Pasta Fruit Salad is sweet, creamy, and perfect for holidays and special occasions. It's loaded with fruit cocktail, macaroni, and tropical palm nuts for a festive treat!
Pasta Fruit Salad is the follow-up recipe to chicken sisig in our 24 Days to Christmas recipe series. Since it's an old recipe from 2013 that gets a lot of love during the holiday season, I thought I'd update it with new photos and push it back into the spotlight in time for Noche Buena.
If you're looking for more holiday desserts, myย bukoย pandan also got a bit of TLC and was revamped with new photos and a video to guide you through the simple process. I also have a couple of brand-new sweet treats coming your way soon, so yay!
Christmas is just around the corner, and one dish that is almost always present in every Filipino's holiday festivities is fruit salad. Traditionally, this Filipino-style dessert is made with fruit cocktail, sweet palm nuts, and sweetened cream, but a few years ago, a friend introduced me to adding macaroni to the mix.
When she offered me a serving, my first thought was, "what a way to ruin a good recipe," but I took one spoonful and quickly swallowed my words.
The pasta cooked al dente does add a nice, chewy texture and marries well with the rest of the concoction. It's also an inexpensive way to extend servings, mainly when serving a large party.
This macaroni fruit salad recipe is creamy, tasty, and easily customizable. I like to use fruit cocktail, nata de coco, kaong, and cheese cubes to pull it together but feel free to add other canned fruits such as peaches and mandarin oranges or fresh fruits such as halved seedless grapes, diced apples, and sliced strawberries.
Helpful tips
- For best texture, cook the macaroni about a minute shy of package's directions. You will need about 2 cups cooked.
- The kaong and nata de coco are usually packed in heavy syrup so make sure to drain well.
- The salad will taste a little too sweet when just combined but the sweetness will mellow out once the mixture is chilled or frozen.
If you'd like to trim the calories, swap the all-purpose cream and condensed milk with this yogurt dressing for a healthier option.
Yogurt Dressing
- Combine 1 cup plain yogurt, ยฝ cup sour cream, ยผ cup honey, and 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or pineapple juice in a bowl.
- Whisk together until smooth and well-blended.
- Drizzle the dressing on pasta salad and gently toss to distribute.
How to serve and store
- Enjoy this pasta fruit salad recipe for your holiday gatherings and special occasions. It's delicious for everyday sweet cravings, too!
- Refrigerate the salad for a few hours or overnight to chill completely. Serve cold. You can also freeze it if you prefer an icy consistency.
More party salad recipes
Ingredients
- 4 ounces uncooked macaroni pasta
- 1 can (30 ounces) fruit cocktail, drained
- 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple tidbits, drained
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) nata de coco, drained
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) kaong, drained
- 1 cup cheese, cubed
- 1 can (14 ounces) table cream
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, bring 2 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook about 1 minute shy of package's directions.
- Remove from heat, rinse, and drain well. Let cool completely.
- In a bowl, combine cooked macaroni, fruit cocktail, pineapple, nata de coco, kaong, cheese, table cream, and condensed milk and cream. Stir gently to distribute.
- Chill for 1 to 2 hours or freeze until firm.
Notes
- For best texture, cook the macaroni about a minute shy of packageโs directions. You will need about 2 cups cooked.
- The kaong and nata de coco are usually packed in heavy syrup so make sure to drain well.
- The salad will taste a little too sweet when just combined but the sweetness will mellow out once the mixture is chilled or frozen.
Video
Nutrition Information
โThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.โ
Merm says
What kind of cheese do you use? Can I use cheddar?
Lalaine says
I used Eden Cheese but Cheddar would be ok ๐
yolanda abuton says
This is my first time to visit Kawaling Pinoy, and I find your recipes interesting and very Pinoy and so easy to follow. I have subscribed to get your e-book.I hope to test-cook your many recipes. Thanks a lot!
Lalaine says
Welcome, Yolanda ๐ I hope you enjoy the recipes and find them useful.
Carla says
OMG I've been looking for this recipe. My cousin made one like this and I could never replicate this. I will definitely try this one. The one I had was so addicting I could eat it all day everyday. Will let you know once I try it! Thanks for sharing!
Lalaine says
Let me know how it turns out ๐
haz says
i followed the instruction sa package na 10min cooking ng macaroni pasta, and yet nung natimplahan ko na medyo chewy pa siya. hindi ko tulpy alam kung dapat ko ba syang iserve sa christmas party, natatakot ako bka may sumakit ang tyan dahl sa parang hindi pa ganun kalambot ung pasta. help naman pls.
Jeremi says
do i need to boil the macaroni pasta before adding it to the salad??
