I developed this classic creamy Grape Salad with red and green grapes combined with a cheesecake-like dressing, and then finished it with a chopped pecan-brown sugar topping. It’s a crazy, delicious, and easy fruit salad that’s perfect for spring and summer that is loved by everyone!

Easy Grape Salad Recipe

This classic creamy Grape Salad combines both red and green grapes with a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar that’s then topped with brown sugar and pecans. Though it’s often served as a side dish, it sure tastes a lot like dessert! I love that it’s sweet with just the perfect amount of tang from the sour cream and tartness from the grapes.

Quick, easy, requires absolutely no cooking or baking, and absolutely delicious, it’s always a hit at get togethers and potlucks.

I buy extra green grapes and make these Caramel Apple Grapes—such a fun finger food that tastes like a caramel apple in every tiny bite!

How to Make Grape Salad Step by Step

Make the creamy dressing: Beat together an 8-ounce brick of cream cheese, 1 cup sour cream, ¼ cup granulated sugar, and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla until well blended, creamy, and smooth.

Add the grapes: Fold in 2 cups of red grapes and 2 cups of green grapes, and ¼ cup of pecans until coated.

Chill: Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Overnight works too.

Serve: Combine ¼ cup pecans and ¼ cup brown sugar. Sprinkle over the salad and enjoy.

Recipe Variations

• Add Snickers or a Heath Bar. Yes really! Some people swear by adding chopped up Snickers bars to this easy fruit salad. Similarly, crushed-up toffee from a Heath or Butterfinger bar is a popular addition too.
• Replace the sour cream with yogurt. If you’re not a fan of sour cream or want a healthier alternative, you can replace it with plain Greek yogurt or vanilla yogurt.
• Add a graham cracker topping. Crushed graham crackers also make a great topping on grape salad, with or without the brown sugar.

How to Store

Grape salad is best when eaten within 2 days. For that reason, I do not recommend making it more than the night before you’ll be enjoying it. Be sure to keep it tightly covered or in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It should be enjoyed cold, but you can let it soften just a bit at room temperature, if necessary, and give it a stir before serving again.

Serving Suggestions

This salad is typically served in a large bowl, but we think putting it in a shallow casserole dish is ideal, so the brown sugar/nut mixture gets equal coverage over the salad and everyone gets some of that
highly coveted topping. Another option is to put the topping in its own separate bowl to the side of the salad and let people sprinkle it on themselves.

I like to offer this up at summer BBQs. It makes a great sweet side dish to Oklahoma Smash Burgers, or fun Spiral Hot Dogs. Pretty much anything else fresh off the grill will work well, too. Plus this salad is always a hit with both kids and adults!

More Creamy Summer Salad Recipes:

• Pea Salad
• Macaroni Salad
• Potato Salad
• Egg Salad
• Chicken Salad
• Mexican Street Corn Salad
• Creamy Cucumber Salad