Desserts
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Description
For decades, salads like this Strawberry Pretzel Salad Recipe have delighted palates as both side dish and dessert, making it a summer and holiday staple, especially in the Midwest and South. This layered salad masterfully blends sweet and salty flavors. Incredibly easy to make, pretzel salad can be prepared hours in advance. NCBandit says, “So easy to make, and so tasty! I made this the first time for a pool party and then again, a couple weeks later for the family. Highly recommended!”
Ingredients:
- Topping
- 2 boxes (4-serving size each) Jell-O® strawberry-flavored gelatin
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 containers (16 oz each) frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed
- Crust
- 6 cups mini pretzel twists
- 3/4 cup salted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Filling
- 1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sugar
Directions:
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- In medium heatproof bowl, place gelatin. Pour boiling water over gelatin; whisk until completely dissolved. Let cool 10 minutes. Stir in thawed strawberries and any juice. Refrigerate uncovered until partially set (should resemble the texture of raw egg whites), about 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Place pretzels in resealable food storage bag, press out the air, and seal. Crush with rolling pin until largest pieces are no bigger than 1/2 inch. Crush enough pretzels to yield 2 cups crushed pretzels.
- In medium bowl, mix the 2 cups crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 tablespoons sugar. Press evenly in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch baking dish. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
- In medium bowl, beat thawed whipped topping, softened cream cheese and 1 cup sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until cream cheese mixture is set.
- Carefully spoon and spread the gelatin topping over the cream cheese filling. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or until gelatin is set. To serve, cut into 4 rows by 3 rows.
