Best Fresh Fruit Salad with a Creamy Dressing
This Fresh Fruit Salad is a family favorite at our house, served as a perfect side dish or a light dessert. The whipped cream dressing is flavored with cream cheese and a little sweetness, then tossed with seven fresh fruits. It's a refreshing, creamy fruit dish that's easy to make and no-cook.
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Whether it's summer or not, no one wants to be in the kitchen more than they have to. Here's an easy fruit salad recipe that requires no cooking. There's only cutting, measuring, and mixing with this homemade fruit salad. How easy is that?
Here's another no-cook fruit dish, Tropical Fruit Salad, with a citrusy sauce that gives a light lift to any meal. The salad with fresh and canned fruit is easy to prepare ahead of time by microwaving to thicken the sauce. It makes a delicious dessert, too!
This Classic Chicken Salad Your Way recipe is basic but not bland, with many optional ingredients to suit your taste. Mixing and combining fruits, nuts, herbs, and cheese make the basic chicken salad your way!
Another fruity recipe is this Fresh Fig Bread. It's a simple, quick bread for summertime eating. The figs bake into a soft, buttery, and delicious loaf with a sweet vanilla flavor. You can substitute fresh strawberries or blueberries for the figs in this easy recipe any time of year.
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Ingredients for Fresh Fruit Salad
The Fruit
The first step is to choose your favorite fruit variety. I find that the seven fresh fruits listed in this recipe go well together. You can choose your favorite fruits for this simple recipe.
- orange - cut or divide into segments
- strawberries - sliced into several pieces
- blueberries - whole plump blueberries
- apple - peeled or unpeeled for a more crunchy texture
- grapes - any color of seedless grapes will do
- pineapple - cut into chunks
- lemon juice - this gives it the best flavor and keeps the fruit from turning brown
- Banana - sliced ripe bananas
HINT: Purchasing a whole pineapple is not necessary. Most grocery stores slice up fresh pineapple and sell the spears in plastic containers. That results in less mess and saves you time. 🙂
The Fruit Salad Dressing
Next comes the fruit salad dressing. Even though we're using heavy whipping cream, this fruit dish is light, not too sweet, and full of good flavors for a fresh fruit salad.
- whipping cream - for creamy taste and texture
- Stevia, or your favorite sweetener, or powdered sugar, to sweeten the dressing
- lemon juice - for taste and helps keep the fruit from turning brown
- cream cheese - adds to the creamy dressing with a tangy taste
- lemon zest - for more lemon flavor to brighten up the fruit salad with a citrusy taste
When mixing the dressing, it's best to use softened cream cheese to get a smooth sauce. Sometimes I take the cream cheese straight from the refrigerator and beat it with an electric mixer until it's softened. This works well when I'm in a hurry.
Instructions for Fruit Salad
Fresh Fruit
- Combine the apples and bananas into a large bowl.
- Pour lemon juice over them and stir to coat the fruit to prevent it from turning brown,
- Mix the remaining delicious fruits into the bowl and gently stir to combine.
HINT: For extra crunch and flavor, you can add a cup of chopped pecans. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes others don't. So I toss the nuts in when I know there isn't anyone with nut sensitivities or biased opinions joining us. 😉
Dressing
When mixing the dressing, it's best to use softened cream cheese to get a smooth sauce. Sometimes I take the cream cheese straight from the refrigerator and beat it with an electric mixer until it's softened. This works well when I'm in a hurry.
- Pour the whipping cream into a small bowl and beat with a wire beater until the cream is thick and peaks form.
- Blend in the sweetener or sugar a little at a time.
- In a larger bowl, cream the cream cheese and lemon juice until smooth.
- Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese in the bowl and fold together.
- Pour dressing over the mixed fruit and stir together.
- Refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.
- Garnish salad with fresh mint, optional.
Storing the Fruit Dish
Place this delicious fruit salad in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two days.
Substitutuions
- Honey is an excellent sweetener for this simple dressing.
- Brown sugar, unlike sugar or other sweeteners, adds a bit of molasses flavor.
- Any favorite combination of fruit, such as fresh berries and sliced kiwi fruit, or fresh peaches, makes a good addition or substitution for any fruit in this salad.
- In place of cream cheese, mascarpone can be used in the sweet dressing for a milder taste.
- The call is for fresh, but sometimes I use canned tropical fruit mix, pineapple chunks, and mandarin oranges, combined with whatever in-season fruit I have on hand.
Variations
- Fill a prebaked pie shell with the salad to make a fruity dessert pie.
- Add 1 cup of chopped nuts for added crunch and taste.
- Use the dressing alone as a fruit dip.
Top Tip
When making this salad several hours ahead of time, I prefer to slice the bananas and add them just before serving. The citrus fruits and lemon juice in the dressing help maintain their freshness even after a day or two of storage.
FAQ
Almost any fruit can go in most fresh fruit salad recipes. You can even use canned fruit as a substitute when seasonal fruit isn't available. However, you may want to omit using melons if you are using a heavy cream dressing. The fruit's texture is too watery and won't hold up well to the dressing.
All you need is a variety of fruits and sometimes a light, sweet dressing or a bit of sweetener for a simple fruit salad recipe.
Yes, the beauty and ease of an ultimate fruit salad is that you can make it a day ahead and refrigerate it to chill before serving.
Related
More refreshing salad recipes like this simple fruit salad:
Pairing
Looking for other recipes to go with this fresh fruit salad recipe? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Best Fresh Fruit Salad with a Creamy Dressing
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 7 cups 1x
- Category: Side Dish / Sweets
- Cuisine: American
Description
The taste of cream cheese in the whipped cream dressing is a delicious addition to this luscious salad with 7 fresh fruits.
Ingredients
Fruit
- 1 cup cut-up orange segments, 2 small oranges
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup diced apple, 1 apple peeled or unpeeled
- 1 cup banana slices, 1-½ bananas
- 1 cup grapes, each cut in half
- 1 cup diced pineapple chunks
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Dressing
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 3 1-gram packages Stevia sweetener, or other sweetener, or 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 ounces softened cream cheese
- lemon zest from ½ of a lemon
Instructions
Fruit
- Combine the apples and bananas in a large bowl.
- Pour lemon juice over the apples and bananas, then mix the fruit altogether.
- Add the rest of the fruit to the bowl and gently mix together.
Dressing
- Pour the whipping cream into a small bowl and beat with a wire beater until the cream is thick and peaks form.
- Blend in the sweetener a little at a time.
- In a larger bowl, cream the cream cheese and lemon juice until smooth.
- Add the whipped cream to the bowl of cream cheese and fold together.
- Stir in the lemon zest.
- Pour dressing over the mixed fruit and stir together.
- Refrigerate and serve cold.
- Garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Notes
- Purchase pineapple spears in the produce section instead of a whole pineapple to save on time and cleanup.
- Add 1 cup of chopped nuts for added crunch and taste.
- Use the dressing alone as a fruit dip.
- Use canned fruit to mix with whatever fresh fruit you have on hand.
- You may slice the bananas and add them to the salad just before serving if you plan to make it more than two hours ahead of time, to keep them from turning too soft. The citrus fruits will keep them from turning brown.
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