decide if they want to make this recipe. Most of all, thanks for visiting Ramshackle Pantry.
Classic Jello Mandarin Orange Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Refrigeration: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Description
Such an easy dessert, this Mandarin Orange Salad is a great side dish and a pot lunch favorite. Active time is just minutes and it will be a favorite dessert salad to whoever you serve it.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
- 1/3 ounce package orange-flavored Jello
- 1 cup whole cottage cheese
- 1 large can mandarin oranges drained 29 ounces
- 1 14 1/2 ounce can fruit cocktail, drained
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Mix Cool Whip, Jello, and cottage cheese into large bowl and combine well.
- Add rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
- Make sure to fold everything really well, but don’t mix too vigorously. There is value in retaining the air in the cool whip.
- You can make many substitutions with the canned fruit and Jell-o flavors if you want to change it up!
- I suggest allowing to rest in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving, but it could really be ready right away.
