Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad is a light, fluffy and creamy dessert salad with a sweet and tangy cream cheese filling, loads of fresh strawberries and bananas, and billowing whipped cream. Made in 10 minutes, it’s a simple yet luscious summer dessert recipe guaranteed to make your family happy.
This cheesecake salad recipe is a tasty twist on my popular blueberry cheesecake salad and I can’t decide which one I like better!
Why Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad is A Winning Dessert
- Strawberries and bananas – One of the best flavor combos ever, strawberry banana cheesecake salad is a luscious, decadent dessert with just-picked fresh fruit flavor.
- Quick & easy – How does 10 minutes or less sound?
- Perfect for summer – Cool, creamy and refreshingly light. It’s delicious with savory BBQ and grilled picnic favorites.
- No bake – No need to turn on the oven or stove for this simple dessert. Just make room in the fridge!
Key Ingredients
- Strawberries – Use fresh strawberries only. Frozen berries are too watery and smushy for this recipe.
- Bananas – You’ll want tender bananas but not overly ripe bananas. (Save those for banana cookies!) They need to hold up and not turn to “smoosh” when folded into the filling.
- Cream cheese – I always use Philadelphia Brand and never the light or fat-free versions. Cream cheese is one of those things you don’t mess around with. Use only the best.
- Sour cream – Adds a delicious tang to the dish. Store brand sour cream is absolutely fine, but stay away from the light version.
- Whipped topping – Make sure it’s thawed (takes 4 hours in the fridge). You can make homemade whipped cream if you’d like, but an 8-ounce tub of whipped topping makes things easier!
- Powdered sugar – Sift this beforehand. I use this fine mesh sieve, but if you have a hand crank flour sifter, you can use that too.
Substitutions and Additions
- Love big chunks of fruit? – Try it with whole banana slices and strawberry halves instead of chopping.
- Get extra fruity – Feel free to add twice the amount of strawberries and bananas for a truly fruit-forward dessert or add other fresh berries such as raspberries, blackberries or blueberries.
- Add dessert mix-ins – For a fun twist, toss in some mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, cookie chunks, graham crackers or mini marshmallows into the strawberry and banana cheesecake salad.
- No sour cream on hand? – Substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream. You could also use strawberry or vanilla.
Directions for Banana Strawberry Cheesecake Salad
Step 1 – Place the softened cream cheese, sifted powdered sugar, lemon juice and sour cream to an electric mixer.
Step 2 – Cream the mixture until very smooth.
Step 3 – Add chopped strawberries and bananas to the cream cheese mixture.
Step 4 – Gently fold the fruit in.
Step 5 – Scoop prepared whipped topping into the bowl.
Step 6 – Lightly fold whipped cream into the strawberry banana cheesecake salad mixture.
That’s it – super easy! Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dessert fluff in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it.
Just before serving, add a few banana and strawberry slices on top for a garnish or you can add the fruit garnishes to individual serving bowls.
Helpful Tips
- Immediately after cutting the bananas, toss them in lemon juice to brighten the flavor and help prevent them from turning brown.
- Use fresh (not frozen) strawberries, and pat them dry before adding them to the mixture.
- This no bake cheesecake fruit salad is best served the same day.
- A strawberry huller makes short work of removing the leafy green tops. I love mine!
- Use the chopped fruit to measure out the one-cup amount, not whole strawberries or banana slices. It takes approximately 1½ bananas to yield a full cup of chopped fruit.
Recipe FAQ
A fresh fruit salad tossed in a luscious, creamy cheesecake filling. It’s heavenly!
Technically, yes, but I discourage it. Frozen berries have a mushy, wetter texture and quite frankly, don’t have the sweet flavor of fresh fruit. Use FRESH fruit.
You could prepare the cream cheese mixture the day before and store it in the fridge. Fold in the fruit before serving.
Absolutely, I use Cool Whip (or a store brand equivalent) because it’s a huge time saver! I don’t recommend using spray whipped cream though as it tends to melt and run almost right away.
Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator, but prepared cheesecake salad is best served the same day. Don’t freeze it!
Other summer recipes you’ll love
Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad
Ingredients
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup strawberries washed, hulled and chopped
- 1 cup bananas chopped
- 8 oz whipped topping
Instructions
- In mixer, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, sour cream and lemon juice together until smooth and creamy.
- Gently fold in strawberries and bananas. Gently fold in whipped topping. Store, covered in refrigerator.
Notes
- Immediately after chopping bananas, toss in a small amount of lemon juice to brighten the flavor and help prevent them from turning brown.
- Use only fresh strawberries, not frozen. Pat them dry before adding to the salad.
- Use the chopped fruit to measure out the one-cup amount, not whole strawberries or banana slices. (It takes approximately 1½ bananas to yield a full cup of chopped fruit.)
- No sour cream on hand? – Substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream. You could also use strawberry or vanilla.
- You may prepare the cheesecake mixture the day before and store in the fridge, folding the fresh fruit in before serving, but prepared cheesecake salad is best served the same day.
- Store covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator until serving. Spoon into a decorative serving bowl and garnish with a few strawberry and banana slices just before serving.
- Love big chunks of fruit? – Try it with whole banana slices and strawberry halves instead of chopping.
- Get extra fruity – Feel free to add twice the amount of strawberries and bananas for a truly fruit-forward dessert or add other fresh berries such as raspberries, blackberries or blueberries.
- Add dessert mix-ins – For a fun twist, toss in some mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, cookie chunks, graham crackers or mini marshmallows into the salad.
