How to Make No-Bake Strawberry Delight

Nancy MockUpdated: Jun. 23, 2023

Nancy Mock for Taste of Home

We're in love with this vintage-inspired dessert: a fluffy, pink no-bake strawberry delight.

Remember when recipe names were mysterious? The cooks of decades past had fun whipping up dishes like lemonade fluff pie, Bean Surprise and Tuna Wiggle! Now we have recipes like glazed strawberry cookies with titles that certainly make sense, but leave nothing to the imagination. I decided to go in search of a “mysterious” recipe to put to the test.

Looking through a vintage cookbook, the recipe name that caught my eye sounded delicious, though vague: strawberry delight.

What Is Strawberry Delight?

It turns out there are many vintage recipes out there for strawberry delight. Though most are creamy and delightful, no two are exactly alike: Possible ingredients include instant pudding, Jell-O, sweetened condensed milk, nuts, fruit cocktail and more.

I decided to create my own strawberry delight recipe. It’s sweet but not too sweet, has a lovely, fluffy texture and boasts a beautiful pink color. A graham cracker base provides crunch beneath all that creamy filling. It has lots of strawberry-pineapple flavor, too.

Our No-Bake Strawberry Delight Recipe

This no-bake dessert recipe makes about 15 servings, perfect for a party or potluck. Plan ahead to let the Cool Whip thaw, and allow time for chilling after assembly. (It takes about 6 hours to thaw a 16-ounce container and 4 hours for two 8-ounce containers.)

Ingredients

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18 graham crackers
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
1 can (21 ounces) strawberry pie filling
4 cups mini marshmallows
16 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
2 cups frozen strawberries, partially thawed

If you don’t already have graham crackers at home, pick up the brand that won our s’mores taste test.

Directions

Step 1: Make the crust

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Blitz the graham crackers in a food processor to grind them into crumbs. With the machine running, pour the melted butter through the chute until the graham cracker crumbs have the consistency of wet sand. Spoon the buttery crumb mixture into the bottom of a 13×9-in. baking dish. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the dish. Chill the crust in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Step 2: Blend the fruit and marshmallows

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Pour the crushed pineapple into a mesh strainer to strain off the excess juice. Put the pineapple and strawberry pie filling into a large mixing bowl and stir them together. Pour in the mini marshmallows and stir until they’re completely coated in fruit.

Step 3: Fold in the Cool Whip and strawberries

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Spoon the thawed Cool Whip into the bowl, and use a spoon or rubber spatula to gently fold it into the fruit until everything’s combined and looks nice and pink.

Chop the partially thawed strawberries on a cutting board, then fold them into the Cool Whip-marshmallow mixture to create the second layer.

Editor’s Tip: See our guide on how to fold ingredients if you need a tutorial.

Step 4: Spoon the filling into the pan

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Scoop the Cool Whip-fruit mixture over the chilled graham cracker crust, and gently smooth it to evenly cover the crust. Cover the pan tightly and chill the dessert in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

How to Serve Strawberry Delight

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Use a sharp knife to slice through the fluffy filling and cut through the graham cracker crust. Use a flexible spatula to maneuver slices out of the pan. The first piece is always the messiest!

Serve the strawberry delight immediately.

Strawberry Delight Variations

Itching to make this recipe your own? There are plenty of ways you can do it. Try swapping out the strawberry pie filling and the frozen strawberries for blueberry or peach flavors. Cream cheese would be a rich addition to the Cool Whip mixture, no matter what fruit you decide to move forward with.

For the crust, if you don’t have graham crackers on hand, try crushed Nilla wafers instead. If you don’t mind a little baking, a pecan shortbread crust would be complementary with the flavors in the filling as well.

You can also make a layered strawberry delight. After step 2, simply keep the Cool Whip and strawberries separate from the marshmallow-pie filling mixture. Instead, spoon the mixture onto the crust, and then spread a layer of the Cool Whip on top. Finish the strawberry delight with delicately-placed strawberries for a beautiful and colorful topper. When you make a layered strawberry delight recipe, the side profile of each slice will be especially striking!

How to Store No-Bake Strawberry Delight

If you have leftovers, store them tightly wrapped in the fridge for up to a week. If you want this easy fruit dessert to last for longer, put it in the freezer for 3 months. Like other icebox cake recipes, thaw the strawberry delight in the fridge the night before you plan to serve it.

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Taste of Home

Dark Chocolate-Caramel Macchiato PieOne of my first entries in the National Pie Championship was this impressive pie with coffee flavor and cool chocolate curls on top. —Amy Mills, Sebring, Florida