This easy-to-make Lime Jello Salad with cottage cheese has it all, fruity sweetness, crunch, texture, and great flavor!
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If you’re looking for a cold side dish that combines traditional ingredients in a very tasty way, this Lime Jello Salad with Cottage Cheese is a great choice.
There’s something truly satisfying about making and serving a fresh molded fruit salad. Whether it’s for a family dinner, potluck, or special holiday meal, you’ll have a big hit on your hands when you serve this popular side dish.
What is it about mixing pineapple, celery, and pecans with lime jello and cottage cheese that makes it taste so special?
I’m not sure, but this recipe really does blend just the right combination of sweet, savory, and natural components into one very yummy and pretty jello fruit salad.
You can see some of my other favorite jello salads with my strawberry, orange, and cranberry versions too!
You might be a little intimidated by the fancy look of this dish, but trust me. There’s no need for fear. This recipe is quick to make and comes together very easily.
I made this recipe using a normal 10-cup bundt cake pan.
What You’ll Learn about this Green Jello Salad Recipe
- What ingredients you need to make this delicious vintage recipe
- Step-by-step instructions for this Jello Salad recipe
- How to create an attractive molded gelatin salad
This article gives you everything you need to know about making a delicious Lime Jello Fruit Salad. From ingredients to instructions and special kitchen equipment, it’s all right here.
Lime Jello Salad Ingredients
- Canned crushed pineapple – with the juice
- Water
- Lime Jello – 6 ounces
- Cottage Cheese
- Celery
- Pecans
How to make Lime Jello Salad with Cottage Cheese
STEP ONE: Drain your can of crushed pineapple juice, reserving about 3/4 cup of the juice.
STEP TWO: Add 1 1/4 cup water to the pineapple juice to make 2 cups of liquid, pour it into a small pot, and bring it to a boil.
STEP THREE: Add the lime jello mix and stir it until it is dissolved. Remove it from the heat and add in 1 cup of cold water.
Pour the jello mixture into a container and place it in the fridge, stirring it every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes.
STEP FOUR: Once the jello is forming a slight gel, combine the cottage cheese, diced celery, crushed pineapple, and chopped pecans in a large bowl.
STEP FIVE: Add the cottage cheese mixture to the now cooled jello and mix. Spray a bundt pan lightly with cooking spray and pour the lime jello salad into the pan.
I used a Caphalon 10-cup bundt cake pan.
STEP SIX: Place it back in the refrigerator covered for at least 5 hours (overnight preferred).
STEP SEVEN: To remove the jello mold from the bundt pan, place it in a pan filled with hot water for 10-15 seconds. Place your serving plate on top of the bundt pan and then carefully flip it over. It should pop right out and look dazzling!
Jello Congealed Salad recipe substitutions
Yes, you can swap out with several substitute items.
Here are just some ideas!
- Substitute out the cottage cheese and fold in softened cream cheese or a Cool Whip topping instead.
If you’re extra fancy, you can make your own real whipped cream and use it. Make it with stiff peaks and gently stir in. - For a different flavor twist, a little mayonnaise will add unexpected richness and zestiness.
- A vegan version could feature finely cubed, extra firm tofu instead of cottage cheese.
- If celery isn’t your thing, feel free to leave it out. The recipe will work just fine without it. You may also substitute another crunchy ingredient, like chopped apple or jicama.
Will other fruits work in this lime jello salad recipe?
Other fruits will work great in this recipe. You can include other fruits along with pineapple or instead of it. Other great fruits to consider are canned mandarin oranges, chopped apple, or pear bits.
Just keep the amount of fruit to around 1 cup, so everything sets up and holds together.
For a splash of color, flavored cherries are a good choice too.
Nut Free Lime Jello Salad
Sure. You can leave the ½ cup of pecans out of this recipe, and it will still be wonderful. Feel free to add ½ cup more celery or fruit if you’d like to keep the solids to jello ratio the same.
If nuts are safe for your crew, but you just don’t want to use pecans, you can try chopped walnuts as an alternative.
How to Store Green Jello Salad
Don’t leave your salad out at room temperature for very long, or it will become runny. Green jello salad keeps for 5-7 seven days, and you must store it in the refrigerator.
It’s best to cover it well or keep it in an airtight container.
Can you freeze jello cottage salad?
Don’t try to freeze this salad unless you intend to eat it while it’s still frozen. I will lose its shape-holding integrity when it gets frozen, so when it thaws out, it becomes liquid again.
Lime Jello Cottage Cheese Salad FAQs
No to both fresh and frozen pineapple when making this recipe. The enzymes in fresh pineapple and also in frozen pineapple will actually prevent the gelatin in the jello from setting up.
This means lots of runny disappointment instead of lovely dessert. Stick with canned pineapple for success with this recipe.
