Frog Eye Salad

Frog eye salad is a creamy, sweet side dish that is great for serving a lot of people. Make this for your next party or family get together!

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My husband’s family loves their fruit salads. One of their staples is apple pomegranate fruit salad. The other is this frog eye salad! Frog eye salad seems to have been around for a long time. I remember eating it at Christmas parties with extended family during the holidays. But it wasn’t until I married into my husband’s family that I ever made it myself.

What is frog eye salad?

Frog eye salad is a sweet side dish made with fruit, Cool Whip and a yummy custard, all mixed together with marshmallows and tiny, round noodles called acini de pepe.

Why is it called frog eye salad?

Also called fish eye salad, frog eye salad gets its name from the acini de pepe noodles. These noodles remind many people of frog eyes, hence, the name was born.

What is Ultra Gel?

In this recipe for frog eye salad, it calls for Ultra Gel which is a gluten-free, modified food starch made from corn. It is a thickener that can be added directly to hot or cold liquids and is perfect for soups, gravy, sauces, salad dressings and desserts. Unlike cornstarch, it doesn’t have to made into a slurry before adding it and you don’t have to worry about clumps in your food. Ultra Gel, also called E-Z Gel, can be found in local grocery stores in Utah, and can also be purchased on Amazon.

How to Make Frog Eye Salad

In a medium pot, add the entire 12 oz package of acini de pepe noodles. Fill the pot with water. (Cover with at least 2 inches of water.) Cook noodles according to package instructions. When they are cooked, use a fine mesh strainer to strain the water. Rinse the noodles with water before pouring them into a large mixing bowl. This will prevent clumping.

While the noodles are cooking, open the cans of mandarin oranges and pineapple. Drain all the fruit juice into a medium pot. Pour the fruit into a separate bowl.

Place the pot with the fruit juice on the stove and add sugar. Heat on medium high until boiling. Turn off the heat and remove from the burner.

Using a whisk, add the Ultra Gel/E-Z Gel to the juice and stir until smooth.

Add one egg at a time into thickened juice and stir until fully mixed in. Repeat with the other two eggs, adding one at a time. (The heat of the thickened juice will cook the eggs.)

Mix thickened juice and noodles together. Place in the fridge to cool for about an hour, stirring a couple of times to release the heat and allow it to cool completely.

Once cool, add the Cool Whip to the noodles and thickened juice and stir with a silicone spatula until well mixed.

Drain any extra juice from the mandarins and pineapple into the sink, then add the fruit into the bowl and stir.

Add the marshmallows in 2-3 groups, stirring each time to distribute them evenly throughout the salad.

Place the frog eye salad back into the fridge to keep cool. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve it.

Leftovers should be kept covered in the fridge in a bowl or container with a lid for up to 3 days.