This old-fashioned Strawberry Pretzel Salad consists of a salty pretzel crust topped with a creamy and sweet cream cheese layer and a strawberry jello topping filled with fresh strawberries.
It’s the perfect dessert to satisfy your salty-sweet cravings and take advantage of in-season strawberries.
This is far from your typical salad. In fact it’s not a salad at all. Strawberry Pretzel Salad is along the lines of Watergate Salad. A dessert that’s called a salad. It tastes similar to a no-bake cheesecake.
Tips for making Strawberry Pretzel Salad:
You can use frozen strawberries instead of fresh.
Be sure to spread the cream cheese layer all the way to the edges so that the jello layer doesn’t seep down and make the pretzels soggy.
If you like a little saltiness in your sweets, you will find this layer dessert to be positively addictive. Each of the 3 layers is delicious on its own, but put them all together and you have amazing flavor and texture contrasts.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad is a classic summer dessert that makes a wonderful make-ahead dish for a potluck or picnic.
Try these other strawberry desserts:
- Strawberry Sheet Cake
- Easy Strawberry Shortcake
- Strawberry Twinkie Cake
- No-Bake Strawberry Lasagna
- Strawberry Pretzel Icebox Pie
Watch the short video below to see how easy this dessert is.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed thin salted pretzels
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 1 (6-ounce) package strawberry Jello-O
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 cups thinly sliced fresh strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, mix together crushed pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons sugar. Press into a lightly greased 9X13-inch pan. Bake for 8 minutes and cool completely.
- Use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese and 1 cup sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping using a rubber spatula. Spread over cooled pretzel crust being sure cream cheese mixture completely covers and seals the crust. This will help keep the jello layer from seeping down.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (can be refrigerated overnight at this point).
- In a bowl, whisk together jello and boiling water until jello is completely dissolved. Add the strawberries. Refrigerate for 5 minutes and then pour on top of cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until firm.
Nutrition
Originally published May 5, 2014
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
This is a great dessert for people who are allergic to nuts but crave them. The carmelized pretzels do taste and have the texture of nuts. So yummy!!!!
Hi. I just made this Pretzel Salad. Love it, but the pretzel crust was soft. Shouldn’t it be crunchy? I spread the cheese mixture to the sides, so it wasn’t from tht. Maybe I crushed the pretzels to much?
I the crust is soggy, it’s usually because the jello seeped under the cream cheese./Cool Whip layer and into the pretzel crust. You want to be sure to create a seal over the pretzel crust by spreading the cream cheese/ Cool whip mixture until it touches the edges of the baking dish all the way around the perimeter.
This happened to me once, but it didn’t happen again after I was careful to create the seal.
I lost the recipe to this so I found yours!
Only I like to use raspberry jello and frozen raspberries. Have never had a complaint, always a hit!
Never disappointing. always a crowd pleaser!
WONDERFUL!
Have made this several times and lost my recipe! SO glad you have it! Thanks! This stuff is AWESOME!
Do anything different when using g frozen straw7
Was going to ask the same thing? Adjust water, for jello???
I put the oven on 400 cooked for 8 mins and burnt it and it smoked. I recommend a lower temp.
How many days in advance of serving can you make this?
I love this recipe
So much you can do with the jello lemon jello and blueberries
Orange and mandarine
List goes on
Have fun but keep the pretzels and cream cheese filling !!!!
If using sugar free hello is ok can you use Splenda in place of sugar? I am diabetic
Yes, that should work fine.
Has anyone ever doubled this recipe for a 9×13 size pan?
Yes I have and my opinion it ‘s better. It’s more filling, richer and creamier doubling the recipe. It’s the only way I make it now!
I love this recipe but my kids font like Jell-O. So I make and just top with sliced strawberries blueberries and blackerries.
I honestly have never liked Jello in my life. I would not eat it. I still don’t eat it.
However, I have always been the kid who ate anything at events or other houses because I was polite. So I do get exposed to a lot of different things that I likely would never have eaten. I had this at a cookout, and I loved it.
I’ve done the just topped with fruit, too.
I do add a lot of fruit to the Jello to kind of “break it up” so to speak. (So you don’t get a huge bit of Jello)
Another way for kids who don’t like it, make the jello and when it is solid, mix it up with another amount of whipped cream, it changes the taste, texture, and is a lot easier. Just whip the jello and cream and when it is completely combined, then spread that over the cream cheese mix.
