This easy recipe for fruit salad is full of fresh fruit all tossed in a simple vanilla-kissed fruit salad dressing!
Add your summer favorites for the perfect healthy snack, side dish, or even dessert.
A Favorite Anytime Snack or Side
- This light salad is low in calories but filled with energizing vitamins and antioxidants.
- Perfect for serving next to waffles, pancakes, or ice cream!
- It can be made ahead of time and chilled until it’s ready to serve.
- So versatile with add-ins, make a signature salad with any fruit in the fridge!
What Goes in a Fruit Salad?
Lots of color, texture, and of course amazing fresh flavor makes fruit salad so delicious! This recipe has a combination of berries, some citrus, grapes, and kiwi fruit. But any combination of fruit will work.
More Fruit Add-Ins:
- Stone Fruits: Peaches (toss in citrus to prevent browning), Nectarines, Plums, Pears
- Tropical & Citrus: Bananas (toss in citrus), Kiwi, Pineapple, Mango, Grapefruit or Oranges (supreme if fresh)
- Berries: Soft Berries (add just before serving), Strawberries (sliced)
- Classic Fruits: Apples (toss in citrus to prevent browning), Green or Red Grapes (halved), Seedless Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon.
Fruit Salad Dressing
This fruit salad uses a very light simple syrup-style dressing. You can swap out the dressing for any dressing you like (or even leave it off if you’d prefer).
- For a citrusy twist, make a honey lime dressing with a bit of honey and lime juice (or try orange juice).
- Stir in whipped cream or cool whip and some mini marshmallows.
- Skip the dressing and enjoy the fruit as is or sprinkle in a bit of herbs like basil or mint.
Prepping Fruit for Salad
Most fruit can be cut into bite-sized pieces. Here are a few other tips for a great fruit salad.
COLOR: Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries should stay whole so their juice doesn’t color the salad.
BROWNING: Toss banana and chopped apple with lime or lemon juice so they don’t oxidize (turn brown).
SOFT FRUITS: Fragile fruits (like bananas and raspberries) can be sprinkled on top after mixing the others so they don’t break.
How to Make Fruit Salad
- Make the vanilla dressing and let it cool to room temperature.
- Prepare pineapple, strawberries, & kiwi and put them in a large bowl. Add a squirt of lemon juice and toss to keep the fruit from browning.
- Add remainder of the fruit and very gently toss with some of the vanilla syrup. You may not need all of the syrup.
- Serve immediately or cover & keep chilled. Chop up some fresh mint to garnish the salad if desired.
Leftovers
- Leftover fruit salad will keep for about a day in the refrigerator but there are so many ways to use it up!
- Leftover cinnamon-flavored simple syrup can also be added to drinks! Try adding it to sangria.
- For best results, serve fruit salad fresh, within 24 hours.
- If you have extras you can’t eat, drain the fruit well and place it on a parchment-lined pan, and freeze. Once frozen, place in a freezer bag. Frozen fruit can be used to make smoothies or smoothie bowls.
Fresh Fruit Favorites
Did you make this Fruit Salad? Let us know what your favorite add-ins are in the comments below!
Easy Fresh Fruit Salad
Ingredients
Fruit
- 11 ounces mandarin oranges 1 can
- 1 cup grapes halved
- 2 kiwis chopped
- 1 cup strawberries sliced
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 cup blueberries
Vanilla Fruit Salad Dressing
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- Bring water, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon sticks to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir until sugar is dissolved . Remove from the heat and cool completely.
- Add all fruit to the bowl.
- Remove cinnamon sticks from the vanilla syrup and pour some of it over the fruit, you may not need all of it.
- Toss very gently to stir and serve immediately.
Notes
Fruit salad can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 day after making it.
Leftover cinnamon-flavored simple syrup can also be added to drinks! Try adding it to Sangria.
For best results, serve fruit salad fresh.
If you have extras you can’t eat, drain the fruit well and place it on a parchment-lined pan, and freeze. Once frozen, place in a freezer bag. Frozen fruit can be used to make smoothies or smoothie bowls.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Just 2 questions Holly, how long would the simple vanilla syrup last in the refrigerator & do you have to add the cinnamon sticks bc I don’t have any. Thank you!
By the way – I LOVE ALL OF YOUR RECIPES. I’ve tried many & every single one is amazing!!
Vanilla simple syrup should be good in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month. You can leave the cinnamon stick out, and while it will slightly change the flavor, it will still be delicious!
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Darla!