Creamy Grape Salad with Pecans

Sweet grapes, crunchy pecans and vanilla bean sour cream combine in this unexpectedly delicious creamy grape salad. My sons loved it the first time I made it and I couldn’t help but take a bite myself.

I’ve made this simple grape salad with pecans many times before and my youngest son still can’t get enough of it. Every time he sees grapes in the store or refrigerator, he asks if he can make “a really good grape salad” again. How can you say no to it?

creamy grape salad

There are no big secrets here. It’s delicious fresh grapes and pecans covered in a very light sour cream that’s creamy, tangy and sweet. Sometimes the simplest recipes are really the best.

This is a popular dish to bring to gatherings with friends, but it’s also great served with sandwiches or wraps for a quick family lunch.

Grape salad with pecan nuts

Grape salad is a staple of potluck and party dishes. If you haven’t tasted it yet, this recipe is a great place to start.

Or, if you’ve heard of grape salad experiences that remind you of overly sweet and sticky dishes at family gatherings or work picnics, this particular grape salad recipe will have you scraping the bowl and going back to the buffet table for a few seconds. I promise you it will be as good as it gets. .

The pecans in this recipe add a nice texture and crunch to the salad. As far as I know they are not an option. If you really hate pecans, you can use almond slices or slices as well, but it’s not my first choice.

I recommend substituting walnuts before almonds, but in my experience most people who don’t like pecans don’t like walnuts. If you don’t mind including pecans, use whatever nuts work best for your crunch.

Grape salad recipe without cream cheese

This grape salad is not your run-of-the-mill potluck. The recipe uses a slightly sweet sour cream dressing, and I’m happy to say that this salad is better than any other grape salad I’ve tasted.

Years ago we made a version of this salad with a cool whip or vanilla pudding. They were ok but not great so no rush to make them again.

I’ve also tasted grape salads made with yogurt and cream cheese dressings. Again, taste was ok, but didn’t leave a great impression. Really, I could have taken them or left them.

sour cream grape salad

That’s where I found sour cream with less sweetness. A few years ago I made this layered lemon cheesecake and tasted sweet sour cream for the first time. I was blown away by the difference just a little sprinkle of sugar on the typical tangy (and sour) cream.

If you haven’t tried subtly sweet sour cream yet, you should. I served this salad to several people and was shocked that the creamy dressing was just sour cream.

Sour cream with a hint of sugar provides the perfect amount of tangy sweetness to complement the juicy grape flavors in this salad. I enjoy eating this Grape Salad with Sour Cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.

grape salad

Grape salad is a quick and easy side dish. Adding grapes to a basic garden salad creates an inviting, fresh, sweet flavor that I love.

Crunchy broccoli is combined with sweet, juicy grapes, crunchy red onions, and tossed with a tangy-sweet balsamic dressing to create this broccoli grape salad.

Chicken, fresh grapes and crunchy walnuts tossed with sweet and sour seasoning. Make a poppyseed chicken salad using poppyseed dressing.

Sweet grapes, candied walnuts, crunchy vegetables, and nutty cheese combine to create this truly irresistible grape and candied walnut salad. (Yes, I just called the salad tempting and I stand by it!) I love this salad so much that I happily eat it twice a day whenever I have the ingredients at home. .

Tender chicken, sweet grapes and pasta are combined and tossed with a creamy poppyseed dressing to create this simple poppyseed chicken and grape pasta salad.

Sweet grapes and tender chicken in a tangy dressing combine as the base for a truly delicious cashew chicken salad.

Sour apples and sweet grapes, bananas, and blueberries are tossed with crunchy pecans in a light, creamy vanilla dressing to create this “red-white-and-blue” creamy fruit salad.

grape salad ingredients

• green grapes
• red grapes
• sour cream
• sugar
• vanilla
• pecan

Kitchen Tip: I use This set of mixing bowls Make and save this salad. (You can see the bowl in the video at the top of this post. The exact pattern is obsolete, but I’ve linked a similar set.)

grape salad recipe

Simply mix together sour cream, a little sugar, and aromatic vanilla, then add a bunch of sliced ​​green and red grapes to the bowl.

Throw in a generous handful of crunchy pecans with a grape and sour cream dressing for a light, sweet and savory dish.

This grape salad can be eaten immediately or stored in the refrigerator. If you won’t be serving the salad within a few hours, wait to add the pecans until just before serving to keep the salad from becoming soft and mushy.

If you want to make this recipe but only have one grape variety in your fridge, just make it. I like the combination of green and red grapes to add nice color and flavor to the dish, but using all green grapes or all red grapes would also be delicious.

It goes without saying that this recipe should preferably use seedless grapes. We want this salad’s great crunch to come from the pecans, not the surprise seeds hiding in every juicy bite of grapes. Seedless grapes are also easy to slice.

Substitute for vanilla beans

Sugar adds sweetness, but the real appeal of this sour cream fruit salad dressing is the addition of vanilla. To add vanilla flavor to your sour cream, you can use fresh vanilla beans or real vanilla extract.

Vanilla extract is usually used when making this recipe because the price of vanilla is skyrocketing and fresh vanilla beans are hard to find at many grocery stores. It works just as well without much effort or expense.

Substituting vanilla extract for vanilla beans is easy and cheap. One teaspoon of pure vanilla extract has a flavor and aroma roughly equivalent to one vanilla bean.

I know there are a lot of vanilla purists out there who argue that fresh vanilla beans are always good for baking and cooking. I can’t say I agree.

Fresh vanilla is great, but it’s simply not convenient or cost-effective for most people. To me, the difference in quality of taste and flavor is not as important as the difference in cost.

However, everyone has their own preferences, so use the vanilla flavored mode that works best for you.

If you have fresh vanilla beans on hand, use them! I love what’s added to this recipe, but for others it’s the trusty vanilla extract. Both methods of adding vanilla flavor are delicious and make this grape salad even more delicious.

sweetened sour cream

I haven’t used this sweetened sour cream dressing on other fruit salads yet (it’s amazing!), but I’m excited to try it with different fruit combinations.

It’s so creamy and light that I think it’s delicious not only for dipping strawberries and banana slices, but also for many other fruit salads. If you decide to try this recipe, please let me know your thoughts and different combinations you come up with.

{Originally published May 16, 2014 – recipe notes and photos updated June 29, 2023}