by Diana Rattray
This strawberry pretzel dessert is often called a salad. It’s a wonderful layered dish with a sweet-salty pretzel layer, a cream cheese and whipped topping layer, and a gelatin and strawberry layer. This is a great dessert/salad for a Thanksgiving dinner!
Recipe Variations
- Add chopped pecans or walnuts to the pretzel base layer.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon of almond flavoring to the cream cheese mixture.
- Add a dash of cinnamon to the pretzel crust mixture.
Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
This sweet-salty strawberry pretzel dessert—sometimes called salad—is made with cream cheese and strawberry layers on a pretzel crust.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Desserts, Strawberries
- Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
Scale
Strawberry Layer
- 2 packages (4-serving size) strawberry-flavored gelatin
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 tubs or boxes (15 or 16 ounces each) frozen sweetened strawberries
Pretzel Crust
- 2 cups crushed pretzels, about 6 ounces of pretzels
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Cream Cheese Layer
- 1 tub (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, plus more for serving
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
Instructions
- Put the gelatin powder in a bowl and add the boiling water; stir until dissolved. Refrigerate the mixture for about 1 1/2 hours, or until partially set.
- Heat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, combine the crushed pretzels with the melted butter and sugar; mix well. Press the pretzel mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely.
- In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the thawed whipped topping with the cream cheese until well blended.
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the prepared crust and spread evenly.
- Sp0on the gelatin evenly over the cream cheese layer.
- Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and firm, about 4 hours.
- If desired, cut into squares and serve with more whipped topping or freshly whipped cream and freshly sliced strawberries.
