The BEST homemade fruit salad you will ever taste. It is so easy to make with fresh, juicy fruit, plus a secret ingredient. Perfect as a side dish or healthy dessert! You'll want to make it again and again.
Easy Homemade Fruit Salad
I came up with this easy homemade Fruit Salad recipe on total accident. I was in a hurry, and I ran to the store to grab some stuff to throw together for dinner. I thought fruit salad would be good, so I just grabbed some fresh berries and grapes, and voila. This simple but magnificent fruit salad was born.
Now, several years later, I'm still making this accidental fruit salad, and I get compliments at cookouts and holidays all the time.
It is seriously so simple and so good, with very little added sugar. A perfect side dish or healthy dessert!
What Do You Need to Make Homemade Fruit Salad
For this homemade fruit salad, the ingredients and supply list are really simple.
You just need fresh fruit, sugar, and lemon juice for the actual salad.
For kitchen supplies, you will need a knife, cutting board, large mixing bowl, and spoon for stirring to prepare.
What's in Homemade Fruit Salad?
Homemade Fruit Salad is mainly made up of fruit. Fresh fruit, though, not frozen, as thawing frozen fruit makes it mushy and watery.
My favorite combination of fruit for this recipe is strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. The sour-to-sweet ratio is just perfect when these three fruits are combined.
Most fruit salad recipes also include some kind of "dressing," which often involves yogurt or cream.
I like to keep mine fresher most of the time with just lemon and sugar (or cut the sugar totally if you're trying to reduce carbs. You'll barely notice a difference!). The lemon and sugar will help the fruit to "juice," which will make its own little dressing concoction.
The lemon juice is a MUST in this recipe. It's truly the secret ingredient. I don't know why, but the lemon juice really makes or breaks it. And it must be lemon. We tried lime juice once, and it just wasn't the same. The flavor balance was just off.
Homemade Fruit Salad Recipe Variations
The great thing about this fruit salad is that you can personalize it to make it your own. Try these ideas!
- Different fruits: try adding some blackberries, raspberries, pitted cherries, kiwis, mandarin oranges, diced pineapple, melon, or diced green apple, as well.
- Citrus zest: Add some lemon, lime, or orange zest for a little extra citrus flavor.
- Juice: You can also substitute lime or orange juice for the lemon juice, but I recommend using fresh squeezed, no matter the fruit.
- Sweetener: I like plain sugar here as it doesn't add any additional flavor, but if you love the taste of honey, agave, or maple syrup, you can use those instead of sugar, to taste.
How to Serve Fruit Salad
Our family loves eating a big bowl of fruit salad by itself after dinner as a sweet treat. It's fresh, healthy, and easy.
It's also perfect to bring to a cookout, potluck, or barbecue. I always get rave reviews when I bring it (which is kind of funny when you see how basic the ingredient list is!).
If you want to indulge a little add a dollop of fresh whipped cream on top, or pile some homemade fruit salad on top of some cold, creamy vanilla ice cream. So good!
More Summer Recipes You'll Love
- Berry Spritzer - fresh, sparkling drink that can be made into a cocktail or a mocktail.
- Berries and Cream Cupcakes - fresh berries, vanilla cupcakes, and sweet cream cheese frosting.
- Sauteed Zucchini and Summer Squash - our family favorite fresh veggies for the summer!
- Deviled Egg Potato Salad - a classic potato salad great for summer barbecues!
- Dill Pickle Pasta Salad - if you love pickles, you'll love this pasta salad!
Easy Homemade Fruit Salad Video
Easy Homemade Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 2 pounds strawberries cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 pints blueberries
- 2 pounds seedless grapes any color, cut into quarters
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Juice from half a lemon
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
- Stir gently to combine.
- Cover and chill for two hours before serving. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
- This recipe is naturally gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, and vegan.
- Substitute honey for sugar for a more natural version. Or omit the sweetener altogether, and just use lemon juice. I've done this in the past, and my sweet-loving children didn't even notice and gobbled it all up.
- Use ripened fruit. Ripe fruit is a little sweeter and softer, and works better than tart, stiff fruit for fruit salad.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving to allow the fruit to juice and the flavors to marry.
- Store in the refrigerator covered for 3-7 days.
- Fruit salad cannot be frozen. The fruit will turn mushy when thawed.
Nutrition
UPDATE INFO: This recipe was originally published in April 2018. It was updated with new tips and video and republished in June 2023.
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Amber Mamian says
I am planning a picnic soon and this will be the perfect accompaniment.
Ellen says
This is now my favorite fruit salad. Did not add the sugar and it is perfect!! Thank you!!
Monica says
Simple yet yummy