Ambrosia Vs Watergate Salad: How These Old-School Desserts Differ

For lovers of light and fruity side dishes, it's hard to go wrong with either an ambrosia or a Watergate salad. Both of these desserts are a classic way of incorporating some sweetness into a holiday spread or at a warm summer gathering. However, that's not to say that they're exactly the same. Sure, both of them are considered vintage, no-bake desserts and work well for similar occasions, but they've got a few key distinctions to help you set them apart and decide which one better suits your menu.

For starters, both of these old-school dessert-type salads are made with a fluffy, whipped base of cream and marshmallows. They also typically include chunks of pineapple and maraschino cherries. And that's about where the similarities end. Now, while an ambrosia salad is generally more fruit-forward and boasts more tropical flavors thanks to mandarin oranges and shredded coconut, Watergate salads feature pistachio pudding and other chopped nuts, which gives them a different flavor profile.

Ambrosia salad gets its name from the food of the gods in Greek mythology, and this fluffy, whipped dessert featuring fruits and a creamy base certainly lives up to its divine reputation. In most cases, an ambrosia salad is very light and has a tropical taste to it thanks to a combination of pineapple, coconut, mandarin oranges, and vanilla yogurt or pudding. You can also use freshly whipped cream, frozen whipped cream, or Cool Whip as a base, and fold that in with the rest of the fruit.

Marshmallows add extra fluffiness and sweetness to the whipped cream, and it's generally suggested to use mini marshmallows so they don't overpower the rest of the fruit in the mix. That said, no ambrosia salad would be the same without them. 

The great thing about this old-school dessert — which dates back to the 1800s — is that there's plenty of room to customize the recipe to your liking. So whether that means adding more types of fruits (think strawberries, grapes, or blueberries), or choosing different ingredients to customize the sweetness level, the choice is totally up to you.

A Watergate salad is also a fluffy, whipped dessert, but it's more nut-focused. It has a base of whipped cream and pistachio pudding, along with chopped nuts and canned pineapple. While there's no perfect explanation for the name's origin, it's been attributed to the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. According to NPR, the name might also be a playful dig at the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s — "because of all the nuts that are in it." Either way, the dish has become a popular dessert over the following decades.

Similarly to its ambrosia counterpart, there's plenty of room to customize a Watergate salad, and you can even swap a few ingredients to make it vegan. For example, you can use whatever whipped cream you prefer, although most recipes call for Cool Whip. Additionally, you can also choose whichever chopped nuts you like best, even though many recipes will specify using walnuts. The only real necessity is making sure you use canned pineapple to mix with the pudding powder and form the base. However, once that's done, you can then add cherries or other fruits to complement the pistachio flavor.