The only way to use fresh pineapple is to toss in the pieces of fresh or frozen pineapple when you boil the liquid for preparing the jello. This heating process will deactivate those enzymes.
Your Lime Jell-O Salad will still be completely edible, but allowing the jello to get into a gel-like form will allow your ingredients to stay evenly spread throughout the salad.
If you add the cottage cheese mixture when the jello is still a liquid, all of the ingredients will sink to the bottom of the bundt pan. When flipped over, it will sit right on the top of the served green jello salad.
More like this Jello Cottage Cheese Salad
- Jello Lemon Meringue Pie
- Jello Cake
- Pistachio Salad
- Strawberry Jello Salad
- Jello Fruit Cocktail
- Orange Creamsicle Salad
- Sausage Balls Made Without Bisquick
- 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
- Cranberry Orange Sauce
Green Jello Cottage Cheese Salad
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup reserved pineapple juice from a can of crushed pineapple pineapple used later
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 box of lime jello 6 ounce
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 cup canned crushed pineapple juice already drained
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Drain your can of crushed pineapple juice, reserving about 3/4 cup of the juice.
- Add 1 1/4 cup water to the pineapple juice to make 2 cups of liquid, pour it into a small pot, and bring it to a boil.
- Add the lime jello mix and stir it until it is dissolved. Remove it from the heat and add in 1 cup of cold water. Pour the jello mixture into a container and place it in the fridge, stirring it every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes.
- Once the jello is forming a slight gel, combine the cottage cheese, diced celery, crushed pineapple, and chopped pecans in a large bowl.
- Add the cottage cheese mixture to the now cooled jello and mix. Spray a bundt pan lightly with cooking spray and pour the lime jello salad into the pan.
- Place it back in the refrigerator covered for at least 5 hours (overnight preferred).
- To remove the jello mold from the bundt pan, place it in a pan filled with hot water, for 10-15 seconds. Place your serving plate on top of the bundt pan and then carefully flip it over. It should pop right out.
Video
Nutrition
This nutrition information is based on the exact products I used in this recipe. Brands and sizes of products could alter exact nutrition and should always be calculated independently.
I love this! I would definitely try this thank you so much for sharing this <3
This is the EXACT salad my grandmother used to make. It takes me back.
I made this a few weeks ago. My grandkids won’t eat jello, but my oldest son made up for them. I think he he ate 3/4 of it.
I grew up poor and this and a few other fruit , veggies combinations were frequently on our table. .
I’m the only person I know who still REALLY likes lime jello with cottage cheese and fruit, veggies and nuts. I make it for Thanksgiving and people have one servingand then I get to eat all the rest!
My son requested this for Thanksgiving. It’s an old favorite 😀
Pretty funny, I can relate. None of my family really eats this at Holidays but I make it anyway because I LOVE it!! Also, I like to use Raspberry jello instead of the Lime. Delicious!
In the picture of one helping of lime jell,molded salads what is the dollop you have put on top of the serving. I’ve spread a topping on the salad in my younger days but can’t remember how I made it. Thank you
I just topped it with a little homemade whipped cream!
I have been searching a long time for a lime jello cottage cheese salad made using celery. As kids, we remember eating this every time we’d go out to our favorite local restaurant. Finally, your recipe is the one we’ve searched for and now found! Thank you for sharing and for your excellent directions and tips.
If I wanted to make this in an 8×8” square dish, or a 13×9” rectangular pan, will the ingredients remain the same? I don’t own a bundt pan and I don’t want to buy something I would rarely use. Thank you for helping me out.
Hi Clancy, yes the directions and ingredients will stay the same! I just recommend a longer chill time as the middle may take a bit longer to completely gel at the end. Enjoy!
Just an observation, substituting tofu for the cottage cheese will not make it vegan, as the Jello itself is made from animal byproducts (the gelatin is made from animal bone). I don’t know of any Jello (gelatin style) product that is vegan.
Hi Michael, There are a few brands of flavored gelatin that are vegan, which use agar agar in place of animal bone. Most are marketed as being vegan on the front of the box and can be found online or at local specialty food shops. I hope this helps!
I love this stuff (even with the mayo sometimes). My maternal grandmother used to make this often just because the whole family loved it, but she made hers using a buttere sauce that was made using the juice from the drained pineapple (we used crushed pineapple in this recipe but the tidbits work great, too). Does anyone have a recipe for the jello salad with the butter sauce? I thought I had it in my recipe box but I moved recently and now I cannot find a few of the recipes from that box. I think I had taken them out and laid them on my computer desk to remind me to make them for weekends when my grandkids come to visit and in the move they were somehow lost.
My grandkids also love spice cake with buttermilk frosting, so that is on the menu for this weekend!
Hi D. Smith, Thanks for your feedback! I really enjoy keeping these vintage recipes going for another generation, so glad you are finding joy in them too!