Lalaine says
Yes, you need to cook the macaroni ๐
haz says
i followed the instruction sa package na 10min cooking ng macaroni pasta, and yet nung natimplahan ko na medyo chewy pa siya. hindi ko tulpy alam kung dapat ko ba syang iserve sa christmas party, natatakot ako bka may sumakit ang tyan dahl sa parang hindi pa ganun kalambot ung pasta. help naman pls.thank u
Lalaine says
Hello Haz,
If you followed the package's directions, the pasta should be fine. I think noodles get a little chewy when they're cold.
Marian says
What kind of cheese do you use?
Vallerie Hernandez says
I need to know a few things
Calories per serving
total fat
Total carbohydrate
total protein
I would truly appreciate it if you answer all of this question, keep posting delicious stuff!!
Lalaine Manalo says
Hello, Valerie,
The recipe card should have nutritional information.
malyn says
Hi lalaine, ive tried your macaroni fruit salad recipe exactly with your direction and really...it is to die for ๐
Thank you for sharing! Keep it up.
Lalaine Manalo says
Yay! I am glad you enjoyed it ๐
Siti Abdul Ghani says
Hello Lalaine
I used to live in Saudi Arabia and I mix alot with Pinoy. I'm familiar with filipino food and this fruit salad is one and still my favourite especially when eaten chilled.
Thank u for the recipe. I wish you can share here also your Pinoy bread Pandesal and Spanish bread.
Tq
Siti
Lalaine Manalo says
I have a recipe for Pandesal but still working on the Spanish bread ๐
Jam says
How long po ang shelf life ng macaroni fruit salad?
Thanks po. Happy New Year!
Lalaine says
Hello Jam,
Maga 2 to 3 days sa ref. Happy New Year rin ๐
Geralden says
Hi Lalaine thanks for the infos, as I'm already in Australia I need to learn to cook, this site helps me a lot
Lalaine says
You're welcome, Geralden. I am glad you find the recipes useful ๐
Raye says
Hi, I just want clarify the amount of pasta. Since 2 cups dry macaroni makes 4 cups of cooked macaroni, should I stay with cooking with that measurement or still use 4 cups of dry mac?
Lalaine says
Hi Raye
You need about 4 cups of cooked macaroni so yes about 2 cups of dry/uncooked pasta. ๐
Jezrel says
Hello Lalaine, is there any possible that i can use the 1 big can fruit cocktails, condensed milk and the evaporated milk for Fruit salad??.. or do i need to buy a thickened cream/heavy cream to mix it with the ingredients that i have. i dont want to put to much sweet in the fruit salad coz it doesnt eat the whole fruit salad with my guest if its too much sweet... thank you ๐ happy christmas...
Lalaine says
Hello Jezrel
I prefer to use table cream (nestle cream) with my pasta fruit salad you can substitute evaporated milk if you don't have table cream. Table cream doesn't really add sweetness but makes the salad "creamy". If you want to cut down on the sweetness, decrease the amount of condensed milk. ๐
Anj says
I tried using cream cheese in place of nestle cream. I also tried yogurt and they both work well for me.
Lalaine says
Thanks, Anj, for the tip. Yes, whipped cream cheese is good alternate. And yogurt is a lot less calories ๐
Jezrel says
Thank you for your reply Lalaine :)... but the problem is we dont have nestle cream in Australia.. we only have called thickened cream..i think they are the same with nestle cream it's not sweet cream...
Lalaine says
Hi Jezrel
I believe the thickened cream you have will make a reasonable substitute. I've used U.S. heavy cream on the occasions I don't have table cream on hand and it worked pretty well.
emma says
I just found your website and you are awesome. I never learned how to cook till I came to the US 40 years ago. I live in the Florida Keys where the climate is almost like the Philippines and seafood is caught fresh by us.
I told some of our friends who love Filipino food to visit your site to sample some of your recipes.
thank you for sharing.
Lalaine says
Hello Emma
Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing the site to your friends.
Happy cooking.
Anj says
I grew up in PI, but i never learned to cook til i came here in the US. I even see recipes here that I never heard of. I think this is my new fave site for recipes. Thanks for sharing and keep it coming.
Lalaine says
Hello Anj
Yes, learning to cook became a necessity for me as well when I came to the U.S. Iba ang homecooked meals, after awhile nakakasawa ang drive-thru ๐
Thank you for the visit and I am glad you are finding the recipes here useful. Please don't forget to join our upcoming giveaway to celebrate Kawaling Pinoy's one year anniversary.
Have a great day.
Joan siguenza says
I found your website great, keep posting delicious food for christmas ๐
Lalaine says
Thank you, Joan. Happy holidays ๐