Strawberry OR Cherry Butter Pretzel Salad

This salad is great with just about any kind of meat or chicken. I sometimes eat it myself as a dessert.

2 cups crushed butter pretzels (This is the secret to this recipe and Snyders of Hanover are the best pretzels we have here. These butter pretzels taste like pecans in the crust).
3/4 cup melted butter or margarine
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Stir together and press onto bottom of 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.

2 packages (3 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature
9 ounces Cool Whip or equivalent whipped topping
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine cream cheese and sugar, mix well. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spread over the pretzel crust, sealing the edges well. Chill at least 1 hour.

1 (6 ounce) package strawberry Jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen strawberries

Dissolve the Jello in water. Stir in the frozen strawberries until thawed. Chill until almost set. Pour the Jello mixture over cheese mixture. Chill several hours before serving. Cut into squares. Yields 20 servings.


I tried a variation to this recipe for Thanksgiving. I used cherry Jello and 1 and 1/2 jars of sliced cold Maraschino cherries instead of the strawberries. I also added the juice from the one cherry jar since my cherries were not frozen. This was also delicious.

This is my oldest nieces favorite salad. She request that I make it each time she comes to my house for dinner or the family get togethers. I also had this requested to be served at a bridal shower since it is one of the brides favorites.