History & Origins
Strawberry pretzel salad is a delightful layered dessert featuring a crunchy pretzel crust, a creamy filling, and a sweet strawberry Jell-O topping, making it a popular choice at potlucks and gatherings.
Although called a "salad," it is essentially a no-bake dessert. It combines sweet and salty flavors and consists of three layers: a salty pretzel crust, a creamy layer made from cream cheese and whipped topping, and a top layer of strawberry Jell-O with fresh or frozen strawberries suspended in it.
Ingredients
Crust Layer
- Pretzels - you just need crushed mini traditional pretzels.
- Granulated Sugar - to make this sugar free, just omit granulated sugar for granulated replacement sugar such as Truvia or Monk Fruit.
- Butter - unsalted is best here since the pretzels are salty
Cream Cheese Layer
- Cream Cheese - soften cream cheese
- Cool Whip - make sure the cool whip is thawed
- Vanilla Extract
- Granulated Sugar - to make this sugar free, just omit granulated sugar for granulated replacement sugar such as Truvia or Monk Fruit.
Jello Layer
Strawberry Jello - you can opt for sugar free jello
Hot Water - you don't need boiling water, just water that's hot to the touch
Strawberries - fresh or frozen strawberries can be used here
Instructions
Crust
Preheat oven to 350° F and spray a 9x13" baking pan with non-stick spray.
To prepare the crust, crush pretzels and combine with granulated sugar.
In a separate bowl, melt butter and add to the pretzels and sugar. Mix together until combined and pour contents into prepared baking pan. Spread evenly across the pan and using the back of a measuring cup, press down to create a uniform thickness.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
No-Bake Cream Cheese Layer
In a large bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together sugar and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add thawed cool whip and vanilla extract. Beat on medium low speed until thoroughly combine and there are no streaks of cream cheese or cool whip visible.
Scoop contents of the bowl into baked pretzel crust and spread evenly making sure there are no gaps between the cream cheese layer and the pan. Chill in the fridge for 4 hours to overnight to allow the cream cheese layer to set up.
Jello Layer
Heat water until it's hot to the touch. It does not need to be boiling.
In a medium size bowl pour jello package into hot water and whisk until the Jello is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Remove pan from the fridge and distribute the strawberries evenly over the cream cheese layer. Gently pour the Jello over the strawberries and allow the Jello to set up for 5-10 minutes on the counter before allowing to finish setting up in the fridge. Once the Jello has set up some and you're able to handle the pan without the Jello pouring over the edge, gently put the pan back into the fridge and allow to set up for 4 hours to overnight before cutting.
How to Serve
Once set, strawberry pretzel salad can be cut into squares and served chilled. You can serve it with extra whipped topping or strawberries.
Tips for Success
For Easy Clean Up - you can line a 9x13" baking pan with foil for easy clean up. Just make sure the foil is super smooth across the sides of the pan. You don't want any gaps or folds in the foil.
Cream Cheese Layer - it is important that there are no gaps in-between the cream cheese layer and the side of the pan. Failure to do so will cause the Jello to seep under the pretzel layer and cause it to be soggy. 😭
Jello - make sure that you don't follow the instructions on the box of the Jello. If you do, the Jello won't set up properly which will cause issues when you try to cut it later.
