Strawberry Pretzel Salad Recipe

For those who aren’t conversant in strawberry pretzel salad, you would possibly assume—with horror—that it entails tossing strawberries, pretzels, and greens along with some sort of French dressing. However the dish entails neither greens or dressing. As an alternative, it extra intently resembles the wiggly jello salads that had been all the fashion in America throughout the Nineteen Sixties. With a base of crushed pretzels, a layer of Cool Whip combined with cream cheese, and a topping of brilliant purple strawberry jello, strawberry pretzel salad is delightfully salty-sweet, creamy, and crunchy on the similar time. Although a slice might remind you of a no-bake cheesecake, it isn’t sometimes eaten as a dessert. Fairly, the salad is normally served as a aspect and is a staple at picnics, potlucks, and Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. 

I didn’t develop up consuming strawberry pretzel salad, however I’ve since change into a fan. In spite of everything, what’s to not love about pretzels, cream cheese, and jello? Impressed by this American basic, I needed to give you a from-scratch model that pays homage to the unique, whereas additionally leaning into the tanginess of cream cheese and the pure sweetness of recent strawberries. This model skips the Cool Whip and the strawberry jello combine. As an alternative, it entails making a no-bake cheesecake for the filling and a do-it-yourself strawberry syrup for the jello—each of that are ok to get pleasure from on their very own.

The Pretzel Crust

Arising with the crust was fairly easy. I knew I needed to blitz the pretzels in a meals processor with some granulated sugar till sandy, then toss the crumbs in melted butter. The query was: to bake or to not bake? I might have saved this a 100% no-bake dessert, however toasting the pretzel crust within the oven for simply 10 minutes added a depth of taste the no-bake model merely didn’t have. Although I’m usually an advocate of seasoning all the things completely, you’ll discover that I’ve skipped the salt within the crust. Pretzels are effectively salted already, and I discovered that any further salt was not solely pointless, however extreme.

A Filling Good Sufficient to Eat On Its Personal

No hate on Cool Whip, however I needed a filling that was extra substantial—one ok to eat by itself. I turned to former Critical Eats editor Stella Parks’ simple no-bake cheesecake, which will get its tart taste from cream cheese and light-weight texture from whipped cream. It’s a recipe she describes as “embarrassingly easy.” There’s no baking or water bathtub concerned like there can be with an everyday cheesecake, and no gelatin required to agency it up; all it entails is thrashing collectively cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt within the bowl of a stand mixer and whipping in some heavy cream till it reaches stiff peaks, then refrigerating till set. Paired with the salty-sweet pretzel crust and fruity jello topping, the filling makes a satisfying strawberry pretzel salad that echoes the perfect cheesecakes.

A Fruitier Jello

I’ll be the primary to confess I’ve a delicate spot for jello combine. (Apart from fruit or the occasional store-bought birthday cake, my grandma solely ever made jello for dessert, and it was all the time the spotlight of dinner at her place.) I needed a extra fruit-forward jello topping although, one which tasted like recent strawberries and wasn’t as one-dimensional as jello from a field. Although you may actually use your favourite jello combine right here, there’s one thing extremely satisfying—and scrumptious—about making your individual strawberry syrup and turning it into jello.

To make the syrup, I begin by blooming powdered gelatin and simmering recent strawberries with water, sugar, and lemon juice, which provides brightness and helps to stability the sweetness. As soon as the fruit has softened, I pressure the syrup, whisk within the bloomed gelatin, and permit it to chill to room temperature. You don’t wish to rush this half: Pouring heat syrup on prime of the filling will soften the cream cheese, leading to bits of softened dairy floating within the jello. An ice bathtub isn’t an choice for dashing issues up, although, because it’d be too chilly and would solidify the combination earlier than it’s even poured onto the cream cheese layer. Solely a gradual cooling will do.

The largest draw back to utilizing recent strawberries for the jello is the colour—they merely do not produce a syrup as vivid as synthetic boxed strawberry jello. If that pop of colour is necessary to you, you possibly can simply do precisely what the boxed stuff does for its unnaturally brilliant purple hue: whisk in a drop or two of purple meals coloring. 

As soon as at room temperature, the syrup is gently layered onto the filling, adopted by slices of strawberries, which can then be encased within the jello as soon as it units. To keep away from the precarious technique of strolling a sloshing not-quite-jello salad to the fridge, I like to recommend placing the baking dish within the fridge first—then fastidiously topping with the syrup and strawberries. Chilled and portioned, it’s arduous to not marvel at how satisfying every chunk is. Jello salads could also be dated, however one thing this good ought to by no means exit of fashion.