Easy Fruit Salad

Easy Fruit Salad is the PERFECT dessert, with a combo of berries, citrus fruit, kiwi, and grapes in a sweet sauce made from juice and honey and topped with fresh mint leaves.

Easter is right around the corner and we are getting ready with Classic Carrot Cake (or our ULTIMATE version), Flourless Chocolate Cake or a nontraditional option of Strawberry Shortcake!

Fruit SaladEASY FRUIT SALAD

Easy Fruit Salad is one of my go-to recipes because it’s quick and easy to throw together, and a great way to get a serving of fresh fruit. I like to make this salad with pineapple, berries, kiwi, and grapes, but you can use any fruit you’d like. This salad takes a total time of 10 minutes to throw together, but I like to refrigerate it for at least two hours to let the flavors come together and get cold.

WHAT IS THE BEST DRESSING FOR A FRUIT SALAD?

I serve this fruit salad recipe for dessert or as a side dish for brunch because the sweet citrus-honey sauce on top always gets rave reviews. The sauce is orange juice with lemon and honey, but you can also use pineapple juice or lime if that’s what you have. It’s light and sweet, but doesn’t overpower the salad itself.

You can also top this salad with a simple syrup simmered with mint leaves and lime juice, or try mixing yogurt or sour cream with lemon juice and honey for a creamy dressing. I like to use regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt because it’s thinner and will coat the fruit better. You can also try a creamy lemon flavor with poppy seeds.

Fruit Salad with Dressing

HOW LONG WILL FRUIT SALAD KEEP IN THE REFRIGERATOR?

Fruit salad will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, when sealed tightly with plastic wrap.

I don’t recommend freezing fruit salad because the fruit will be soft when defrosted and the salad won’t seem as fresh. If you have leftover fruit salad and want to freeze it, you can store it in plastic bags and use it for other recipes like smoothies or fruit syrups later.

HOW DO YOU KEEP FRUIT FROM TURNING BROWN IN A FRUIT SALAD?

This fruit salad recipe will stay fresh when covered and kept refrigerated, and typically won’t turn brown or oxidize.

If you add other fruit like bananas or apples to the salad, they may oxidize and turn brown once they’re cut up. You can keep everything looking fresh with a splash of lemon juice mixed with those fruits before you add them to the salad. The acid from the orange juice in the sauce will help, but the lemon juice is a little extra insurance.

 

Fruit Salad with citrus honey dressing

MORE FRUITY DESSERTS

TIPS FOR MAKING FRUIT SALAD

  • Part of fruit salad is the flavor, and the other part is the presentation. Try to choose fruits that have contrasting colors, so the fruit in your dish doesn’t look too similar.
  • Chop the fruit to roughly the same size, which makes the salad visually look better.
  • Plan your fruit according to the season, so you can get the freshest, juiciest fruit possible for this salad.
  • Try fresh herbs like basil, lemongrass, lavender, or mint to add more interesting flavors to your fruit salad.
  • This fruit salad dressing calls for honey, but you can also try maple syrup, brown sugar, regular sugar, or stevia. Or add flavor to this fruit salad recipe with a dash of cinnamon.
  • Cook your sauce for a total time of 3-4 minutes, and not longer. The longer you boil the fruit juice, the more syrup-like it will become.
  • If you want to add banana to this fruit salad recipe, add it just before serving so it doesn’t have a chance to get mushy.
  • Top this fruit salad with my easy whipped cream or homemade cool whip, or mix with homemade marshmallows (or mini marshmallows) for a sweet combination!

Rainbow Fruit Salad

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Easy Fruit Salad

Easy Fruit Salad is the PERFECT dessert, with a combo of berries, citrus fruit, kiwi, and grapes in a sweet sauce made from juice and honey and topped with fresh mint leaves.
Yield 18 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups strawberries cut in halves
  • 4 tangerines separated into sections
  • 3 cups pineapple chunks
  • 3 kiwi peeled and sliced
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 2 cups red grapes
  • mint optional

Instructions

  • Add the orange juice, orange zest, lemon juice, lemon zest, and honey to a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat, whisking for 3-4 minutes then turn off, add in the vanilla and let cool completely.
  • Add the fruit to a large bowl and toss carefully with the sauce and refrigerate for at least two hours (you can also toss each fruit individually and line up the fruits in rainbow order then garnish the fruit salad with mint).

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 230IU | Vitamin C: 49.4mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Keyword: easy fruit salad

Fruit Salad with citrus honey dressing

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

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Comments

  1. I just made this to take somewhere…just my opinion but the dressing is too tart. I added some sugar after tasting it. Maybe it depends on the sweetness of your fruit juices?? I juiced my own oranges and lemon.

  2. This looks delicious!

    I wanted to make this for a picnic on Saturday. I am going to make it on Friday and let it sit overnight. I hope it turns out okay.

  3. This looks delish, do you think I could add watermelon ? do you think it would alter taste in a negative way? Thanks Edythe