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Home / Recipes / Small Meals / Fruit Salad / Classic Fresh Fruit Salad

Classic Fresh Fruit Salad

20 minutes mins
| 1 Comment |
5 from 3 votes
Jump to Recipe 06/13/21 | Updated: 06/14/21 | by Nora
Fresh Fruit Salad Pin 1

A classic Fresh Fruit Salad is the refreshing side dish you need for your BBQs and potlucks this summer season! Full of healthy fruit and made with a delicious poppy seed dressing, it’s perfect for warm weather days.

overhead view of fresh fruit salad in glass bowl with wooden spoon, surrounded by more fresh fruit

Easy fruit salad recipe

  • It’s so refreshing. All the fruit has a high water content and really cools you down on a hot summer day.
  • Easy peasy to make! If you know how to cut a pineapple, this salad is ready in 20 minutes.
  • It’s light and delicious. The poppy seed dressing is sweetened with orange juice and honey for a truly healthy summer side dish or dessert. Win!

Also, maybe first and foremost, it’s absolutely beautiful to look at! Fresh ingredients are always pretty, but this fruit salad is something else. So many colors, shapes and textures ?

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for fresh fruit salad with text labels
Ingredients for a fresh fruit salad: Pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, mandarin oranges, bananas, blueberries, grapes and a dressing made from citrus juice and zest, honey, poppy seeds and optionally olive oil.

Ingredient notes

Fruit: Feel free to use different fruit or leave out what you don’t enjoy. Just make sure you substitute the missing fruit with something else, or reduce the amount of dressing.

Dressing: I use my Poppy Seed Fruit Salad Dressing here, it’s so delicious and refreshing! If you’re planning on making this with a creamy dairy-based dressing such as my Greek Yogurt Fruit Salad Dressing, my Creamy Fruit Salad Dressing or my Creamy Poppy Seed Fruit Salad Dressing, you’ll need to leave out the pineapple and kiwi.

Enzymes in fresh pineapple, kiwi fruit or papaya break up dairy products and leave a bitter and metallic taste. You can use canned pineapple without any issues, though!

How to make a fresh fruit salad

Fruit salads are really the easiest of things to make, so I don’t think you’ll need a lot of direction here:

  • cut up fruit for fruit salad in large glass bowl
  • poppy seed fruit salad dressing pouring over fresh fruit in glass bowl
  1. Pick the best produce – the fruit really is the star of the show.
  2. Prep the dressing and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
  3. Slice all the fruit and mix it with the dressing in a large bowl once you’re ready to serve.

For more tips and details on making the best-ever fruit salads, read my Ultimate Guide to Making the Best Fruit Salad!

close up photo of wooden spoon in a bowl of fresh fruit salad

Recipe tips

  • Try to cut the fruit evenly to make the fruit salad easy to eat. All of the fruit should be bite-sized. If you’re planning to keep the salad in the fridge for a day, though, leave the kiwi, banana and strawberries chunkier! Otherwise, they get too mushy.
  • I highly recommend slicing the bananas and kiwi last – the bananas so they will get tossed with dressing ASAP without turning brown, and the kiwi so you don’t end up with fuzzy skin bits all over your fruit.
  • Careful when tossing the salad, make sure you don’t smash the more delicate fruit like the strawberries.

Storage tips

I will say that I prefer fruit salad freshly made, but this one is fine to store in the fridge for a day. You can also keep the cut up fruit and mixed dressing in separate containers in the fridge and only dress the salad right before serving – but I do not recommend slicing the bananas ahead of time in this case.

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to a day. The dressing will prevent any browning on the bananas or pineapple.

close up photo of classic fresh fruit salad

More fruit salad recipes

  • Strawberry Fruit Salad with mint and pistachios in a white bowl.
    Strawberry Fruit Salad with Mint and Pistachios
  • overhead view of bowl with winter fruit salad
    Winter Fruit Salad
  • Greek Yogurt Berry Fruit Salad
  • Pouring Creamy Fruit Salad Dressing over berry fruit salad in a white bowl.
    Berry Cheesecake Fruit Salad

Or browse all of my fruit salad ideas.

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe

Printable Recipe Card
overhead view of fresh fruit salad in glass bowl with wooden spoon
Save Recipe Saved!

Classic Fresh Fruit Salad

A classic Fresh Fruit Salad is the refreshing side dish you need for your BBQs and potlucks this summer season! 
Recipe by Nora from Savory Nothings
made it? tap the stars to add your rating!
5 from 3 votes
Print Add Review

Recipe details

Prep 20 minutes mins
Total 20 minutes mins
Servings 10 servings
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
 

For the dressing

  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil optional
  • 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

For the salad

  • 1 medium pineapple peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1 pound fresh strawberries hulled and sliced
  • 3 cups grapes halved
  • 2 cups blueberries washed and patted dry
  • 4 medium kiwis peeled, halved and sliced
  • 3 mandarin oranges peeled and segmented
  • 2 medium bananas peeled and sliced

Instructions
 

  • Make the dressing: Whisk all ingredients for the dressing together and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
  • Make the salad: Gently toss the sliced fruit with the dressing in a large bowl. Serve immediately. Store leftovers tightly covered in fridge for up to a day.

Notes

  • I highly recommend slicing the bananas and kiwi last – the bananas so they will get tossed with dressing ASAP without turning brown, and the kiwi so you don’t end up with fuzzy skin bits all over your fruit.
  • If you want to use a creamy, dairy-based dressing with the salad in place of the one given, you must leave out the kiwi and pineapple – they break up dairy and yield a metallic, bitter, unpleasant taste.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 232kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 2gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 5mgPotassium: 548mgFiber: 6gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 343IUVitamin C: 123mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition is an estimate.

More recipe information

Course: Dessert, Side Dish
Cuisine: American

Recipe first published on 03/22/2018. Updated with new photos, better text and a new recipe on 06/13/2021.

More fresh fruit recipes

  • No Bake Strawberry Pie on a plate.
    No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Pie
  • overhead view of watermelon feta salad in oval white dish
    Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese
  • overhead close up view of white bowl with strawberry spinach salad
    Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
  • angled overhead view of glass jug filled with strawberry lemonade, lemon slices, ice cubes and sliced strawberries
    Homemade Strawberry Lemonade

Or browse all of my summer recipes.

Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings
About Nora 
When I got married to my professional chef husband, I realized I had to step up my game in the kitchen. Now I share my favorite foolproof family recipes here on Savory Nothings: Chef-approved, kid-vetted and easy enough for everyday home cooks like you and me!   Learn more.

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5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. Susan Gebhardt says

    Aug 24, 2024

    5 stars
    I like how this came together. I omitted the banana and mandarin oranges and used cantaloupe instead. It is a perfect dish to bring to a family gathering.

    Reply

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Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings

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Hi, I'm Nora! I wasn't always a good cook, but then I fell in love with a professional chef and learned my way around the kitchen. Now I share all my secrets to effortlessly great food here on my blog, bite-sized for home cooks just like me and you.

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