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Watergate Salad
This cool and creamy classic dessert is the perfect fruit salad to serve at any event.
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When it comes to puddings, nothing is more retro than a homemade Watergate salad. Not only is this Watergate salad recipe fun to make, but it’s also bound to go down a treat with the whole family.
If you’re looking for a dessert to quickly whip up with the kids, get them in the kitchen making this easy Watergate salad recipe. As well as being a simple recipe, all the different ingredients, colors and textures mean that making a Watergate salad is a whimsical experience that they’ll love.
If you’re looking for other fun and healthy recipes to make with the kids, why not try this Easy Ambrosia Salad or this Pistachio Salad Pudding recipe.
Watergate Salad Ingredients
There are only seven ingredients in this Watergate salad recipe, but you don’t need a million and one ingredients for a recipe to be delicious.
Sometimes, less is more. That is certainly the case when it comes to making a Watergate salad from scratch.
Each of these ingredients is in the salad for a reason.
You have pineapple for sweetness, the pecans pack a bit of crunch and marshmallows add some extra fuff! This might be a simple dessert, but it’s incredibly well balanced.
To make your Watergate Salad, you will need:
- 2 boxes of pistachio pudding mix
- 1 large can of crushed pineapple
- 12 ounces of whipped topping
- 1 cup of shredded coconut
- ½ a cup of chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups of white mini marshmallows
- Chopped pecans and maraschino cherries for garnish
The pistachio pudding mix and whipped topping make this pudding smooth and airy.
You’ve got shredded coconut to add a bit of substance and something chewy.
Don’t overlook the pecans and cherries to garnish your Watergate salad. These add some all-important extra crunch and sweetness.
How to make Watergate Salad
Making this simple Watergate salad recipe couldn’t be quicker or easier.
I love making this with my kids when they need a quick and tasty sugary treat.
There are only three steps to making this Watergate salad, so the kids can practically make it themselves.
They love nothing more than adding in all the different ingredients and mixing the large bowl of pudding.
Directions:
- In a large bowl, mix the pineapple and pudding mix together until the mixture has completely dissolved and the pineapple is thick.
- Stir in the shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and white mini marshmallows, then fold in whipped topping.
- Transfer to serving bowl and top with chopped pistachios and cherries to your liking.
This Watergate salad recipe is as easy as, one, two, three, done!
Making a dessert from scratch has never been so easy.
Whenever we have family coming to visit, I love to whip up a big batch of this quick, traditional Watergate salad recipe.
What is a Watergate Salad?
What is Watergate salad? If you’ve never heard of Watergate salad before, you might of heard of it by one of it’s other names.
Watergate salad is sometimes also referred to as "Green Goddess", Pistachio Delight, or Shut The Gate Salad.
Some families might call it Green Goop, Green Fluff or Green Stuff.
Watergate salad is a side dish salad or dessert salad which is primarily made by combining pistachio pudding with canned pineapple, whipped topping, crushed pecans, and marshmallows.
Every family puts their own spin on this classic recipe. My family likes to add shredded coconut and cherries.
How on Earth did this pudding get such an unusual name? Somehow the break-in of the Democratic National Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in 1972 gave its name to this unique recipe.
In the 1960’s, it was believed that the only way you could entertain easily was to serve canned, instant foods. Hence, the birth of this ambrosia-like pudding around that time.
This type of ambrosia salad was popular even in the early 19th century.
There are countless different Watergate salad recipes but most agree that you need coconut for it to be a true ambrosia salad.
As this recipe has evolved, most Watergate salads now commonly include pineapple, maraschino cherries, and marshmallows.
The beauty of this classic recipe is that you can pretty much make it to your taste.
All traditional Watergate salad recipes need the ingredients to be mixed with whipped cream, sour cream or cottage cheese.
Although if you’re looking for more of a sweet dessert salad, you’ll definitely want to use pistachio pudding mix to make your Watergate salad.
Less commonly, some people like to include flavored gelatin in their Watergate salad recipes.
The bright green instant pistachio pudding mix brought to us by Kraft Foods in the 1970’s promoted a recipe which they called “Pistachio Pineapple Delight”.
It’s widely believed that one of the editors of a Chicago newspaper at the time reprinted the recipe with the name Watergate Salad and somehow, the name stuck.
If you’re looking for the best Watergate salad recipe, look no further.
Nothing beats my Grandma’s family recipe for this traditional pudding. The thing I like the best about this homemade pudding is all the fruit!
It’s so hard to get my boys to eat their five-a-day so whenever we have a Watergate salad, I always pack in extra pineapple chunks to make sure they’re getting something healthy in their dessert too.
It’s so easy to hide chunks of fruit in amongst all the marshmallow and pudding fluff!
For me, nothing beats this classic dessert.
Whenever we gather for a family holiday, we go through enough of this retro pudding salad to keep us satisfied for the whole year!
We practically clear the supermarket shelves of pistachio pudding, mini marshmallows, and crushed pineapple so we can make this Watergate salad recipe.
In my family, this is the epitome of a traditional recipe.
A fresh batch of Watergate salad is sure to keep everyone happy.
Next time you’re entertaining, be sure to surprise your guests with a delicious bowl of homemade Watergate salad. I guarantee it will go down a treat.
Watergate Salad
This cool and creamy classic dessert is the perfect fruit salad to serve at any event.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 2 boxes of pistachio pudding mix
- 1 large can of crushed pineapple
- 12 ounces whipped topping
- 1 cup of shredded coconut
- ½ chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cup white mini marshmallows
- chopped pecans and maraschino cherries for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix pineapple and pudding mix until mix has completely dissolved and
- the pineapple is thick.
- Stir in other ingredients, then fold in whipped topping
- Transfer to serving bowl and top with chopped pistachios and cherries.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 250kcal
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