This easy fruit salad recipe is a simple and delicious way to add a bit of sweetness, flavor, and nutrition to any meal.

Plus, it’s beautiful! I like to use the colors of the rainbow to make this fruit salad beautiful and fun to eat.

It’s perfect to serve whether you’re entertaining or you simply want more fruit in your life.

And when I say this fruit salad recipe is easy, I mean it. While fruit salad is of course just cut-up fruit, if you use the right combination of textures, flavors, and colors, along with the right balance of acidic citrus juice and extra sweetness, you can take your plain cut-up fruit to a whole new level.

Rainbow Fruit Salad Ingredients

Here’s what I like to put in my easy rainbow fruit salad. If something doesn’t look great at your store you can always just leave it out:

• Strawberries: These are packed with vitamin C, antioxidants, and fiber, making them not only a scrumptious treat but a great way to promote heart health.
• Cutie Oranges or Tangerines: While these are easy to peel and use, the benefits don’t stop there. Cuties are loaded with vitamins and are always readily available at the grocery store.
• Kiwi: Kiwis add a nice unique tropical flavor to the salad. They also contain high levels of fiber, making it a great option for gut health.
• Pineapple: The taste of pineapple whisks me away to some far-off tropical island whenever I eat it, so I had to include it in this recipe. It’s loaded with vitamins, potassium, and antioxidants too, which is always a plus.
• Apple: High in fiber and vitamins, this popular snack adds a bit of crunch and texture to the fruit mixture.
• Red Grapes: Given the high amount of antioxidants and vitamins, red grapes add a nice burst of flavor alongside amazing health benefits.
• Blueberries: Delicious sweet blueberries pack a massive punch in the health world, as they are full of antioxidants and vitamins.
• Mint Leaves: Rich in nutrients, mint leaves add a nice, cool touch of freshness to this easy fruit salad.
• Fresh Lemon Juice: This adds a tart brightness to the salad, along with health benefits that can help with clearing skin, digestion, and blood sugar regulation. Fresh lemon juice has the best flavor and most nutrients. The stuff in bottles is mostly citric acid and lemon flavoring, so opt for real lemon whenever possible.
• Honey: This is a healthy way to add sweetness to your salad in a healthy way, as it’s a great source of antioxidants.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract is the secret to adding gourmet flavor to a simple recipe like this. It adds a little bit of sweetness without adding sugar and makes the entire dish more special.

What about bananas?

I occasionally add a banana to fruit salad, but find that it often gets too mushy. If you need to stretch your fruit salad and you have a few bananas, go ahead and slice one up and toss it in.

How to Make Fruit Salad

Making a great fruit salad is easy.

• Step 1: Slice or chop all of the pieces of fruit about the same size. Look for texture and color variation (ideas below).
• Step 2: Garnish with a drizzle of a sweet salad dressing made with citrus juice, honey, and vanilla extract to give it a gourmet flavor.

I include the exact ingredients of how I made the one in the photos here in the recipe card below. You can follow it exactly, or make it your own with what looks good at your store.

Rainbow Fruit Salad Variations

I like to follow the rainbow here and use “ROY G. BIV” (the acronym to remember the rainbow colors) as my guide. Here are some ideas, and the full recipe for my easy fruit salad is below in the recipe card.

• Red – Strawberries, Red Apples, sometimes Grapes
• Orange – Mandarine Oranges, Apricots, Peaches
• Yellow – Pineapple, Some Apples, Golden Kiwis
• Green – Kiwi, Chopped Mint, Green Apple, Green Grapes
• Blue – Blueberries
• Indigo/Violet – Comes from the blueberries, too. Blackberries. Sometimes Red Grapes.

Tips to Make a Great Fruit Salad

Here are a few tips for this easy fruit salad to enhance the flavor even further:

• Honey adds an overall sweetness to fruit salad and can counteract tartness. A little tartness is good, but too much leaves fruit salad lacking in flavor. I like to use minimally processed honey. You can also use maple syrup here, too. Fruit varies in tartness depending on the season, so use more or less honey/maple syrup to taste. If all of your fruit is extra sweet, you may not need any at all. You can also use pineapple juice in place of the honey.
• Citrus juice and vanilla extract both go a long way to elevating any fruit salad. If the lemon juice is a bit too tart for your liking, feel free to switch with fresh squeezed orange juice for a sweeter take on this fruit salad. In contrast, lime juice can also be used to add a different level of tanginess and tartness.
• Frozen fruit works, too. An easy fruit salad doesn’t only have to be for the summertime. If any of these fruits are out of season, you can also use a frozen variation. They contain all of the same nutrients, just packed when they were at peak freshness. Know that as frozen fruit defrosts it gives off juice, which may change the color of your fruit salad.

The delicious mix of juicy fruits with the sweet and tangy dressing takes simple fruit to a whole new level. There is no doubt that people will be asking for your secrets after trying this out.

Of course, leave out anything you don’t love, or add in other fruits that are ripe and in season to make it your own.

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