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Orange Jello Salad

This vintage Orange Jello Salad recipe is simple and delicious! Mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple are mixed into orange gelatin and topped with a Cool Whip and vanilla pudding frosting that is wonderful!

Thick piece of orange jello salad with mandarin oranges

A sweeter version of this recipe that is more of a fluff is our Orange Sherbet Jello Salad.

Mandarin Orange Jello Salad Recipe 

Triple orange flavors come from orange gelatin, orange juice concentrate and mandarin oranges.  When the tropical crushed pineapple pieces and juice are mixed in the sweet and fruity goodness this recipe gets even better. 

Cool Whip or Dream Whip mixes with instant vanilla pudding to create a top layer that adds a lot to this orange gelatin salad. The creamy dreamy flavors of whipped topping have a hint of vanilla so more flavor is packed in each bite.

With a similar flavor profile to our Orange Cake with Pineapple Icing and Orange Dreamsicle Cake this classic Mandarin Orange Jello Salad is cool and refreshing on a hot summer day. Just like our 7-Up Jello Salad and Watergate Salad, this is a great recipe to take to a picnic or potluck.

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An 8×8 or 9×9 square pan makes a thick piece of congealed orange Jello salad.   A 9×13 pan makes a thinner layer of gelatin to make smaller servings for more people.  When using a bigger pan I double the frosting because that is my favorite part and I want to make sure there’s enough to go around. 

Dish of orange gelatin salad with a slice out front on a white plate

Variations of the light and fluffy frosting also tastes great on our Pistachio Pudding Cake and Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

Our Orange Delight is a Jello fluff salad of sorts, but it doesn’t use boiling water.  This Orange jello salad dissolves the gelatin in boiling water and does not contain cottage cheese like the Orange Delight

Ingredients Needed:

  • Orange gelatin
  • Boiling water
  • Orange juice concentrate
  • Crushed pineapple
  • Mandarin oranges
  • Whipped topping
  • Instant vanilla pudding
Jello Salad with Cool Whip ingredients with mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple

Tips & Tricks

  • Orange Jello layer can be mixed up a day or two ahead of serving. The frosting should be applied within 24 hours of use and kept chilled for best results.
  • A few mandarin oranges can be set aside to garnish if desired.
  • Fresh mandarin oranges can be used in place of canned oranges if desired.
  • Dream Whip and 1 small package of instant vanilla pudding can be used for the frosting layer instead of Cool Whip.
  • Only just 1 cup of boiling water as more liquid will come from the pineapple juice.
  • Generic ingredients taste just as good as the name-brand ingredients and will help save money.
  • This jello salad can be spiked with a couple of shots of your favorite liquor.  Just make sure the kids can’t get into it!
  • A liquid measuring cup can be used to pour liquid gelatin mixture into smaller containers to make individual portions if desired.
Mandarin oranges garnishing a tropical salad

How to Make Orange Jello Salad

Boil 1 cup of water and dissolve two small boxes of gelatin in the boiling water.  Whisk together until the gelatin is completely dissolved; at this point you should not be able to see individual grains or pieces of the gelatin mix.

Orange gelatin in a sauce pan

Remove from the heat and stir in orange juice concentrate, crushed pineapple with juice and the drained mandarin oranges. Pour into a pan, cover and store in a level spot in the refrigerator until firm.

Crushed pineapple stirred into dissolved orange gelatin

In a mixing bowl whisk together defrosted whipped topping and instant vanilla pudding mix. Spread over chilled and set Jello layer. Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator.

Mandarin orange on top of cool whip layer on congealed orange Jello salad

Enjoy every bite of this cool and refreshing treat that’s full of bright flavors!

More Delicious Holiday Recipes:

No-Bake Oreo Peanut Butter Pie is a layer of easy peanut butter pie on a thick and easy Oreo crust. The chocolate and peanut butter flavor combination is irresistible!

Pina Colada Cake is another tropical favorite poke cake that mixes up very quickly!

Strawberry Banana Split Cake is sweet treat with lots of fruit flavors a creamy topping, chocolate syrup and chopped nuts.

