Frog-Eye Salad

Similar to Glorified Rice, Frog Eye Salad is pretty, potuck-pleasing salad featuring Acini de Pepe pasta with pineapple, mandarin oranges and marshmallows all folded into a light and creamy, slighty sweet base.

One of the best things about a Midwest potluck? The salad table.  That’s because many of the dishes that appear there are often more like dessert—my favorite course of any meal.

This is a “salad” that definitely falls in that camp.

I recently came across a recipe for Frog-Eye Salad in a church cookbook my mother-in-law Mary Lou gave to me, and the name alone caught my own eye. Upon a closer look at the ingredients—Acini di Pepe pasta, mandarin oranges, pineapple, Cool Whip and colorful, MINI MARSHMALLOWS—I knew this was my kind of salad.

This particular version appears in the 1992 edition of “St. Philip’s Favorites” cookbook and is credited to Marlene Roberts who served on the cookbook committee that year.

I jumped (er.. leapt!) at the chance to chat with Marlene about her Frog-Eye Salad and why she thought it was a good recipe to share in the cookbook.

Where did this recipe come from?

Marlene remembers the recipe for Frog Eye Salad used to appear right on the box of Creamette Acini Di Pepe pasta. She thinks that may have been back in the 70s or even the late 60s as her own mother made it as well. There is a slightly different version of the recipe on Creamette’s website today (click here) that yields a smaller portion and uses some different ingredients like vanilla pudding.

When Marlene shared the original version in the church cookbook, she wrote, “This is a family favorite for large gatherings, e.g. baptisms, confirmations, graduation, etc.”

She explains that she often made this recipe (which results 25 servings!) for monthly celebrations where several members of her extended family would come together to celebrate all the birthdays taking place that month. 

“We have a very big family, my husband has 10 brothers and two sisters, so we always had huge gatherings and needed big recipes to feed a lot of people,” said Marlene.

She adds that the dish, which kind of resembles Glorified Rice, was also a hit at the “salad luncheons” at church. These potluck-style events included everyone from the women’s church circles bringing a salad to share while the group that was hosting was responsible for the buffet table set-up, dessert and coffee and cleanup. There was always an impressive array of chicken and tuna salads, traditional favorites like the broccoli salad (with bacon, raisins and sunflower seeds), fruit salads and Jell-O salads.

Marlene liked making Frog-Eye Salad for occasions like this as it resulted in a large quantity so “there’d be some for the potluck and some for home.”

More about Marlene

Marlene grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota that provided almost everything they needed for their family meals—fresh meat and eggs along with their own homegrown fruits and vegetables. She remembers her mom buying 50-pound bags of sugar and flour, but almost everything else came straight from their hard work on the farm.

Marlene has always enjoyed reading cookbooks and experimenting with new dishes for her husband and two sons, as well as her sons’ families and grandchildren—all who enjoy good food. She says they are a family that likes to try to new things, but they also love many of the traditional items she has been making for years, from a variety of pickled items (onions, beets, peaches, crabapples and finger pickles) and of course, Frog-Eye Salad!

Potluck or no potluck…some tips!

I’ve made Frog-Eye Salad twice during the past few months, taking it along on our trips to the lake. I also made a gluten-free, dairy-free version using jasmine rice instead of pasta and some dairy-free whipped topping. Both versions work and travel well!

Some tips:

• Consider cutting the recipe in half. It’s still a big portion!
• If you can’t find Acini di Pepe, I saw some recipes online that use couscous or rice.
• Plan to make this a day ahead. This recipe has two stages with the first stage calling for the pasta and dressing to chill together overnight. Then, just mix in the remaining ingredients in the morning.
• I love the colorful mini marshmallows, instead of plain white. So pretty! You could also mix in some maraschino cherries if you are feeling extra fancy.

If we ever get the chance to go to potlucks or big celebrations of any kind in the future, I’ll be making Frog-Eye Salad. But potluck or no potluck, I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think!