Frog Eye Salad is the perfect addition to any summer gathering! Acini de Pepe pasta, sweet pineapple sauce, mandarin oranges, and marshmallows all combined into one sweet, yummy salad.
Hello Idea Room friends!! I’m Ashton, and I’m so excited to be here as part of the Idea Room Summer Series.
My brother and I blog over at Keat’s Eats where we are sharing our family’s favorite recipes. We both post a variety of recipes, but Keaton tends to be our meat expert while I like to focus on the sweets.
FROG EYE SALAD
Today I’m bringing you a summer staple: Frog Eye Salad!
Have you heard of it?? I never once tried Frog Eye Salad until I was in college. And now that I’m 30, I can still say I’ve only eaten it a handful of times. But it’s a side dish that my husband grew up loving, and he decided that we needed it at our Memorial Day BBQ.
I’m so glad he did! Because up until now, it has TOTALLY been off my radar. But not anymore! I guess its a one of those classics that I forgot about.
HOW TO MAKE FRUIT SALAD
- Acini di Pepe Pasta, which is just itty bitty balls of pasta. You cook it, just like normal pasta, and then let it chill.
- A sweet pineapple syrup that you make over the stovetop. It adds really great flavor and sweetness to the whole dish.
- Marshmallows, mandarin oranges, more pineapple, coconut and whipped cream. This salad really packs them all in!
- Essentially everything just gets mixed together in a large bowl, chill in the fridge, and enjoyed.
SALAD RECIPE
Frog Eye Salad
This salad is the perfect addition to any summer gathering! Acini de Pepe pasta, sweet pineapple sauce, mandarin oranges, and marshmallows all combined into one sweet, yummy salad.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Acini De Pepe pasta
- 1 cup pineapple juice reserved from pineapple tidbits
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 22 ounces mandarin oranges drained
- 20 ounces pineapple tidbits drained and reserve juice
- 8 ounces crushed pineapple drained
- 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
- 3/4 cup coconut shredded
- 8 ounces cool whip
Instructions
-
Cook the Acini De Pepe pasta according to package directions. When done, rinse under cold water in strainer. Let cool.
-
In a saucepan over medium high heat stir together pineapple juice, sugar, flour, salt and egg. Cook and stir constantly until mixture thickens and is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Let cool.
-
In a large mixing bowl combine the pasta and thickened mixture. Then gently fold in the mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, pineapple tidbits, marshmallows and coconut. Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Thanks for visiting with me today, and I hope to see you over on Keat’s Eats! You can catch up with us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest
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Ashton says
Thanks for having me! So fun :)
Christie Haun says
Hello Ashton…..This recipe looks so tempting. Can you tell me where I can buy Acini de Pepe in So. Calif? And if I can;t find it, is there another small pasta you could recommend?
Amy says
It can be found with the other pasta in the grocery store. Or you can find it on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2s65obk
Thank you!! Now I need to make your recipe! ;)
Ashton, Thank you so much!
My sister use to make this salad all the time. I hated the name but loved the salad. I think she use a large (pea size) tapioca not macaroni
Sue, I agree on the name…lol.
My kids were hesitant about trying it, only because of the name, but when they did try it, they loved it! It’s loaded with my favorite flavors!
Natalie- The name is the worst…lol! But, it is so good if you can get past that!
We love this salad, though my kids think of it as dessert, because it’s sweet & there’s nothing green in it..lol! Great all year long!
Kristyn- LOL…my kids are the same way!
Thank you so much for this salad recipe! It taste so amazing and super easy to make! I highly recommend this and will have it again!
Allyssa- So happy you liked it!
Summery & delicious!! Making this next week for a gathering. Anytime, I have made it in the past, I get people requesting the recipe. So good!
Natalie-Ivory- Hope you like it.
We love this salad!! We take it to a lot of picnics!! It holds up well & everyone loves it! The fresh summer flavor just bursts in your mouth!
Kristyn- We love it too!
My husband’s grandmother introduced me to this salad. It was one of his favorite dishes that she made. The only difference she would make to this recipe was to add green food coloring per the name lol. It was a nice surprise to see this recipe pop up in my email this morning. Thanks for sharing!
Mandy- I bet it brought back a lot of memories! I have seen it green as well!