Our Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad is an updated recipe to pay tribute to a childhood favorite. Filled with naturally sweet fruit, crunchy nuts, and fluffy marshmallows, it’s a delight to the senses and comforts a sentimental heart. Welcomed bites of juicy pineapple and orange wedges of Clementine tangerine provide welcomed squirts of fruit juice. And the pecans, well, they taste like spectacular little prizes.  You may catch yourself digging for them as you make your way through each lovely bite. But don’t worry, we won’t tell if you don’t.

So, we have to admit; we had to look up what Ambrosia means to fruit salad.  And wow, were we ever thrilled with the answer!  Ambrosia implies nothing less than the food of the gods.  How appropriate! Maybe it was named this because of how those little marshmallows become tender as the ingredients come together, like fluffy little white clouds!

In our updated version of Ambrosia Salad, we make a few trades to make it a bit healthier, and we think, even more delicious.

To Modernize Mid-Century Ambrosia Salad:

• We replace canned mandarin orange segments with fresh tangerines.
• For the sweetened shredded coconut, we use unsweetened coconut chips or flakes.
• Instead of canned pineapple, we use fresh chunks of fruit.
• For the candied cherries, we opted for two delightful colors of grapes.
• Also, in place of sour cream, we use plain plant-based dairy-free yogurt.
• And instead of packaged whip cream, we use our all natural, flavor-filled, easy-peasy, homemade sauce.

You’re going to love this NEW Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad we know it! Additionally, we think that you’ll enjoy our version so much that you revive the popularity of this dish because of the four following reasons.

4 Reasons to LOVE our NEW Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad:

• The simple homemade sauce will cause you to impress yourself — no kidding. We’re talking “Rock Star” in the kitchen material here.
• This dish is sweet in so many of the right ways.
• The crunchiness of the pecans makes you hope for more in the next bite which is fun.
• And the heaps of fresh pineapple, grapes, and tangerine make this salad downright juicy!

Nutritionally speaking, this is an ideal sweet treat since most of the sweetness comes straight from the assortment of whole fruits!  Furthermore, these naturally sweet and satisfying ingredients deliver valuable nutrients, too. The coconut, which is undeniably the star of the show, supports immune system health: it is anti-viral, antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasite.  Sun Warrior brand has an informative article about the many impressive benefits of coconut if you care to read more.

Next, enjoy the fresh and juicy pineapple chunks to reap incredible benefits.  Just a few of the benefits include boosting immunity, improving bone and eye health, and aiding in digestion.

And the Clementine tangerines provide way more than just the welcomed refreshment of sweet fruit juice; not to take anything away from the coolness of that little feature though!  There’s a list of outstanding benefits listed in this article.  One fact in particular that stood out is that this tangerine is an excellent source of antioxidants which fights the harmful effects of free radicals.

Lastly, let’s discuss those lovely sweet and nutty pecans. Pecans contain monounsaturated fats along with antioxidants which help reduce the risk of heart disease. According to the National Pecan Shellers Association, adding a handful of pecan nuts in your diet helps to decrease LDL ‘bad cholesterol’ and increase HDL ‘good cholesterol.’ These two qualities are known to prevent stroke and coronary artery disease.

As you can see, we now have verifiably good reason to dig through this salad to score a delicious pecan.  As if we needed one.

So what other word do we use when we describe our updated throwback Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad?  Well, that’s easy enough.  At our house, we call this salad heavenly, so fittingly, Ambrosia we kept because this tastes nothing less than utterly divine.

Happy Eating!

Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad

VEEG

• 20
  Prep:
• 0
  Cook Time:
• Yield: 12 Servings

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We kept the word Ambrosia in this remake recipe for Coconut Ambrosia Fruit Salad because it honestly does taste like the food of the gods! You’ll notice that there are seven ingredients in the sauce to accompany the seven components in the salad, which we think is pretty cool, like a reference to Lucky Number 7 or 7th Heaven! It’s a perfect make-ahead salad for any day of the week even though we tend to associate it with holiday gatherings past.  So, while it tends to make a show at our house during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter it’s certainly ideal to enjoy all year through. This recipe makes enough for about ten to twelve generous one-cup servings. It would be a perfect lite summertime dessert salad to enjoy on a hot evening.  If you’re planning holiday meals, be sure to check out our Gluten-Free Southern Style Stuffing Muffins and  Healthy Mashed Potatoes & Gravy!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of coconut water or plain water
• a scant 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup or a little less is fine, too
• 3/4 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp of pink Himalayan sea salt, or to taste
• 1 cup of plain plant-based yogurt - We like Kite Hill brand.
• 1 cup of raw cashews, soaked - For a bulk buy on organic raw cashews, this brand is a very good deal.
• 1/4 cup of vegan mini marshmallows - This is the brand we use!  If vegan marshmallows are something you prefer to avoid, you can easily skip including them in your salad - use a bit less of the sauce or increase the amount of coconut.
• 1 cup of raw pecans, roughly chopped
• 1 cup of green seedless grapes, washed and sliced in half
• 1 cup of red seedless grapes, washed and sliced in half
• 1 cup of fresh pineapple chunks - You could use canned in a pinch.
• 1 cup of Clementine tangerine sections - That's about 3 to 4 peeled and sectioned seedless tangerines.
• two additional cups of vegan mini marshmallows - Again, we love this brand from Chicago!
• 1 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut chips or flakes, more or less  
• optional fruit or nuts for garnish

Instructions

1. First, we'll make the homemade sweet sauce. Begin by placing the first seven of the listed ingredients into a blender in the order provided. Blend until completely smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust salt or sweetness according to preference. Be sure to remember that this sauce is going to hold the fruit salad together and does not need to be overly sweet since the fruit itself is sweet.  If you like, leave a few of the soaked cashews out of the sauce and toss them in the salad whole for added interest.
2. Next, place the remaining seven fruit and nut ingredients, including the marshmallows, into a large mixing bowl.  
3. Pour the prepared sauce over the bowl of fruit a little at a time and gently stir until the sauce distributes evenly. Use as much or as little of the sauce as you like. Sometimes coconut is dehydrated and requires more of the homemade liquid to become rehydrated while other times, it may require a bit less. If you have any leftover sauce, use it as a lite topping for waffles or pancakes or even stir it into oatmeal or incorporate it into a smoothie. This sauce also makes a lovely drizzle on a plate of freshly sliced fruit.
4. Transfer the salad to a serving dish and garnish with additional fruit and nuts for a beautiful and inviting presentation. This salad will keep when refrigerated in an airtight container for at least three to five days or so though ours never lasts that long unless we purposefully stash it! (That NEVER happens... nope.)

Notes

• Feel free to try changing out the ingredients for ones that suit your fancy.  For example, the original mid-century version of this salad called for candied cherries.  We switched those jarred cherries out for grapes!  If you do try some variations, let us know how it goes!
• The nutrition and calorie count does not include any additional toppings used as a garnish.  Those amounts would vary based on, ingredients used, taste, and preference.
• Since we opt to use coconut water in this recipe, we want to share this resource for a bulk buy on budget-friendly coconut water. 
• Admittedly, this is a decadent salad that counts, nutritionally, more like dessert.  If you like, you could easily minimize the splurge by reducing the number of cashews and pecans.

Nutrition

% DV

Calories Per Serving: 457

• Total Fat 22 g 34 %
• Saturated Fat 11 g 55 %
• Cholesterol 0 mg 0 %
• Sodium 66.7 mg 3 %
• Carbohydrates 62.2 g 21 %
• Fiber 3.9 g 16 %
• Sugar 50.5 g ---
• Protein 5.5 g 11 %
• Vitamin A 4 %
• Vitamin C 27 %
• Iron 9 %
• Calcium 2 %