Cool whip frosting on classic orange jello salad

Orange Jello Salad

Servings 16 pieces
Author: Jennifer
This vintage Orange Jello Salad recipe is simple and delicious! Mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple are mixed into orange gelatin and topped with a Cool Whip and vanilla pudding frosting that is wonderful!
4.34 from 6 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Chill time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 6 ounces orange gelatin 2 small packages
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 6 ounce can frozen orange juice slightly defrosted
  • 20 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
  • 15 ounce can mandarin oranges drained

Frosting

  • 8 ounces whipped topping defrosted
  • 3.5 ounce box instant vanilla pudding

Instructions
 

  • Boil water in a saucepan and then add orange gelatin. Turn off heat and whisk until gelatin is dissolved.
  • Stir in orange juice concentrate, crushed pineapple with the juice and drained mandarin oranges. Reserve a few oranges to garnish the top if desired.
  • Pour into an 8×8 or 9×9 dish and chill to set.
  • Stir instant pudding mix into whipped topping and spread over orange jello mixture. Store in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Calories: 144kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 2gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 102mgPotassium: 168mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 417IUVitamin C: 27mgCalcium: 23mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

“Plowing Through Life” is not a dietitian or nutrition professional. Any nutritional information shared is an estimate and can vary greatly depending on specific products are used. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator of your choice.

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17 Comments

  1. Am I supposed to make the pudding then mix it into the whipped topping?

    1. Jennifer @ Plowing Through Life says:

      Hey There! Great question – just stir the dry pudding mix into the whipped topping for a delightful top layer. Hope you enjoy!

    2. Granny Jean says:

      The dry pudding mix is put dry into the Cool Whip

    3. 4 stars
      We would mix only 1 cup of milk (your choice) into the pudding and then lightly blend the pudding and whipped cream together. Enjoy!

    4. 5 stars
      Love this recipe. Instead of the whipped cream I put sour cream on top. Sounds a bit odd, but sitting overnight the sour cream kinda takes on the taste of the orange. and it cuts the sweetness down.

  2. 5 stars
    My husband and I absolutely love this! Right I have also used cheesecake flalose cheesecake flavored yellow pudding to mix with the cool whip, and I never seem to have Orange juice frozen concentrate and it’s fine without it

  3. Love this orange and pineapple jello. Made it several years ago. One problem with this recipe though. it says 6oz is a small box of jello, but it’s actually the big box. I had to add 2 more cups of water to dilute the bigger boxes or would’ve of been way too sweet. Also next time I wouldn’t add the frozen orange juice, just not needed, again way too much sugar & it actually tasted great before I added the oj.

    1. 2 small boxes = 6 Oz

  4. CYNTHIA SNEED says:

    5 stars
    Fantastic salad! Been eating this salad every Thanksgiving and Christmas for over 50 years! Never fails to delight!

  5. 4 stars
    Very refreshing jello salad. Not very fond of the pudding/cool whip mixture for topping. Will only use cool whip next time.

  6. 3 stars
    Is the pudding mix and cool whip suppose to taste gritty or should I have added milk to the dry pudding before adding the cool whip?

    1. Jennifer @ Plowing Through Life says:

      Hey There! It shouldn’t taste gritty. I do not add milk and have done several flavor variations of this and haven’t experience the gritty feeling…so I’m wondering if the Cool Whip was fully defrosted or if maybe it needed stirred a bit more? Also wanted to make sure you had instant pudding and not cook and serve? Sorry that happened!

  7. Missie Duke says:

    I used to add bananas to gelatin and coconut to topping. Yum.

  8. I thought it was gritty too, with dry mix . I mix with 1 cup cold milk, then fold into cool whip. It’s much better that way!

  9. Ranae Collett says:

    I have been making this for years. That being said I use vanilla pudding , cool whip, milk and creamcheese for the topping. It is delicious.

  10. Denise Taylor says:

    Can orange juice be substituted for the orange juice concentrate?

    1. Jennifer @ Plowing Through Life says:

      Hey There! I think OJ would change the consistency, so would need to adjust the balance of water to OJ and I imagine it would still have a different taste. If you test this please let us know how it works ๐Ÿ™‚

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