Pasta Fruit Salad made with macaroni, fruit cocktail, sweet palm nuts, cheese, and sweetened cream. Creamy and perfectly sweetened, this Filipino-style dessert is sure to be a party hit!
Pasta Fruit Salad is the follow-up recipe to chicken sisig in our 24 Days to Christmas recipe series. Since it’s an old recipe from 2013 that gets a lot of love during the holiday season, I thought I’ll update it with new photos and push it back on the spotlight in time for Noche Buena.
If you’re looking for more holiday desserts, my buko pandan also got a bit of TLC and was revamped with new photos as well as a video to guide through the simple process. I also have a couple of brand new sweet treats coming your way soon so yay!
Christmas is just around the corner and one dish that is almost always present in every Filipino’s holiday festivities is fruit salad. Traditionally, this Filipino-style dessert is made with fruit cocktail, sweet palm nuts, and sweetened cream but a few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to adding macaroni to the mix.
My first thought when she offered me a serving was, “what a way to ruin a good recipe” but I took one spoonful and quickly swallowed my words.
The pasta cooked al dente does add a nice, chewy texture and marries well with the rest of the concoction. It’s also an inexpensive way to extend servings, especially when serving a large party.
This macaroni fruit salad recipe is creamy, tasty, and easily customizable. I like to use fruit cocktail, nata de coco, kaong, and cheese cubes to pull it together but feel free to add other canned fruits such as peaches and mandarin oranges or fresh fruits such as halved seedless grapes, diced apples, and sliced strawberries.
If you’d like to trim down the calories a bit, you can swap the all-purpose cream and condensed milk with this yogurt dressing for a healthier option.
How to Make Yogurt Dressing For Pasta Fruit Salad
- In a bowl, combine 1 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup sour cream, and 1/4 cup honey. Whisk together until smooth and well-blended.
- Drilled dressing on pasta salad and gently toss to distribute.
Tips on How to Make Macaroni Fruit Salad
- For best texture, cook the macaroni about a minute shy of package’s directions. You will need about 2 cups cooked.
- The kaong and nata de coco are usually packed in heavy syrup so make sure to drain well.
- The salad will taste a little too sweet when just combined but the sweetness will mellow out once the mixture is chilled or frozen.
Make sure to bookmark, pin, or print this pasta fruit salad recipe for your holiday gatherings and special occasions. I hope to see you here again tomorrow for another delicious party dish!
Pasta Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 4 ounces uncooked macaroni pasta
- 1 can (30 ounces) fruit cocktail, drained
- 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple tidbits, drained
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) nata de coco, drained
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) kaong, drained
- 1 cup cheese, cubed
- 1 can (14 ounces) table cream
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, bring 2 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook about 1 minute shy of package's directions.
- Remove from heat, rinse, and drain well. Let cool completely.
- In a bowl, combine cooked macaroni, fruit cocktail, pineapple, nata de coco, kaong, cheese, table cream, and condensed milk and cream. Stir gently to distribute.
- Chill for 1 to 2 hours or freeze until firm.
Nutrition
I made this last night and it’s so yummy!!! 😋😋😋 It’s one of my many favorite pinoy dessert. Thank you for sharing your great recipes! 😊
Thanks for the feedback, Jean. This is my favorite dessert, too, and I am glad you liked it 🙂
What kind of cheese do you use? Can I use cheddar?
I used Eden Cheese but Cheddar would be ok 🙂
This is my first time to visit Kawaling Pinoy, and I find your recipes interesting and very Pinoy and so easy to follow. I have subscribed to get your e-book.I hope to test-cook your many recipes. Thanks a lot!
Welcome, Yolanda 🙂 I hope you enjoy the recipes and find them useful.
OMG I’ve been looking for this recipe. My cousin made one like this and I could never replicate this. I will definitely try this one. The one I had was so addicting I could eat it all day everyday. Will let you know once I try it! Thanks for sharing!
