Cranberry fluff is a quick and simple holiday dessert (kids adore it). It only takes four ingredients and 5 minutes to create this creamy, sweet, and tangy no-bake dessert. Make your own cranberry sauce instead of buying canned! If you’re tired of pumpkin pie, this is a great sharing dessert for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving is known for being the holiday in which you overwork your oven, your neighbor’s oven, and solicit the assistance of anybody else’s oven within a ten-mile radius.

With the turkey, squash, bread, pies, and casseroles, you wind up heating up the home to 7982F and stressing yourself out and unpleasant on what should be a joyful and warm (not scorching) occasion with friends and family.

So why not prepare a no-bake dessert to make your life easier? I’ve heard many various names for this one over the years, but I’ve always known it as Cranberry Fluff.

What more could you want? It’s sweet, zesty, and marshmallow-y. It’s also very simple. I’ve outlined the stages, but honestly, you could simply throw everything in a big bowl and shake it like a Polaroid image and it’d probably work out OK.

The hardest part of making this 5-minute cranberry fluff salad is letting it sit in the fridge to properly develop all of its flavors before serving!

Ingredients for cranberry fluff

• 1-20 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce (14 oz.) or homemade cranberry sauce
• 8 oz. thawed Cool Whip
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• optional cuporange zest
• Garnish with fresh cranberries

Steps to making the perfect cranberry fluff

Note: We were planning to create cranberry fluff using canned cranberries, but you could easily use homemade cranberry sauce instead.

1. Take a 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple, making sure it’s crushed rather than pieces or slices, and drain it well.
2. Combine the drained crushed pineapple and 14 ounces cranberry sauce in a large mixing basin. I suggest creating a double batch of my homemade cranberry sauce and using half of it for this recipe, but a can of whole cranberry sauce may also be used.
3. Mix well to blend. If there is still a lot of pineapple juice floating about, tilt the bowl and gently pour it off.
4. Use a spatula to mix the Cool Whip.
5. Mix in tiny marshmallows If you find it difficult to whisk in everything at once, divide the mixture into two parts. If you wish to add fresh orange zest, do so and mix well.
6. Stir thoroughly with a spatula, then cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge for at least 2 hours to chill.

Other tips for delicious cranberry fluff

• Texture: I love mine creamy, although I know some who prefer it chunkier. If this is the case, add half a jar of whole cranberry sauce and an additional cup of marshmallows. You may also leave out 2 ounces of Cool Whip.
• Make ahead: This is the kind of meal that you WANT to cook ahead of time, so make it the day before Thanksgiving to save time. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge; it just becomes better as it sits, in my opinion. But don’t get too far ahead of yourself; it won’t be as appealing after three days or so.
• Serving suggestions: Serve in a large bowl and let guests serve themselves, or pour into trifle plates and sprinkle with cranberries and small marshmallows for individual servings.
• Store purchased vs. homemade: Of course, if you want to make everything from scratch, go ahead. I’ll never mock someone for doing that since it’s what I like! But, the entire purpose of this dish is that it is a fast and simple cranberry fluff salad, but you are free to make it less quick and easy.