This easy Fall Fruit Salad is made with fresh apples, pears, kiwi, pomegranate, and a 2-ingredient citrus-honey dressing. It's simple enough for busy weeknights and right at home on your Thanksgiving table.
For about nine months out of the year, a fresh fruit salad with pineapple as the star of the show is my favorite - not kidding, haha! But in the fall, it's all about apples and pears.
Is there anything quite like the crunch of a fresh apple or the delicate sweetness of a perfectly ripe pear on a crisp autumn day? So good!!
Fall is also a time for finding the right balance between enjoying traditional flavors and introducing new ones. Fruit salad may not be a new side dish, but it could be a fresh addition to your Thanksgiving dinner.
What makes this one a favorite is its mix of fresh fruit and a light citrus-honey dressing. I can't wait for you to try it!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe No cooking, no baking, and no need to peel the fruit! This is an easy fall fruit salad recipe made with a mix of fresh seasonal fruit that makes a tasty addition to any Thanksgiving menu.
- Simple Ingredients Fresh apples, pears, kiwi, and pomegranate arils. No mandarin oranges (or marshmallows).
- Kid-Approved What's not to love about a fresh fruit salad?! Just be sure to cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces, especially apples, so it's easy to eat.
Dietitian Tip
Fruit salads are a perfect side dish that help expose kids and adults to new foods and new ways of eating foods. A new food can be less intimidating to try when it's served with several familiar foods.
Ingredient Notes
- Apples Use a sweet apple, like gala or Honeycrisp. Red apples will add the most color.
- Pears High in fiber and vitamin C. Bartlett pears are considered the sweetest, juiciest, and most flavorful pear. Still, feel free to use any kind of pear.
- Kiwi Both green and gold kiwi are exceptionally high in vitamins C, E, K, folate, carotenoids, potassium, fiber, and phytochemicals.
- Grapes Packed with a variety of nutrients, including phytochemicals. I like to use red grapes for more color, but green grapes can be used instead.
- Pomegranate Arils The color of pomegranate seeds alone should tell you that it's nutrient dense. Pomegranates are especially high in a variety of nutrients that you won't find on a nutrition facts label like polyphenols, tannins, and anthocyanins.
- Orange Juice & Honey For the dressing. Orange juice and honey balance out the flavors and helps to keep the apple and pear pieces from turning brown. Used to make a light citrus dressing.
How to Make This Fall Fruit Salad
Here's a summary of how to make this delicious holiday fruit salad. For a complete list of ingredients and full instructions, scroll down the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Chop up apple and pear. Slice the grapes and kiwi.
- Whisk together the orange juice and honey in a small bowl.
- Add the bite-sized apple and pear pieces to a large bowl. *Optional: sprinkle cinnamon on the apple pieces.
- Add the rest of the prepared ingredients to the large bowl. Drizzle on the orange juice and honey dressing (if using) and stir to combine.
Helpful Tips
- Use a red apple and red grapes to make this colorful fruit salad. Green grapes taste good, but their color blends right in with the pear and kiwi.
- I recommend keeping the ratio of apples to pear one to one. If you really like apples in fruit salad, use a two to one ratio (use more apples than pear).
- There is no need to peel the apples, pear, or kiwi. Keeping the skin on adds fiber, phytonutrients, and it saves time. 🙌
- Most people do not eat kiwi with the skin on. For this reason, consider leaving the skin on some of the kiwi and peeling the rest.
- If you love cinnamon, sprinkle some on the apple pieces before stirring in the rest of the fruit, or serve cinnamon on the side.
Questions You May Have
The easiest way to keep fruit from browning is to add something acidic like lemon, lime, orange juice, or pineapple.
For this recipe, a light citrus dressing is added to the fresh fruit to help keep it from browning.
I do not recommend cutting up the apples or pear the night before. You can slice the kiwi and grapes the night before and store them in an airtight container.
For best results, cut everything up within 30 minutes of serving it.
Blackberries are a great substitute for pomegranate arils in this fruit salad recipe because they are less sweet than other berries and have a slight tartness to them.
More Holiday Recipes
- 36 Healthy Fall Recipes
- Green Bean Casserole with Fresh Green Beans
- Top 9 Holiday Side Dishes (30 Minutes or Less!)
- Christmas Holiday Punch (Non-Alcoholic)
Did you enjoy this Fall Fruit Salad? Please let me know by leaving a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. A 5-star review is the best compliment!
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📖 Recipe
Fall Fruit Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large apple one large apple. I like to use one large Honeycrisp apple or two small gala apples.
- 1 large Pear sweet, ripe
- 3 kiwi 2-3 kiwi diced. Peeling is optional.
- 1½ cup red grapes sliced in half
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate arils
Light Citrus Honey Dressing
- 2 tablespoons orange juice can use fresh lemon and lime juice instead, if you prefer a tart fruit salad.
- 1 teaspoon honey up to two teaspoons for even more sweetness
Instructions
- Cut washed apple and pear into small, bite sized pieces (about one-half inch pieces).1 large apple, 1 large Pear
- Slice washed and drained grapes in half.1½ cup red grapes
- Cut washed kiwi into one-half inch thick slices. Then, quarter each slice. You do not have to peel the kiwi if you don't want to.3 kiwi
- Add all prepared fruit to a large bowl, starting with apple pieces. If you love cinnamon, sprinkle about ⅛ teaspoon onto the apple pieces before adding the rest of the fruit.3 tablespoons pomegranate arils
- Whisk together the orange juice and honey in a separate small bowl (if using).2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 teaspoon honey
- Pour the light citrus honey dressing over the fruit and carefully stir to combine.
Notes
-
- Wash fresh fruit well before cutting it into pieces.
- Use a red apple, red grapes, and green kiwi (instead of golden kiwi) to make a colorful fruit salad. Green grapes and golden kiwi taste good, but their color blends right in with the pear and kiwi.
- The ratio of apples to pear should be 1 to 1. If you really like apples in fruit salad, use a 2:1 ratio (use more apples than pear).
- There's no need to peel the apples, pear, or kiwi unless you don't like the texture. Keeping the skin on adds fiber, phytonutrients, and it saves time. 🙌
- Cut the fruit, especially apples into bite-sized pieces. If you choose to leave the skin on the kiwi, cut it into bite-sized pieces, so it's more enjoyable to eat.
Melanie Anders says
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was so simple and such a hit that I made it for our family at Christmas too.
Kristi Ruth RD says
It's such a great salad for the Fall and Winter months!
Lindsi Marsh says
Giving all the fall vibes! So good and so full of flavor!
Kristi Ruth RD says
Exactly! So glad you enjoy this recipe!
Laura S says
Always a crowd pleaser! Thanks for another Christmas breakfast classic and party favorite.
Kristi Ruth RD says
Thank you for your kind review!