Orange Fluff Jello Salad Recipe with Cool Whip

Orange fluff jello salad is the recipe I think of every time our church has a potluck. It is a delicious, sweet, fluffy, creamy retro Jell-O salad. The dish is full of flavors from the mandarin oranges and the Cool Whip. While it is called a salad, it’s more like a dessert. It is a family favorite, and I know you will love how easy to make and how it makes a big hit at any party.

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One of my closest friends is our pastor’s wife, and she has held that role for forty years now. This is the dish she always brought to the potluck table, and it never lasted long. It is sweet, creamy, and fluffy, and the mandarin oranges make every bite feel like a treat.

I have loved it since I was a little girl at that same church, when every big holiday and every major event ended with a potluck lunch in the fellowship hall.

These days we are watching our weight and trying to eat more protein, so I love that the cottage cheese in this recipe gives it a boost.

One thing I have started doing is whipping the cottage cheese in my mini food processor until it is smooth, instead of using it straight from the container. It helps with the texture, since cottage cheese is not always a favorite for the kids or for Jim on its own.

A Little History on Jello Salads

Jell-O has been part of American kitchens since 1897, when it was first sold in LeRoy, New York. It did not take long before home cooks started mixing it with fruit, and eventually with things like cottage cheese and whipped topping.

By the 1950s and 1960s, congealed salads like this one were a fixture at potlucks, church suppers, and family dinners all over the country. Refrigerators had become common by then, and canned fruit and instant gelatin made it easy to put together a pretty dish without much fuss.

Jell-O even printed its own recipe booklets during those years, and many of those old recipes are the ones still passed down in families today.

Orange fluff jello salad fits right into that tradition. It is simple to prepare, made from pantry and fridge staples, and it still shows up at the same kinds of gatherings these salads have shown up at for generations.

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Tools Needed

• Mini Food Processor
• Blender

Ingredients

• 1 package (3 oz) orange jello
• 1 container (12 oz) small curd cottage cheese
• 1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip, original, thawed
• 1 can crushed pineapple, drained well
• 2 cans mandarin oranges, drained well

Susan’s Tips For Mandarin Orange Fluff Recipe

• Blend the cottage cheese first. This is my own addition to this old recipe, and it makes the whole salad smoother. The original does not call for it, but I never skip it.
• Drain the pineapple and mandarin oranges as well as you can. Extra liquid is the number one reason this salad turns watery.
• Use original Cool Whip, not the lite version. It folds in fluffier and holds its shape better in the fridge.
• Use regular orange jello not the sugar-free, the sugar-free Jell-O makes the recipe taste more cottage cheesy.

How to Make Mandarin Orange Fluff

1. Blend the cottage cheese. Put the cottage cheese in a small food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pro tip: this step is my own addition to the original recipe, and it takes away that curdy texture some people do not care for.
2. Mix the base. In a large bowl, stir together the blended cottage cheese, the dry orange jello, the drained pineapple, and the drained mandarin oranges until everything is well combined.
3. Fold in the Cool Whip. Gently fold the Cool Whip into the mixture until no white streaks remain. Pro tip: fold, do not stir, or you will lose that light fluffy texture.
4. Chill. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving so the jello has time to set.

Variations for Orange Fluff

• Dairy-free: use a dairy-free whipped topping and a dairy-free cottage cheese alternative.
• Nutty: fold in a half cup of chopped pecans for some crunch.
• Mini Marshmallows: Add in 1 cup or a cup and a half of mini marshmallows.
• Extra fruity: add a small can of drained fruit cocktail along with the pineapple and oranges.
• Lighter: fat-free cottage cheese.

More Jello Recipes you will Love

• Christmas Jello Salad Mold Holiday Vintage Recipe
• Jello Easter Eggs (Easy Egg Mold Recipe for Easter)

Frequently Asked Questions

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