Making this for Easter Dinner Dessert…beautiful, AND yummy!
Delicious! To cut calories, I use sugar free jello and lite whipped topping.
I also mix it up with different fruits and jello flavors. For example, I’ve used orange jello and chopped clementines, raspberries and raspberry jello. I want to try peaches too.
I use sugar free also! No one ever knows…there is plenty of other sugar in it👍🏼.
for those saying no one notices the sugar-free jello…
they might not right away but a person who suffers from migraines will soon enough
I think any substitutions should be mentioned upfront, as different people might not usually be able to eat it and for those that usually can eat it, and should be warned up front to avoid anything.
People often don’t even think twice about the “healthy” substitutions, that they can actually be unhealthy/not an option for some people.
Nutrasweet is poison & destroys brain cells! Gives me horrible 3 day migraines! & causes me to sit and cry & cry & cry
Looks great I will be giving this a try
Can you omit the strawberries and just go with the strawberry jello?
You can, but make sure you chill the Jello in the fridge for 5 minutes before pouring it onto the cream cheese mixture.
I love this so much, however, at a potluck it melted due to sitting out & people didn’t try it.
I love this dessert! However, each time I make it the crust stick to the bottom of the pan, or crumbles before getting onto plate. I follow instructions exactly as I dont like to alter any recipes. Any ideas?
try putting a layer of Parchment cooking paper in the pan before the pretzel mix… works great. 😉
Such a classic, delicious recipe!
I’m curious if you could use lime jello and strawberries for a unique strawberry margarita flavor?
That sounds really good Darrell! Let me know if you try it!
Yes I always use frozen strawberries. Cools off the jello way faster
Just spotted this; wonder if frozen strawberries would work – has anyone tried ?
Frozen strawberries works great also and cooks your jello quicker
Absolutely delicious!!!! Love, love, loved it!!!!
Yay! 🙂
This is so great! What I love about this is its salty-sweet flavor. It’s not too sweet and not too salty. It does have the exact amount of flavors needed. And of course, the fresh strawberries are something look forward from this recipe. Absolutely delicious!
Oh no, i would trade everything for this baby. Gorgeous. Gorgeous, Christin. I love it so much!
I LOVE strawberry pretzel salad, but I can’t remember the last time I had it. I’m actually planning a little twist on it coming up on my blog in the next week or two!
This recipe sounds perfect! All of my favorite ingredients are in it 🙂 I’ve never tried combining pretzels with strawberries but it sounds delicious!
This Deseret was ok but next time I would do a walnut crust!
So when I put the cream cheese topping on mine the pretzel crust was lifting up which then didn’t allow me to spread evenly and the jello topping soaked in on parts any suggestions?
Hmm…was the crust completely cooled before you spread the next layer? It should be so it is firm and won’t lift. I’ve chilled the crust before putting on the cheese layer and it worked great.
YUM! Looks perfect! 🙂
Wow.. a perfect dessert for strawberry season. Love it.
You had me at the words pretzel + salad?! This looks incredible! Love the beautiful strawberry jelly!
What a unique twist on jello salad. I’m all about that pretzel crust. 😀
Such a classic! Love this gorgeous dessert!
Desserts with a little saltiness are my favorite! Love the sound of that crust!!
This is one salad that definitely would not mind eating every single day! All that fresh strawberry goodness looks amazing with the pretzel crust!!
Christin, this ‘salad’ dessert looks so festive! I’m with you in loving summer strawberries. They are so juicy and flavorful this time of year. And, I love how light and fluffy this gem looks. Pinned!
You know that I love this one with all of those fresh strawberries! And you said it’s salad, right? That means I can have two pieces 🙂
2 helpings due to being a salad.
What a lovely dessert with strawberries! 🙂 Not too sweet.. Yummy!
Not too sweet is right. But I also like the cream cheese in here not to mention the pretzel crust. And I’m on dessert duty for Mother’s Day. This is more stressful than loosing to my students at badminton (gym teacher here). And my in-laws are coming and expect me to whip up something.
loved the colors. Looks yummilicious..
Oh this looks fantastic, Christin! My aunt makes something very similar for family parties and I devour it every time. Love the strawberry and pretzel combo!
The perfect summer treat!
I love using strawberries in desserts, especially this time of year when they’re so fresh. This looks delicious! Love the pretzel crust on the bottom too.