Red Jello Salad

Red jello with a warm festive cinnamon flavor and crunch from apples, celery and nuts creates the best Red Jello Salad for the holidays.

If you enjoy this recipe you may also enjoy our more simple Rosy Applesauce with Jello.

Red Hot Jello Recipe

Festive flavors with red cherry gelatin are perfect for the Christmas dessert table. Red Hot Jello salad is a vintage recipe that is super easy to make.

The red hot cinnamon candy flavor stands out the most and is complimented by the sweet apples. I appreciate that this salad can be made a couple days ahead of time to save time and take some stress out of holiday meal planning.

A smooth and jiggly texture is made more interesting by adding finely chopped apples, celery and walnuts or pecans. These add-ins are all optional but do make this dessert salad more captivating!

My grandma always made one of her signature jello salads for the holidays. You could count on this being a part of our Christmas feast.

Whether it was this one with cinnamon imperial candy, Cherry Coke Jello Salad, a Cranberry Jello Mold, or 7-Up Jello Salad we always had a jello concoction to try.

Whether you use a jello salad mold or pour the warm mixture in a bowl to set this congealed dessert salad is bright and beautiful.

Another popular green jello salad we make is our Lime Jello Salad with Cottage Cheese.

Ingredients Needed

• Cherry gelatin
• Red hot candy
• Boiling water
• Apples
• Candy
• Nuts – walnuts or pecans

Is a Jello Mold Necessary?

You do not have to use a jello mold to make a jello salad. A bowl of your choosing and a lid or piece of plastic wrap to cover it works just fine.

Growing up I saw jello salads served in decorative glass bowls at the holidays.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• Apples may be replaced with applesauce for a smoother salad
• I use a single cup Keurig to heat water. This works well for the jello and needs to be used immediately and possibly microwaved an additional time or two to melt red hot candy
• Finely chop apples and celery to maximize flavor and texture in every bite
• Your favorite flavor of chopped nuts work well in this recipe – we typically use walnuts or pecans
• Even if you don’t typically use chopped nuts in recipes walnuts or pecans make a great addition.
• Cut Jello salad with any knife or metal serving utensil. Jello salad is very easy to cut even when it is filled with fruit.
• Serve with whipped cream or Cool Whip and enjoy!

How to Make Red Jello

Chop apples, celery and nuts if using. Set aside.

Use one cup of boiling water to dissolve jello. Use remaining half cup of boiling water to dissolve red hots.

Mix all ingredient in a medium bowl.

Generously coat a pan or mold with non-stick cooking spray.

Stir well and pour into a pan, ring, or bowl.

Cover mixture and refrigerate until set which is about two to four hours.

More Delicious Dessert Salads:

Orange Jello Salad has mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple mixed into orange gelatin and topped with a Cool Whip and vanilla pudding frosting.

Marshmallow Salad has colorful mini marshmallows mixed with Cool Whip, pistachio pudding and crushed pineapple.

Cottage Cheese with Pineapple Salad and Orange Delight are similar light desserts with cottage cheese and different flavors of gelatin.

Orange Fluff Jello Salad features tapioca pudding along with other traditional fluff salad ingredients.