This Easy Grape Salad is a creamy mix of green and red grapes, sweetened cream cheese, and sour cream, topped with crunchy pecans and a sprinkle of brown sugar. It’s a classic Southern side dish that is perfect for summer potlucks!

spoonful of Grape Salad

Easy Grape Salad

This Easy Grape Salad is a classic Southern recipe and you’ll find this delicious dessert salad at every potluck and summer party right alongside the ambrosia salad, and Watergate salad. You know it’s going to be an amazing party when you get to have all three!

I love a good grape salad recipe because it only requires a few simple ingredients and, being a grape-lover, I usually have everything I need in my refrigerator. All of the ingredients are tossed in a bowl and then you put a lid on it and store everything in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. It may be one of the easiest fruit salad recipes ever!

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potluck Grape Salad topped with pecans

What is in Grape Salad?

  • Cream cheese
  • Sour cream
  • Granulated sugar
  • Vanilla extract
  • Red and green grapes (make sure you get seedless grapes!)
  • Brown sugar
  • Pecans

How to Make Grape Salad:

  1. In a small mixing bowl combine the cream cheese and sugar. Use a hand mixer to blend the two together until they are creamy.
  2. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture and mix together.
  3. Place the washed red and green grapes (or green and purple grapes) in a large bowl. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the grapes and toss the ingredients together until the grapes are well coated.
  4. Top with brown sugar and pecans and place the grape salad in a sealed container and refrigerate until serving.

Note: We used whole grapes in this recipe because that is how it was traditionally made but you might want to consider cutting your grapes in half lengthwise so they are not a choking hazard, especially if young children will be at the event. The salad will taste just as good and it’s better safe than sorry!

Grape Salad great picnic recipe

Grape Salad Substitutions:

The really great thing about this simple fruit salad is that you really can’t make it wrong. A classic side dish like this has a million different variations.

Of course every grape salad recipe requires you to add grapes but I have seen version that use Cool whip instead of sour cream, or added to the sour cream and cream cheese. I’ve even seen version of this recipe that add chopped up candy bars…which is pretty brilliant really!

This is a Southern recipe and we tend to put pecans in everything but you can also substitute walnuts for the pecans, or even almonds if you prefer, but I would use slivered almonds if you do that so they aren’t too crunchy.

What I’m saying is start with the basics and feel free to add or change things based on what you and your family like best. That’s how family recipes are made and that’s what makes them so amazing. 🙂

make ahead grape salad

What to Serve with Grape Salad:

Since grape salad is most often seen during the summer months at BBQs and potlucks here are a few recipes other summer potluck recipes that it would go perfectly with!

EASY GRAPE SALAD
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Servings: 10
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Easy Grape Salad

Created By: Kat Jeter & Melinda Caldwell
This Easy Grape Salad is a creamy mix of green and red grapes, sweetened cream cheese, and sour cream, topped with crunchy pecans and a sprinkle of brown sugar. It's a classic Southern side dish that is perfect for summer potlucks!
spoonful of Grape Salad
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces Cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1 cup Sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
  • 2 pounds Red grapes, seedless
  • 2 pounds Green grapes, seedless
  • 1/4 cup Brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup Pecans, roughly chopped

Instructions

  • In a small bowl combine the cream cheese and sugar. Use a hand mixer to blend the two together until they are creamy.
  • Add the sour cream and vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture and mix together.
  • Place the washed red and green grapes in a large bowl and spoon the cream cheese mixture over them. Gently fold the ingredients together until the grapes are well coated.
  • Fold in the pecans and sprinkle brown sugar over everything.
  • Place in a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 323kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 36mg, Sodium: 96mg, Potassium: 437mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 40g, Vitamin A: 570IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 74mg, Iron: 0.9mg
Nutrition Disclaimer: We are not certified nutritionists. Nutrition facts are an estimate and are provided as a courtesy. They are generated by an online API which recognizes ingredient names and amounts and makes calculations based on the serving size. Results may vary.
Course: Side
Cuisine: American