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I love summer foods. The fresh fruits and all things grilled. This Fruit Salad is so simple to make and the perfect summer side dish.
The Best Fruit Salad:
Fruit salad is one of my favorite summer side dishes. It’s simple to make and is just naturally beautiful. All the colors make this the perfect easy side dish recipe.
This summer we plan on hosting and attending lots of grill-outs and summer activities and this fruit salad will be made for each one. Plus is the perfect side dish for the kids, mine eat it up!
How to make this Fruit Salad:
Prepare your fruit and then place them in a large mixing/serving bowl. Gently mix the fruit together to get everything evenly distributed.
Make your dressing and then gently mix that in as well. Once the dressing is mixed in, add in the powdered sugar and mix that together.
Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Ingredient Notes:
- Pineapple Chunks – I used canned that I drained. You can slice fresh into chunks as well.
- Mandarin Oranges – Canned and drained.
- Strawberries – For the remains fruit I used all fresh. Wash and dice your strawberries.
- Kiwi – peeled and diced.
- Grapes – Remove from stems and wash.
- Bananas – peeled and sliced.
- Orange Juice
- Lemon – the juice of one lemon.
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
Directions:
Step One – Mix together all fruit in a large mixing bowl.
Step Two – In a separate bowl mix together orange juice, the juice from a lemon, and vanilla extract.
Fruit Salad Dressing:
For this fruit salad, I made a simple Vanilla Orange Dressing to toss my fruit in.
- Orange Juice
- Lemon
- Vanilla Extract
This dressing is really simple to make and tastes great. I used an orange juice for taste, lemon to help keep fruit fresh, and vanilla for taste.
Step Three – Pour juice over fruit and toss.
Step Four – Add powdered sugar to fruit and toss again.
Once I add the juice, I then add powdered sugar to sweeten the salad.
Step Five – Place in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes then serve.
Recipe Tip
The sweet sugar in the dressing will pull moister water from the fruit. You can drain this as needed before serving.
How to pick the best fruit:
During the summer it is pretty easy to get your hands on fresh fruit. Here are a few tips on how to pick the best fruit.
- The Color – The color of the fruit is a great way to tell the ripeness of fruit. Make sure your fruits are a good color without much green. For example, a banana or orange should be fully yellow and orange without green on the peel.
- The Smell – When fresh fruit should smell fresh.
- The Texture – Try squeezing your fruit to make sure it’s not too soft or mushy.
Tips for making a good Fruit Salad:
Once you find the right fruit make sure to wash it well (the ones without a thick peel like bananas and kiwi) then slice for the salad.
For this recipe, I would suggest using fresh or drained canned fruit only. Frozen fruit would leave the salad too soggy in my option.
Try some of my other favorite Fruit Recipes:
Christmas Fruit Salad – This Christmas Fruit Salad is full of colorful green and red fruits perfect for serving on Christmas morning. Grapes, kiwi, strawberries, and pomegranate arils make with a light lime honey dressing makes this the perfect appetizer for your holiday spread.
Cranberry Jello Salad – This Cranberry Jello Salad is loaded with fruit and then served with a marshmallow drizzle. This recipe was passed down to me and I love being able to share it with my family. We serve it every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners!
Ambrosia Fruit Salad – It’s my favorite kind of salad! Full of fruit and covered in cool whip, this Easy Ambrosia Fruit Salad is a must try! This is a summer staple that everyone will love!
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Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 20 oz pineapple chunks, (drained)
- 15 oz mandarins oranges, (drained)
- 3 cups strawberries, (diced)
- 3 large Kiwi, (peeled and diced)
- 2 cups grapes
- 2 large bananas
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 1 large lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar, (add to taste)
Instructions
- Mix together all fruit in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl mix together orange juice, the juice from a lemon, and vanilla extract.
- Pour juice over fruit and toss.
- Add powdered sugar to fruit and toss again.
- Place in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes then serve. Note: the sugar in the dressing will pull moister water from the fruit. You can drain this as needed before serving.
Notes
Can I make this Fruit Salad in Advance:
When planning a party or get together I know making food in advance makes the day of so much easier. I would suggest prepping this salad the day before and then tossing it together when you are ready to serve. Dice all your fruit expect your bananas. They usually tend to go back the fastest so I would wait until the day of for those. Seal and place your diced fruit in the fridge. You can also mix your dressing ingredients together and store in a separate container in the fridge. When you are ready to serve dice and add bananas with your fruit then toss with the dressing.Nutrition
