Description
Coca-Cola Salad is a retro, soft-set cherry gelatin salad made with Coca-Cola, pineapple, dark sweet cherries, walnuts, and optional Cool Whip. It is an easy, unusual dessert or potluck dish with plenty of old-fashioned charm.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 (3-ounce) packages cherry Jell-O
- 2 cups water
- 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can dark sweet cherries, drained
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 cups (16 ounces) Coca-Cola
- 1 (8-ounce) tub Cool Whip (optional)
- Maraschino cherries (optional)
Instructions
- Add the Jell-O to a medium heatproof bowl.
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then pour it over the Jell-O powder.
- Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
- Refrigerate for 15 minutes to cool the gelatin slightly, but do not allow it to set.
- While the gelatin cools, combine the pineapple, cherries, and walnuts in a trifle dish or large serving bowl.
- Pour the cooled gelatin mixture over the fruit-and-walnut mixture.
- Pour in the Coca-Cola and stir gently to combine.
- Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
- Top with Cool Whip and maraschino cherries, if desired.
Notes
- The recipe calls for walnuts, but pecans work well too.
- If you can’t find dark sweet cherries, I also tested canned red cherries, and they worked well. Maraschino cherries should work too.
- Don’t let your Jell-O set before you add the rest of the ingredients.
- This is a soft-set gelatin salad and will not become firm enough to unmold cleanly from a traditional Jell-O mold.