Aunt Cathie’s Southern Grape Salad
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This quick and easy Southern grape salad recipe includes pecans and grapes covered in a sweet yet creamy dressing. The combination of sweet and savory flavor and texture make this the best grape salad I’ve had… EVER!
Today, I’m sharing a recipe for Aunt Cathie’s Southern grape salad from our friend Shannon. I’m gonna tell you now, this is the best grape salad I have ever had IN MY LIFE. Seriously, folks, this grape salad recipe must have been blessed and prayed over at countless church suppers because that is the only logical explanation for how one dish can taste so good.
Aunt Cathie’s Southern grape salad is perfect for a springtime brunch, bridal or baby shower, or just simply as a treat for yourself or anyone else you love enough to serve this earthly manna to. Make sure you save this recipe, print it off, share it on your Facebook wall, or pin it to your Pinterest boards.
Now, this is a deliciously creamy grape salad. We coat our grapes and pecans in both cream cheese and sour cream. Then we add a little sweetness with vanilla, white sugar, and brown sugar. These ingredients are so simple, so staple, and so normal. But when combined, they become something so wonderful! It’s a little sweet, a little savory, and a lot creamy. The pecans also add a lovely texture. Is it obvious yet that I can’t get enough of this grape salad’s flavor? Did I also mention it takes 10 minutes to whip it up? Yep, the best grape salad ever!
Recipe Ingredients
- Cream cheese (check out my easy homemade cream cheese recipe)
- Pecans (optional)
- Sour cream
- Vanilla
- Seedless grapes (I prefer red grapes for color)
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
How to Make Southern Grape Salad
Take your softened cream cheese and put it in a mixing bowl along with the white sugar, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
Beat that with an electric mixer until it accepts its fate of becoming the wondrous dressing for this salad.
Sometimes bad situations transform us into better things, as has just happened to that cream cheese here. #creamcheeselifelessons
Take a large spoon and stir in your whole grapes.
Hopefully, you remembered to wash them. If not, consider this a boon to your immunity!
To anyone freaking out after reading that last sentence: Hey there, friend! It’s gonna be okay. We used to eat dirt as kids. It’s all good. For reals. Exhale.
When you’re done, sprinkle the top with a little brown sugar and some chopped pecans if you’d like.
Now step back, look at it, and smile.
Awww! Such a pretty dish.
Okay, admiring time is over. ENJOY this Southern grape salad today!
Storage
Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I don’t recommend freezing it.
Recipe Notes
- If you like, use a combination of red grapes and green grapes.
- For extra crunch, add a cup of chopped celery and/or diced apples.
- Substitute the chopped pecans for chopped walnuts or omit them completely. Toast the nuts briefly in the oven for extra flavor.
- You can also sprinkle coconut flakes on top for a different kind of taste and texture.
- If you don’t like sour cream, substitute it for Greek yogurt.
- Substitute the vanilla extract for almond extract if you like.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make my grape salad in advance?
Absolutely! In fact, I think it tastes even better when chilled overnight, so you can definitely make it up to 24 hours in advance.
What do you serve with grape salad?
Grape salad is a popular appetizer to take to a potluck, barbecue, or holiday party. But you can also serve it as a side dish with your favorite main meal. This might be fried chicken, grilled chicken tenders, or Southern fried catfish.
You might also enjoy these fantastic fruit salad recipes:
Ideas For Fruit Salad – Festive Holiday Fruit Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad with Lemon Honey Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 pounds seedless grapes
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- chopped pecans, optional
Instructions
- Allow the cream cheese to come to room temp by leaving it on the counter overnight. In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and granulated sugar. Beat until well blended and smooth.8 ounces sour cream, 16 ounces cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup white sugar
- Stir in grapes to coat.2 pounds seedless grapes
- Move to a serving dish and sprinkle the top of your salad with brown sugar and pecans.2 tablespoons brown sugar, chopped pecans, optional
Nutrition
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.
~Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Sounds good . Pecans are pricey , has anyone used pretzels instead ?
I haven’t tried it but I would love to hear if someone has and how it turned out as well!
Forgot to mention…we always had a balanced meal; meat, a veggie and a starch; never two starches! If we served ourselves, we had to clean our plate but if Mom served us, we didn’t.
What a creative way to teach portion sizes!! Well, I am guessing that is why your Mom did it that way 🙂 .
Daddy always said my mom could cook a leather boot and make it fit for a king! We think this looks delicious and want to try it!
LOL, I love that!! I hope you get the chance to try it soon!!
Thanks Christy for your posts, emails and recipes! Love your positive outlook and encouragement of others-it really is our “choice” of how we start our day! My parents stressed the family dinner and our meals were always balanced. Meat, potato or starch and veggies. Desserts were there but we had to clean our plate and had only 3 foods we didn’t have to eat. Liver wasn’t included so, I had to cover mine in mustard to eat! Mom always said you have to keep trying things as your taste changes as you get older. My Mom was a Home Economics major and I was too-we joked “Becky Homebecky” My kids know the value of the “family meal”-family sharing and we continue the balanced meals. It was hard at times but we ate together as much as we could and say grace.
The TV show Blue Bloods shows “Sunday Family Dinner” and they say it is the most popular part of the show–rings true! Thanks and blessings!
Ok, if liver was on the had to eat list I am almost scared to ask what the 3 things that you didn’t have to eat were. But I am curious 🙂
I love liver
Well, my three things were turnips, beets and I think sweet potatoes-but true to my Mom, your tastes change and it depends on how they were fixed. I like sweet potatoes now but not fond of the other yet..
We call those “separate meals,” and we have thrm once a week or so. Growing up, that’s what we ate every night, but my kids definitely consider them grandma food.
We tend to eat a lot more ethnic food than I grew up with, and I cook a lot more recipes and new stuff, too. Tacos are a staple, and they were never served growing up. But just like growing up, we set the table and eat together every night
Wow! What a yummy and delicious recipes, my mouth is already watering and i can’t wait to try this at home asap.
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten Grape Salad, but it certainly “sounds a treat”.
Even though I spent most of my childhood in the Pacific Northwest, my grandparents that raised me were Southern bred, Southern-born and Southern raised, and stayed pretty true to their roots and heritage. Suppers for us almost always included meat, potatoes, [fried, mashed or boiled “in the jacket”], some kind of [dry] beans, even if it meant Granny had to open a jar of home-canned pintos or butter beans. There would be a vegetable of some kind, and in the summer, fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and green onions. Tossed salads were a rarity, but we often had sweet pickled cabbage, especially with pork. Desserts were served a few times a week, usually a pie or cobbler, or Granny’s “Plain Scratch Cake” topped with her Homemade Chocolate Syrup & freshly whipped cream [from cream skimmed from our own fresh milk]. Sometimes dessert was one of Granny’s big ol’ biscuits, split and buttered, sprinkled with sugar and topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. Frosted cakes were reserved for birthdays and holidays, and cookies were seldom seen until I got old enough to start baking…even then, they were usually bar cookies, because I didn’t have the patience for baking several batches. One exception were the tea cakes I’d bake for my Grandpa.
For most of my adult life I cooked the basic “meat, potatoes, 2 veggies”, but these days I’m a big fan of one-dish meals, especially stir-fries and stove-top skillet casseroles.
What a wonderful memory of your childhood!! I hope you get the chance to try the Grape Salad, I jut know you are going to love it!