Frog Eye Salad
Frog eye salad is a sweet and creamy dish made with acini di pepe pasta, which gives the salad its distinctive appearance. Similar to an ambrosia salad, this dessert-style pasta dish includes pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, shredded coconut, and mini marshmallows. This Midwestern dish is served at family potlucks and holiday celebrations, and it’s always a hit.
Why you’ll love this frog eye salad
Pasta for dessert? Unless you are buddy the elf, you may not have enjoyed a sweet pasta salad before, but we think you will love it. It’s very reminiscent of a traditional ambrosia salad, but with pasta.
The little frog eye shaped pasta add just enough of a bite to enjoy the sweetness, without adding more sugary ingredients. You just have to try it. We promise you won’t be disappointed.
More pasta recipes to try: creamy corn pasta / blt pasta salad / shrimp macaroni salad.
Ingredient notes:
- Acini di Pepe – This is what give the pasta dish its unique name. When cooked the acini de pepe are little, tiny spherical pasta which give the appearance of frog eyes.
- Cool whip
- Pineapple – Canned tidbits work best for this recipe. Don’t forget to reserve ½ cup of the juices before draining them.
- Mandarin oranges – We use canned mandarin oranges in light syrup for this, but we don’t recommend using fresh.
- Vanilla pudding mix – Instant pudding mix only, not the kind you have to cook.
- Coconut – Shredded and sweetened, this adds texture and sweetness.
- Mini marshmallows
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
More pasta salad recipes: dill pickle pasta salad / Mexican street corn pasta salad / Italian chopped salad with ditalini
Frog Eye Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup ancini di pepe pasta (uncooked)
- 1 3.4-ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits (reserve 1/2 cup juice from can)
- 1 15-ounce can mandarin oranges (drained)
- 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
- 1 8-ounce container Cool Whip
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- maraschino cherries (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. In a large saucepan, cook the acini de pepe pasta according to the package directions, except skip the traditional amount of salt included when making pasta. For this recipe, we only want to use a small pinch to balance all the sweetness in the salad.When the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse the pasta until cooled. If preparing ahead of time, toss with olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking.
- Whip up the pudding. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat pudding mix, milk and reserved pineapple juice. Continue to whip until pudding has set, this will take about 5 minutes.
- Mix it up. Add the fruits, marshmallows and cooled pasta to the mixing bowl with the pudding. Stir to combine, then fold in the cool whip.
- Chill. When everything is well combined, pop the dish in the fridge to chill. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour (preferably 2 – 3 hours) before serving.
- Garnish and serve. Serve the salad cold and top each serving with a maraschino cherry.
Nutrition
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