Pistachio Fluff Salad

Easy, 4 ingredient Pistachio Fluff Salad, also known simply as Pistachio Salad! Best served with friends and family, this recipe makes a great potluck dish!

Love easy desserts? Our Ambrosia Salad could easily be a side dish too. Or try our cranberry fluff salad!

Easy, four ingredient, Pistachio Fluff Salad. Perfect for potlucks and bbq's!


Why this Recipe is Best

You are living in a vacuum my friends, if you haven’t yet tried this Pistachio Fluff Salad.

Some people call it simply Pistachio Salad, Pistachio Dump Salad, Pistachio Pudding Salad or Watergate Salad. Or Green Fluff. Or just the Green Goop.

Whatever you call it, it’s a huge hit at all our family holiday parties and potlucks.

Pistachio Fluff Salad is seriously only 4 ingredients (5 if you count the cherries on top)! I know many people add extra nuts to theirs, but not us. Occasionally I’ll swap out the mini white marshmallows and use the fruity, colored mini marshmallows instead.

Any party is a great time to whip up a batch of this pistachio salad. I know I keep calling this a salad when it clearly is more like a dessert. But after all, Mom always said to eat your greens, haha!!

Change things up and try our lemon fluff next!

Ingredient Notes

Ingredients needed to make pistachio fluff salad.

Easy as 1,2,3. And four if you’re counting ingredients!

  • Crushed Pineapple- you’ll need a can of this, with the juices (do not drain).
  • Pistachio Pudding Mix- two of the small boxes of instant pudding mix are perfect.
  • Cool Whip- you don’t want to use homemade whipped cream here, as it will tend to get too weepy. However, if you don’t want to use Cool Whip, try our stabilized whipped cream instead.
  • Marshmallows- these create the perfect texture. Whether you use plain mini marshmallow, or toss in the fruity colored marshmallows, either are delicious.

The hardest part of this Pistachio Fluff Salad recipe is giving everything time to mingle. Allowing it to thicken up. You can make it the night before, or whip it up at least 4 hours in advance, making it perfect for holiday gatherings.

If you don’t want to put the cherries on top, you can toss them into the mix. This also makes a beautiful Christmas side dish or dessert with the red cherries and green pudding mixture!

How To Make Pistachio Salad

With only 4 ingredients, Pistachio Fluff Salad is as easy to make as you’d expect.

Easy, four ingredient, Pistachio Fluff Salad. Perfect for potlucks and bbq's!

In a large bowl, combine your two boxes of instant pistachio pudding mix with your can of crushed pineapple. Do not drain the pineapple. Mix this together with a wooden spoon until the pudding mix is blended with the juice from the pineapple.

Add in the Cool Whip and mini marshmallows.

If you want to add in some chopped walnuts or pecans (like in a Watergate salad), go ahead and do so now.

Cover the Pistachio Fluff Salad and refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight. Serve with maraschino cherries as a garnish. Or, if desired, add the cherries into the fluff right before serving. ENJOY.

So, tell me, have you eaten pistachio salad before? Do you love it as much as I do?

Looking to use pudding mix in more recipes? Adding a box of pudding to cookies creates the most amazing, soft and chewy, Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies.

Easy, four ingredient, Pistachio Fluff Salad. Perfect for potlucks and bbq's!

More Salad and Sides

Pistachio Fluff Salad

4.55 from 180 votes
By: Aimee
Easy, 4 ingredient, Pistachio Fluff Salad recipe! Best served with friends and family, makes a great potluck dish!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients 

  • 2 boxes JELL-O Instant Pistachio pudding mix 3.4 ounce each
  • 1 can crushed pineapple 20 ounce
  • 16 ounce Cool Whip thawed
  • 1 bag mini marshmallows 10 ounce
  • maraschino cherries for garnish
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Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, combine pudding mix with crushed pineapple. Mix with a wooden spoon until pudding mix is blended with pineapple liquids.
  • Add in Cool Whip and mini marshmallows. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight. Serve with maraschino cherries as a garnish. Or, if desired, add cherries to fluff right before serving. ENJOY.

Notes

  • Swap out the cool whip for our homemade stabilized whipped cream instead.
  • Store salad in refrigerator for up to 3 days for best results.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 142kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 23mg, Sugar: 12g
Course: Side Dishes
Cuisine: American
Did you make this recipe?Mention @shugarysweets or tag #shugarysweets!