Let me know how it turns out 🙂
i followed the instruction sa package na 10min cooking ng macaroni pasta, and yet nung natimplahan ko na medyo chewy pa siya. hindi ko tulpy alam kung dapat ko ba syang iserve sa christmas party, natatakot ako bka may sumakit ang tyan dahl sa parang hindi pa ganun kalambot ung pasta. help naman pls.
do i need to boil the macaroni pasta before adding it to the salad??
Yes, you need to cook the macaroni 🙂
i followed the instruction sa package na 10min cooking ng macaroni pasta, and yet nung natimplahan ko na medyo chewy pa siya. hindi ko tulpy alam kung dapat ko ba syang iserve sa christmas party, natatakot ako bka may sumakit ang tyan dahl sa parang hindi pa ganun kalambot ung pasta. help naman pls.thank u
Hello Haz,
If you followed the package’s directions, the pasta should be fine. I think noodles get a little chewy when they’re cold.
What kind of cheese do you use?
How long po ang shelf life ng macaroni fruit salad?
Thanks po. Happy New Year!
Hello Jam,
Maga 2 to 3 days sa ref. Happy New Year rin 🙂
Hi Lalaine thanks for the infos, as I’m already in Australia I need to learn to cook, this site helps me a lot
You’re welcome, Geralden. I am glad you find the recipes useful 🙂
Hi, I just want clarify the amount of pasta. Since 2 cups dry macaroni makes 4 cups of cooked macaroni, should I stay with cooking with that measurement or still use 4 cups of dry mac?
Hi Raye
You need about 4 cups of cooked macaroni so yes about 2 cups of dry/uncooked pasta. 🙂
Hello Lalaine, is there any possible that i can use the 1 big can fruit cocktails, condensed milk and the evaporated milk for Fruit salad??.. or do i need to buy a thickened cream/heavy cream to mix it with the ingredients that i have. i dont want to put to much sweet in the fruit salad coz it doesnt eat the whole fruit salad with my guest if its too much sweet… thank you 🙂 happy christmas…
Hello Jezrel
I prefer to use table cream (nestle cream) with my pasta fruit salad you can substitute evaporated milk if you don’t have table cream. Table cream doesn’t really add sweetness but makes the salad “creamy”. If you want to cut down on the sweetness, decrease the amount of condensed milk. 🙂
I tried using cream cheese in place of nestle cream. I also tried yogurt and they both work well for me.
Thanks, Anj, for the tip. Yes, whipped cream cheese is good alternate. And yogurt is a lot less calories 🙂
Thank you for your reply Lalaine :)… but the problem is we dont have nestle cream in Australia.. we only have called thickened cream..i think they are the same with nestle cream it’s not sweet cream…
Hi Jezrel
I believe the thickened cream you have will make a reasonable substitute. I’ve used U.S. heavy cream on the occasions I don’t have table cream on hand and it worked pretty well.
I just found your website and you are awesome. I never learned how to cook till I came to the US 40 years ago. I live in the Florida Keys where the climate is almost like the Philippines and seafood is caught fresh by us.
I told some of our friends who love Filipino food to visit your site to sample some of your recipes.
thank you for sharing.
Hello Emma
Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing the site to your friends.
Happy cooking.
I grew up in PI, but i never learned to cook til i came here in the US. I even see recipes here that I never heard of. I think this is my new fave site for recipes. Thanks for sharing and keep it coming.
Hello Anj
Yes, learning to cook became a necessity for me as well when I came to the U.S. Iba ang homecooked meals, after awhile nakakasawa ang drive-thru 🙂
Thank you for the visit and I am glad you are finding the recipes here useful. Please don’t forget to join our upcoming giveaway to celebrate Kawaling Pinoy’s one year anniversary.
Have a great day.
I found your website great, keep posting delicious food for christmas 🙂
Thank you, Joan. Happy holidays 🙂