This fresh fruit salad is lightly sweetened with a citrus vanilla dressing. Toss your favorite colorful mixture of fruit in a bowl and you will agree this recipe is super easy and delicious!
No matter the season, I love a simple fruit salad. This recipe dresses up a simple bowl of fruit with a quick homemade vanilla syrup. Use any mixture of fruit to match the time of year! Serve to guests or keep in your fridge a few days for snacking. (Or, in my usual case, do both!)
I always like to have a fruit option on our dinner plates. Typically, I'm scrambling to quickly slice up an apple or be ordinary with a few grapes on our plates. But, every once in a while I like to have a huge bowl of fruit in my fridge ready to spoon onto our plates. Instead of plain fruit (which is also delicious) why not dress it up a little to change things up? That's where this fruit salad comes in.
The best way to prepare this is when you're having guests for dinner because it makes a bunch! You can set aside half in the fridge for later because it will be plenty to serve and to keep. I love a recipe like this that stretches its use.
Ingredients for this recipe
Typing out measurements for this recipe is difficult because I typically just toss my favorite fresh fruits into my mixing bowl until it's full. But, this can get your started and you can mix it up with the fruits you like best for your fruit salad. You'll also need a few items for the citrus vanilla syrup. Gather these ingredients:
Grocery List for Fruit Salad
- Strawberries
- Pineapple
- Mandarin oranges
- Green grapes
- Red grapes
- Blackberries
For the syrup: - Orange juice
- Pineapple juice
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
These are the fruits I typically use. You can also throw in kiwi, bananas, blueberries and raspberries or any other fruit you like!
How to make simple fruit salad
Making this fruit salad is as simple as it gets! The syrup also comes together very quickly on the stovetop. The longest part is letting the fruit salad chill to allow the fruit to soak up those yummy juices!
Here are the steps to make a simple fruit salad:
- Wash and dry your favorite colorful fruits.
- Layer fruits in a large bowl.
- Boil orange juice, pineapple juice, lemon juice, brown sugar. Stir in vanilla.
- Let syrup cool then pour over bowl of fruit; toss.
- Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Click here for full recipe ingredients and instructions.
The fruit salad will last in your refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. I typically have ours gone by day 3 because we eat it for snacks, breakfast, lunch AND dinner!
Other delicious fruit salad recipes
- Easy Grape Salad
- Winter Fruit Salad with Honey-Lemon Dressing
- End of the Rainbow Fruit Salad
- Glazed Fruit Salad
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Recipe Card
Easy Fruit Salad with Citrus Vanilla Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 tablespoons pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups cubed pineapple
- 2 cups green grapes
- 2 cups red grapes
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 cup mandarin orange segments
Instructions
- Whisk together orange juice, pineapple juice, lemon juice, brown sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
- While the vanilla dressing is cooling, wash and dry the fruit. Layer in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the fruit and toss to combine.
- Chill at least 1 hour before serving. Store leftovers covered in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
Notes
- Nutritional information is an estimation only and varies widely depending on fruit used and varied measurements.
Nutrition