Easy, 4 ingredient Pistachio Fluff Salad, also known simply as Pistachio Salad! Best served with friends and family, this recipe makes a great potluck dish!



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About Aimee

Aimee is a dessert lover (specifically rice krispie treats), workout enthusiast, self-taught foodie, and recipe creator.

Learn more about Aimee.

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Posted on May 27, 2018

Comments & Reviews

  1. 5 stars
    Been making this for some 30 plus years. I only put in about 2 cups of marshmallows and I drain some of the juices out of the pineapple. I usually add another 8 oz drained pineapple tidbits. Sometimes I add extra nuts with whatever I have on hand. You can easily adjust the ingredients to your liking

  2. 5 stars
    Never in a million years would I have thought to combine pistachio pudding and pineapple. I made my first fluff desert about two weeks ago and was scouring the internet for other fluff deserts to try. I’m so glad I landed on this one. I halved the recipe because there is only two of us, but this is most definitely going in my “bring to potlucks” folder on Pinterest.

  3. I have made pistachio salad many times with the same recipe except using only one box of pistachio pudding. Always delicious! Can you explain the difference in using two boxes of pudding? Thank you!

    1. Yes, people couldn’t get the 8oz container of crushed pineapple! So they doubled every thing else. I just measure out 8 oz and use 1 box.

  4. Omg… too much fluff, not enough pistachio. I tried making this and it’s almost purely marshmallows. Yes, I followed the recipe. It says “1 bag of mini marshmallows.” Guess what I put in? 1 bag of mini marshmallows!

    1. I am looking for the simple jello salad that starts w/ crushed pineapple (w/juice?), a box of jello and ends with a container of kool whip. Does it also contain cottage cheese?

      1. Velma, years ago I got this recipe at Weight Watchers. We didn’t use marshmallows or cherries. Just used cottage cheese (according to your like) and way less Cool Whip. I used the small curd so the kids didn’t see it & never knew it had cottage cheese.

      2. You can also process the cottage cheese in a food processor. It becomes a beautiful creamy texture. It also whips to 3 or 4 times the volume. It’s amazing!

      3. Yes Velma it is cottage cheese. I usually use lime jello with pineapple, or I’ve also used strawberry jello with drained fruit cocktail and I’ve used orange jello with drained mandarin oranges. And then add your container of cottage cheese and cool whip. It is so good!!!!!

        1. 5 stars
          I love all things jello! Of late, some people have chosen to look down on jello, but they don’t realize it’s aristocratic legacy in that only the wealthy could afford gelatin when it was first used.
          It is wonderful as a palate cleanser during the meal, and a light, fun dessert.
          Thank you for the recipe!

    2. Marshmallows not a must, you may have to drain some liquid from pineapple, though. I always make without marshmallow and add can of fruit cocktail

  5. I also have grandchildren with nuts and other allergies . I used Vanilla Pudding and it came out delicious.

  6. I have made this for years but now I have grandchildren with nut allergies. Has anyone tried this with a different flavor pudding?

  7. 5 stars
    I love this and most people will – but I must be allergic to the nuts or maybe it’s too acidic. The inside of my mouth burns after a few bites. Wish I could eat the whole bowl though! It’s delicious.

  8. My family and I enjoy this recipe so much. It is simple enough that kids are able to follow the instructions and prepare a great dish!

  9. I made this and it was not good. People took a bit out of curiosity, but it basics all got thrown out on Thanksgiving. The artificially sweet pistachio pudding taste was overwhelming, but I just read a bunch of other blogs saying it’s only supposed to be one box of pudding. Wondering if that would be more successful.

    1. I only use one box, not a whole bag of marshmallows, small can pineapple crushed, and cool whip to the desired mixture I like. The marshmallows should not overwhelm the dish, so put how many you like. It is quite delicious if you put the amount of ingredients you like, which is the case in all recipes.

    1. I usually use only one box of pudding and usually no marshmallows. Using more or less Cool Whip would also be an easy fix. Have made it for many years … also known as Watergate Salad.

    2. Save the juice from the pineapple. You can use it to mix in to get the creamy texture desired . Add slowly and fold in.

    1. It’s very sweet, and can go a long way! I bring it to large potlucks so it’s hard to tell for sure, but minimum I would say 12 (most likely though you can double that number)!

  10. 5 stars
    It’s a awesome a dessert. If you like pistachio pudding you’ll love this pistachio dessert. It’s delicious. It’s a great choice for a party.

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