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.
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!
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:
- Pick the best produce – the fruit really is the star of the show.
- Prep the dressing and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
- 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!
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.
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
Classic Fresh Fruit Salad
Recipe details
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
More recipe information
Recipe first published on 03/22/2018. Updated with new photos, better text and a new recipe on 06/13/2021.
Susan Gebhardt says
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.