Your Wish Granted :: Carriage Corner’s Grape Salad Recipe
Every single time we made grape salad, we are asked for the recipe. We’ve had a lot of requests to share our grape salad recipe lately, so here you go! As with many of the things we make and serve here at Carriage Corner, the idea of grape salad came from watching food network. I had Trisha’s Southern Kitchen on while I was cleaning rooms one day. I don’t remember what the episode was, but I do remember it was in late June because I first tried grape salad for a July 4th BBQ we were having.
Making it Ours
For that first version, I followed Trisha’s recipe exactly. Two colors of whole grapes, cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, brown sugar & chopped pecans – and it was good. Really good. But let me tell you, it’s hard to eat whole grapes with a spoon. And honestly I thought the grape salad was a little bit sweet. Of course that depends on the grapes you use as well as the added sugar, but we’ve cut the added sugar in half. Then of course, add in Mr. Carriage Corner and his need to have everything small enough to fit on the spoon at the same time.
Here at Carriage Corner, we make a full recipe of the dressing which will keep for several weeks in the fridge and then only use as much as we need the day the salad is made. We tend to like our grapes lightly coated with dressing, so I would estimate that Mr. Carriage Corner used about 3T when making enough grape salad for 10 guests.
Grape Salad :: Make it Yours
For the dressing, you’ll need softened cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla. I like to use powered vanilla or clear vanilla.
For the salad, you’ll need at least 2 colors of seedless grapes, brown sugar and pecans.
First you’ll want to make the dressing. I use my kitchen aid with the wisk attachment. You could also use a large bowl and a hand mixer. Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature before starting. Then add the cream cheese, sour cream and powered vanilla to the bowl. I like using powered vanilla for 2 reasons. First, it doesn’t discolor the dressing like dark vanilla does. Second, it has a rich vanilla flavor. If you can’t find powered vanilla locally, Centerville Bulk has it. You can also use powered vanilla in our Kentucky Muffins and our Burnt Sugar Almonds.
Now, Mr. Carriage Corner likes to slice the stem end off the grapes and the slice them in quarters. So, if you follow his lead, you’ll spend the next 30 minutes slicing grapes. But I will say, it’s much nicer to eat the grape salad when you can get some green and red grapes on your spoon at the same time, rather than fighting with whole grapes. For our purposes, we slice about one cup each of green and red grapes, toss with about 3T of dressing, sprinkle with about 1T brown sugar and about 2T pecans. If you are making Grape Salad for a crowd, just use the entire bag of both green and red grapes, about 1 1/2 pounds of each and you’ll use all the dressing.
Enjoy Grape Salad at Carriage Corner
Love the grape salad but don’t want to make it yourself? Once you’ve picked your favorite room and made a reservation, be sure and let us know you’d like to have grape salad, we’ll do our best to work it into the menu.
We can’t wait to meet you and treat you to our ‘Unique Blend of Hospitality, Laughter & Kindness’
Grape Salad
Equipment
- mixer
Ingredients
Grape Salad Dressing
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces sour creams
- 2 T sugar the original recipe calls for ¼ cup
- 1 tsp powered vanilla
Grape Salad
- 1½ cups green seedless grapes
- 1½ cups red seedless grapes
- ½ T brown sugar
- ½ cup pecans finely chopped
Instructions
To Make The Dressing
- In your mixer or a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and powered vanilla until smooth. If using liquid vanilla, use 2t clear vanilla. Put in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To Make the Salad
- Quarter the grapes and toss to mix them up. Add approximately 3T of the dressing to the grapes and toss to make sure all the grapes are evenly covered.
- If you are making individual portions, put the grapes into individual serving dishes, as many as you need. 3 cups of chopped grapes will serve about 10 people. Lightly sprinkle with brown sugar and chopped pecans.
- Put the salads in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This salad is best served cold.
- If you are taking to a potluck or gathering or serving someplace where people can dish out of, pour all the grapes into a casserole dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top and then top with the chopped pecans.
- Cover your salad and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Put the remaining dressing into a container and store in the fridge until ready to make more grape salad.