Kitchen science: Tiny round pasta swells as it cooks and soaks up flavour from the sweet cream around it, so every little frog eye tastes of the whole salad.
Let's make a pond-green dessert salad full of tiny frog eyes that stare right back at you! This easy recipe is for ages 8 to 14 (grades 3rd–8th), takes about 30 minutes (plus 30 minutes waiting) and serves 8. Crumb, our tiny chef, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow along, and every hot or sharp step is marked for a grown-up.
Frog eye salad is a sweet pasta salad from the American Midwest and Mountain West: tiny round pasta (the frog eyes) folded into whipped cream with pineapple, orange and marshmallows. It's a potluck and Thanksgiving-table favourite, and this kid-friendly version skips the custard, so there's no raw egg to cook.
Ingredients
1 cup tiny round pasta1 cup (240 ml) tiny round pasta
6 cups cold water6 cups (1440 ml) cold water
2 cups whipped cream2 cups (480 ml) whipped cream
1 cup pineapple chunks1 cup (240 ml) pineapple chunks
1 cup mandarin oranges1 cup (240 ml) mandarin oranges
1 cup mini marshmallows1 cup (240 ml) mini marshmallows
Tools
A big pot, The stove (grown-up), A colander, A mixing bowl, A flat spatula, Measuring cups, Cups or glasses.
Steps
Wash your hands with soap for twenty seconds.
Grown-up step: A grown-up boils 6 cups of cold water in a big pot, then stirs in 1 cup of tiny round pasta.A grown-up boils 6 cups (1440 ml) of cold water in a big pot, then stirs in 1 cup (240 ml) of tiny round pasta.
Grown-up step: A grown-up drains the pasta in a colander and rinses it under cold water.
Tip the pasta into a big bowl and let it cool for 15 minutes.
Grown-up step: A grown-up opens the cans and drains the fruit in a colander.
Fold 2 cups of whipped cream into the cooled pasta with a spatula.Fold 2 cups (480 ml) of whipped cream into the cooled pasta with a spatula.
Add 1 cup of pineapple chunks, 1 cup of mandarin oranges and 1 cup of mini marshmallows, and fold gently.Add 1 cup (240 ml) of pineapple chunks, 1 cup (240 ml) of mandarin oranges and 1 cup (240 ml) of mini marshmallows, and fold gently.
Cover the bowl and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Spoon it into cups. Spot the frog eyes!
Safety notes
Hot! A grown-up does this part.
Contains milk, wheat. Tap "Allergies?" on the Kitchen's front page and the swaps fill themselves in where there is one.
Marshmallows are a choking risk for little ones under 4.
Read the label on packets for allergies.
Kitchen science
Tiny round pasta swells as it cooks and soaks up flavour from the sweet cream around it, so every little frog eye tastes of the whole salad.
Make it your own
Add a few green grapes, cut in half the long way, for extra eyes.
Swap in blueberries for blue-eyed frogs.
Spoon it into little jars for a lunchbox treat.
Questions about frog eye salad
Why is it called frog eye salad?
The tiny round pasta, acini di pepe, looks like little frog eyes floating in the cream. Search for acini di pepe if your store has it by another name.
Is frog eye salad a salad or a dessert?
It's both, in the way that fruit salad is. It's sweet enough to be a dessert and is often served alongside the main meal at potlucks and holidays.
Can I make it without custard?
Yes. Older recipes cook a custard of eggs, sugar and juice on the stove. This version skips it and relies on the cream, fruit and marshmallows for sweetness, so a child can do nearly every step.
How long will it keep?
Kept covered in the fridge it keeps for about two days, though the pasta slowly soaks up the cream and the salad gets thicker.