Fresh Fruit Salad With Honey Dressing
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This Simple Fruit Salad Recipe is made with fresh berries and pineapple drizzled with a sweet and zesty honey citrus dressing. It’s light, healthy, and absolutely delicious.
Fruit salad is pretty simple—just some fresh-cut fruit in a bowl. But a when you add, but a light honey-citrus dressing, it makes such a difference.
The salad dressing adds a little shine, keeps everything juicy, and brings out the flavor, especially in any fruit that’s not quite as sweet. This best fruit salad recipe is easy, refreshing, and so worth the extra step!
Why You’ll Love This Easy Fruit Salad Recipe
- Simple – Light and healthy fruit salad recipe made with an easy dressing. It’s a low effort recipe with big impact.
- Delicious – Fruit salad adds a light and flavorful addition to a brunch, breakfast, poolside party, or your weekly meal prep.
- Versatile – Make it with your favorite fruits and berries. See suggestions below.
Fresh Fruit Salad Ingredients
This salad is super easy to put together the day of a get together or brunch.
The honey dressing can be made up to two days in advance and gets more flavorful as it sets. Dress the salad last minute for best results.
For the Fruit Salad
Feel free to mix and match the fruit to your liking—just be sure to have a total of 6 cups, so you won’t need to adjust the dressing.
- Strawberries – Hulled and quartered
- Raspberries – You can also use blackberries or a combo of the two
- Blueberries – You can’t make a fruit salad in Maine without blueberries!
- Fresh pineapple – Diced into bite-sized pieces. The pineapple can be swapped for green seedless grapes, mandarin oranges, kiwi, watermelon, mangos, honeydew, or cantaloupe.
For The Honey Citrus Dressing
Fruit salad doesn’t need a dressing, but this honey citrus dressing brings out everything wonderful in the fresh berries and sweet pineapple and keeps the fruit from drying out.
- Honey – You can swap the honey for agave syrup or maple syrup if you prefer. Maple syrup has a strong flavor and will make the salad taste like maple. So keep that in mind if you’re swapping out the honey.
- Fresh orange juice and zest
- Fresh lemon juice and zest
How to Make Fruit Salad with Sweet Citrus Dressing
Step 1
Make the dressing. You can do this 10 minutes or up to 1-2 days in advance of making the salad.
Step 2
Wash and prep the fruit. Add all the prepared fruit to a large bowl.
Step 3
Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving. Gently mix the fruit until the dressing has coated the berries and pineapple. Serve and enjoy!
Substitutions & Recipe Variations
- Adjust the variety of berries to match what’s in season and what your family loves. If you don’t love one berry, add more of another instead.
- If adding sliced bananas or apples, add them just before serving to avoid browning.
- Make the salad dressing creamy by adding a tablespoon or two of yogurt or Cool Whip.
- Add lime juice and zest to the fruit salad dressing or fresh mint to the fruit for extra flavor.
Tips & Tricks
- Hold off dressing the salad until the last minute. The citrus juice and the honey will break down the fruit over time.
- If you are making this for meal prepping, keep the dressing and fruit separate until ready to eat.
- For the best flavor, use fresh, ripe fruits that are in season.
Top Tip: when you’re adjusting the fruit, make sure it equals 6 cups, otherwise you’ll need to scale the amount of dressing too.
Can I Make This Fruit Salad In Advance?
You can prep and assemble the fruit ahead of time and make the dressing up to 1–2 days in advance. Be sure to store them separately and only combine them right before serving.
Can I Use Frozen Fruit?
I recommend using fresh fruit for this recipe. Frozen fruit will get too mushy and release a lot of liquid as it thaws.
How to Serve Fresh Berry Salad
This healthy fruit salad is part of a great breakfast or brunch nestled up against a platter of Maple Glazed Bacon, French Toast or Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes, and eggs.
Personally, I’ve been eating this salad all week alongside some muffins. My absolute favorites are my Carrot Cake Muffins, tangy Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins, and these absolutely over-the-top delicious chocolate chunk banana muffins.
How to Store Leftover Fruit Salad
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
The fruit will break down as it sits in the dressing, but will be delicious over yogurt, oatmeal, or blended into a berry smoothie.
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How To Make Fruit Salad
Ingredients
Fresh Fruit Needed
- 1 1/2 cups quartered strawberries 7-8 oz
- 1 1/2 cups raspberries 6 oz
- 1 1/2 cups of blueberries 6 oz
- 1 ½ cups fresh pineapple
Honey Fruit Salad Dressing
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Instructions
- Start by making the dressing, combining the honey, fruit juices, and fruit zest. Let sit for 10 minutes while you prep the salad. The dressing can be made 1-2 days in advance.
- Wash and dry the fruit, picking off any stems if necessary. Cut the pineapple in half (or quarters if the pieces are really big).
- Add all the prepped fruit to a bowl. Pour the honey dressing over the salad just before serving. Gently mix until the dressing has coated the fruit. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Dress the salad last minute to prevent the fruit from getting mushy.
- If you’re meal prepping, store the fruit and the salad dressing in separate containers.
