It's sweet. It's salty. It's oh so good. Strawberry Pretzel Salad is one of my favorite fruit salads or desserts. Many people will think strawberry pretzel salad is a dessert with its pretzel crust, cream cheese middle layer, and strawberry jello topping.
What is in Pretzel Strawberry Dessert?
This is an old-fashioned recipe that our moms and grandmas made. Simple ingredients make this recipe work by seamlessly pulling three layers together. Here is what ingredients you need to make this strawberry pretzel salad.
- Pretzels
- Butter
- Sugar
- Cream Cheese
- Cool Whip
- Powdered Sugar
- Strawberry Jello
- Strawberries
How to Make Pretzel Strawberry Salad?
The process to make this salad or dessert is to have the patience to make the three layers. To start though, I will tell you that if you don't have a food processor, look into getting one. I use my KitchenAid food processor
or Ninja Foodi Blender for the crust and the filling. Made it so quick and easy.
Make the crust by dumping 2 cups of pretzels, a tablespoon of sugar, and ¾ cup of melted butter into the KitchenAid food processor and pulsating for a few seconds. Then dumped the mixture into a 9 x 13 pan.
Bake on 350 for about 8 minutes and then let the crust cool. Wash out that food processor bowl and blade a get ready for the filling.
Put an 8-ounce block of cream cheese that is at room temperature and a thawed cool whip in the food processor with a cup of sugar. A hand mixer can also mix this together smoothly. Mix until smooth and form small peeks.
Pour over top of the cooled pretzel crust and get your strawberry topping ready. Place the pan in the fridge to start firming up the cream cheese again.
Mix 2 cups of boiling water with two packages of strawberry jello. Then pour 20 ounces of sliced frozen strawberries into the mixture. I didn't have mine completely thawed. This actually helped the jello set up a little. If the strawberries are thawed then pop them in the freezer for a few minutes to set up a bit.
Strawberry Pretzel salad can be a dessert or side made with a sweet and salty pretzel crust, cream cheese center, and strawberry and jello topping.
Pour over the top of the filling and refrigerate the strawberry pretzel dessert until you are ready to serve.
The 13X9 pan can be cut into large pieces for 12 servings or smaller versions with as many 24 servings for smaller pieces if you are offering it as a side dish. Either way, people will want a second helping.
Trust me, everyone will love this no-bake cheesecake like dessert! It's a classic!
Variations to the Pretzel Salad
While this version of pretzel salad is strawberry, you can change up the salad with the following combinations:
- Peach Jello and sliced peaches
- Cherry PIe Filling
- Raspberry Jello and raspberries
- Blueberry Pie Filling
Fruit Salad and Dessert Recipes
📖 Recipe
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups pretzels
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- ¾ cup melted butter
Topping
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1 container of thawed cool whip
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups water
- 2 small packages strawberry jello
- 20 oz. bag of frozen strawberries
Instructions
- Place pretzels, 1 T. of sugar and melted butter in food processor and pulse until incorporated.
- Press mixture into a 9 x 13 glass pan and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
- Mix cream cheese, cool whip and sugar until incorporated.
- Pour over the baked pretzel crust.
- Mix 2 cups of boiling water with the strawberry jello.
- Mix in the frozen strawberries.
- Pour strawberry mixture over the cream cheese mixture and refrigerate until set.
Nutrition
Gooseberry Patch gave Simple Shortcut Recipes to me to review and giveaway. Opinions of recipes are all mine. Associate links were also used.
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A co-worker made this for our Christmas potluck last year, and I was wowed! I'm not really a jello fan, but this was so tasty and different! I'm glad to have your recipe.
This has been a staple at Rader Family Gatherings for 30+ years. Maybe not the exact same recipe, but we LOVE it!!!
.... and how do I win this cookbook?????
This is such a great recipe. It's a favorite of mine and sometimes with pineapple on top.
Mmm this looks really tasty!
I have been making the same recipe for years. However, I add 1 large can of drained crushed pineapple to the strawberry jello mixture. It's delish, and everyone just loves it.