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

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!

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

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

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