Fall Fruit Salad
Fall Fruit Salad has all the best sweet, juicy, and fresh flavors of the season! A medley of fruits like apples, pears, and kiwis are tossed together with crunchy candied pecans, pomegranate arils and more to create the very best fall flavor. There’s also some cinnamon in the mix to create that signature autumnal warmth!
Fall Fruit Salad
There are so many delicious ways to serve this fall fruit salad! Serve it up as a side dish next to some butternut squash risotto, bring it with you to your next potluck, or enjoy it on Thanksgiving (my personal favorite). While it certainly works perfectly as a Thanksgiving side dish, I’ve found that it’s really perfect for serving as an appetizer on turkey day!
That’s because on Thanksgiving, it’s sometimes hard to wait for the bird to reach the right temperature. Everyone’s hanging out in the kitchen looking for a little something to hold them over, but you also don’t want to overindulge before your big meal. That’s where this fall fruit salad comes in handy! It’s fall friendly and keeps everyone satisfied with their snack before your real meal.
So, what gives this fruit salad so much fall flavor? Bites of pomegranate arils and candied pecans are really what seal the deal on that. There’s also some brown sugar and cinnamon to create the best sweetness and warmth! Oh, and of course the apples and pears are fall forward as well. This really is the very best Thanksgiving fruit salad recipe!
How to Make Fall Fruit Salad
This Thanksgiving salad recipe features all of your favorite fall fruits tossed together with a sweet, cinnamon-y fruit juice dressing. The best part? It’s so quick and easy to make!
- Combine honey and water. Whisk together honey and water in a small bowl.
- Keep the fruit from browning. Add the chopped apples and pears to a big bowl. Toss them with the honey mixture. The enzymes in the honey will keep the fruit from browning!
- Add more fruits to the bowl. Toss the oranges, grapefruit, kiwis, pomegranate arils and cranberries in the bowl.
- Squeeze the juice. Squeeze the juice of the inside of the oranges and grapefruit into a bowl. Ideally, you should have about half a cup.
- Make the dressing. Stir brown sugar and cinnamon into the fruit juices, whisking to fully combine.
- Toss and serve. Toss the fruits with the dressing, sprinkle with candied pecans, and serve immediately.
Tips and Variations to Try
Here are just a few ways you can make the very BEST fruit salad for Thanksgiving! Feel free to get creative and really make it your own.
- Don’t let the fruit get brown. The enzymes in honey are what help keep the fruit from browning. Not a honey fan? Replace it with an equal amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Switch up the nuts. In place of candied pecans, you can feel free to use candied walnuts or slow cooker candied nuts. Of course, you can feel free to omit the nuts entirely if you don’t want the added crunch.
- Don’t make it too ahead of time. You can chop the fruits ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. However, you don’t want to toss them with the fruit juices too early! Once the salad is tossed, it’s best served within an hour or two for the best fresh flavors and textures.
Storage
Fall fruit salad is best served fresh, within the first few hours of being tossed. However, it will stay good for up to 2 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. I do not recommend freezing it.
Enjoy more of my favorite salad recipes!
- Sweet Potato Salad
- Autumn Apple Spinach Salad with Bacon and Candied Pecans
- Harvest Arugula Salad
- Waldorf salad
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Get the Recipe: Fall Fruit Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 apples, cored and chopped
- 2 pears, cored and chopped
- 2 oranges, peeled and segmented
- 1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
- 3 kiwifruit, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup pomegranate arils
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped candied pecans
- 1/2 cup citrus juice
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Equipment
- 1 serving bowl
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the honey and water.
- In a large bowl, add the apples and pears. Pour the honey mixture evenly over the fruit and toss to combine. The enzymes in the honey will help keep the fruit from browning. Alternatively you can use lemon juice in place of the honey.
- Add the orange segments, grapefruit segments, kiwi, pomegranate and cranberries to the bowl. Set aside.
- Squeeze the juice of the inside of the oranges and grapefruit into a bowl (it should measure at least half a cup.)
- Add the brown sugar and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the dressing over the fruit and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the pecans and serve.