This fruit salad recipe should be your new favorite snack this summer. Why? Because it’s the ultimate snack! Easy to make, appealing to the eye, fresh and refreshing. Stunningly delicious! What more can you ask for?
That being said, there are a few things you should familiarize yourself with before your first fruity attempt.
Which fruits can go together?
This question can have two meanings: “which fruits can go well together and taste good?” and “which fruits can go together without unpleasant side effects?”
It’s tempting, the idea that you can simply throw any different types of fruit you like into one bowl and mix to make a salad. Unfortunately, not all fruits get along well. So before you start your grocery shopping, check out this article about fruits that you should not have together. It’s actually my go-to guide whenever I plan to make a fruit salad.
With that in mind, here are some fruit salad ideas for you to consider:
- Berry salad: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, with a sweet and sour lemon honey dressing. It’s just a simple mix of all berries. Pro tip: adding a few sprigs of mint can help add more aroma to the salad.
- Rainbow fruit salad: strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, clementines, apples, green grapes, and red grapes. Again, a simple lemon honey dressing should pull the dish together nicely.
- Citrusy melon salad: Simply combine chopped watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple with a tangy honey orange dressing. Pro tip: you can add some grated orange zest to give the salad a fresh citrusy aroma.
These are just a few suggestions for your future reference. Feel free to experiment with other ingredients and come up with your own recipes.
Benefits of eating fruit salads
We have all heard that eating lots of fruits can be beneficial for our health, but why? It’s because fruits are packed with lots of vitamins and minerals— vital micronutrients that we need for our bodies to function properly and stay healthy. A diet that is rich in fruits can provide you with potassium, dietary fiber, calcium, and a number of different vitamins like vitamin C, D, A, etc.
For today’s fruit salad recipe, we’ll be having strawberries, kiwis, mangos, cantaloupe, and lime juice. This fruit combination has a high level of vitamin C, which is crucial to collagen formation, bone health, and the development and repair of other body tissues. Vitamin C is also known for its ability to prevent skin damage.
Beside vitamin C, these fruits also contain potassium— a micronutrient that plays an important role in maintaining cardiovascular health. studies have suggested that high-potassium dieters tend to have lower blood pressure than those who don’t. Other notable health benefits are reduction in the risk of chronic diseases, and preventing cardiac and kidney diseases.
We could go on and on about the magical health benefits of fruits, but we’ll let you do the homework and look it up later. For now, let’s get back to our salad.
Can you make fruit salad the night before?
Yes, you most certainly can. Nutrition-wise, the fresher the salad the better. But if you want to have it as a snack for the day and your mornings are hectic, making it the night before is a good idea.
All in all, making the salad ahead is good time management and everyone should consider doing so. One thing to keep in mind is that you should store the dressing and fruits separately. Since the sugar in maple syrup will draw out moisture from the fruits, you will most likely end up with a watery salad in the morning if you leave them together overnight. You can, however, sneak in a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to the prepared fruits as it helps prevent browning.
You can prep your fruits the night before. Here’s how: peel and cut them, give them a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and mix them a little; then store them in an airtight container, put it in the fridge and go to bed. When you’re ready for breakfast, just take the container out, add the dressing, toss to coat the fruits evenly, and enjoy!
How long will a fruit salad last in the fridge?
Ideally, you would want to finish your fruit salad, or any fruit for that matter, as soon as possible, while they’re still fresh. The fresher the fruits, the better the taste.
That being said, you can make the salad ahead of time and keep it in the fridge to snack on for a few days. In order to prolong the shelf life of your fruit salad, keep it in an airtight container. By doing so, your fruits won’t get dried out or go bad. On the contrary, your salad should stay fresh and last from 3 to 5 days.
Pro tip: if you happen to make a big batch of fruit salad, instead of putting it all in a container, you can divide it and keep some in glass jars to put in the freezer. Once they’re frozen, you can take them out and blitz them for some quick fruity smoothies! In case you’re a smoothie lover and a health enthusiast, check out our easy peasy avocado detox smoothie! You won’t regret it!
Okay, time to hit the grocery store and get yourself some nice tropical fruits!
If you want to include more salad in your diet, this healthy salad recipes have a bunch of ideas.
Fruit Salad Recipe
Fruit salad recipes are designed to stimulate your appetite. Why eat one plain boring fruit when you can have several of them at once?
- prep TIME 10 mins
- total TIME 10 mins
- COURSE Side Dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 173 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 12 ozmango (1 big)
- 12 ozcantaloupe
- 10 ozkiwi fruit (3 medium)
- 14 ozstrawberry
- 2 tbsplemon juice
- 1 tbsphoney
INSTRUCTIONS
Peel the fruits and chop into chunks (specific size as in the images). Place them in a big bowl.
In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of honey. Mix to combine.
Drizzle the honey lemon dressing over the fruits, toss to coat evenly.
Serve and enjoy.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Professional Chef
Luna Regina
Founder
Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
Nutrition Reviewer