Everyone always loves this creamy, fluffy Frog Eye Salad made with acini de pepe, pineapple, coconut, mandarin oranges, marshmallows, and bananas.
I’m sure many of you know this salad as the one that your grandmother brought to family parties. It’s super old school, but some of those old school recipes will always be classics, am I right?!
But, can we all agree that “Frog Eye Salad” is the worst name ever? It totally makes me laugh. The last thing I want to be thinking when I’m eating this is “ooh, those acini de pepes are just like little frog eyes!”.
I don’t know who came up with the name but it’s so weird. Did you grow up calling this “Frog Eye” Salad or something else? We usually called it Acini de Pepe Fruit Salad.
Well, whatever you called it, this bowl of fluffy, fruity goodness is the best! It’s basically dessert and not a salad at all. But who am I to put up a fight when a big bowl of dessert is served as a side dish? 🙂
The traditional version of this salad uses a container of thawed cool whip, but I use freshly whipped cream instead and it makes the biggest difference. Beating the cream takes just as much time as thawing a container of cool whip, but it tastes SOO much yummier!
How to make Frog Eye Salad:
In a saucepan, heat sugar, pineapple juice, egg yolk, salt, and cornstarch and whisk until combined. Bring the mixture to a boil and wait for it to thicken slightly. Remove it from heat. Cook the acini de pepe noodles separately.
Combine the acini de pepe and the sugar mixture and refrigerate overnight or for at least two hours. When you’re ready to serve the salad, combine the pineapple, oranges, coconut, bananas, and marshmallows. Then add the fruit mixture to the acini de pepe noodles. Fold in the fresh whipped cream and serve!
How do you cook acini de pepe noodles?
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the acini de pepe noodles, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 6 minutes or until al dente.
Consider trying these fruit salad recipes:
- Ambrosia Fruit Salad
- Jello Fruit Salad
- Apple Cranberry Fruit Salad
- Frog Eye Fruit Salad (Acini de Pepe)
- Creamy Fruit Salad
- Citrus Fruit Salad
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
Recipe
Frog Eye Salad
Ingredients
- 20 ounce can pineapple tidbits , drained and juice reserved
- 10 ounce can crushed pineapple , drained and juice reserved
- 1 cup reserved pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup acini de pepe noodles
- 15 ounce can mandarin oranges , drained
- 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 banana , sliced
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Drain the pineapple cans and reserve the juice. Reserve the pineapple fruit in the fridge for later.
- In a saucepan over medium heat combine the pineapple juice, sugar, egg yolk, salt and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
- Cook until mixtures comes to a low boil and thickens slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Cook acini de pepe noodles according to package instructions. Drain and cool.
- Combine the acini de pepe and the thickened sauce in a tupperware. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Once the acini de pepe mixture has chilled add it to a large bowl with the pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut, marshmallows, and bananas.
- In a separate bowl beat the cream and sugar together until stiff peaks. Fold fresh whipped cream into the acini de pepe mixture. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This post contains affiliate links.
I have used the frog eye salad recipe many many times. It’s easy and not expensive to make at all. The only problem I had was figuring out which sugar to use with what step. Other than that easy, peasy tyvm. I am now hooked on it
Really valuable about this recipe is using the drained juice. I had already bought pineapple juice ($2.69) but did a taste test ( very similar) & used the drained juice.
AWESOME, AWESOME AND MORE AWESOME. MAKING OT RIGHT NOW FOR THE 3RD TIME SINCE THANKSGIVING
It drives me nuts when people call ANY pasta “noodles”. Call it acini de pepe pasta.
Noodles are flat strips of pasta.
That said, the recipe is fine and we call it Frog Eye Salad.
your comment is unnecessary. didn’t your mom teach you, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?”
In Kansas we DO NOT PUT coconut, bananas or marshmallows in Frog Eye! Our family loves it!!! We always have this at Thanksgiving & Christmas. Leftovers are better with frog eye.
I don’t put coconut or bananas in mine either. I think bananas would turn it brown and would not stay fresh as long.
I don’t do the banana or coconut either. It’s definitely a family favorite.
I cut the bananas in the pineapple or mandarin orange juice then drain the bananas, the bananas don’t turn brown for 3 or 4 days
If you put the sliced banana in some of the pineapple juice it will not turn brown.
Kansan here and yes! None of that goes in mine😉 but I do love this salad!
Love this salad my good friend made it and I just had to have this recipe 🐸👀🥗💛💖💙❤️💜
Wonderful, wonderful recipe! We made it with colorful marshmallows and it was an instant hit with my four teenagers.
Great Recipe! I added diced peaches & maraschino cherries to mine in addition to all the other yummy fruit.
This is always a hit at any gathering!!
When I tell People its Frog eyes They don’t want to eat it But they love it when they finally taste it. A very refreshing Summer dessert/
I made this and it was simple to make and tasted delicious!!! I will definitely be making this again and again.
Thank you!