Tropical Fruit Salad Recipe – a simple and refreshing tropical fruit salad starring pineapple, mangoes, papaya and kiwi coated in a lemon, passion fruit, guava dressing. It’s the perfect combination of summer tropical fruits!
You know by now that I’m obsessed with anything tropical. During our recent trip to Hawaii, I temporarily forgot my love for bread basket and it was replaced with fruit bowls. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, as snacks and even during late night movie time. Imagine!!! Me, killing some time with the TV while munching on fresh tropical fruits. I thought it was going to be forever!
This tropical fruit salad is an inspired dish from that trip and I’ve been making this more often lately to make use of the fresh summer fruits. It can be eaten for breakfast, as a light dessert every after meal or during snack time. So far, this is the simplest fruit salad you’ll ever make and hopefully will be the most flavorful one.
What fruits go well together in a fruit salad?
A key to the best ever tropical fruit salad is mixing 3-4 fruits. Too much of fruits would mean one would overpower the other and you won’t get to enjoy every flavor of the fruits. This pineapple, mangoes, papaya and kiwi combination is by far my favorite fruit mix and they complement well with each other.
Bananas are not a great choice, they easily get mushy.
However, as a rule of thumb, you should also note that acid fruits like pineapples, strawberries and citrus don’t pair well with sweet fruits like grapes, bananas, figs, prunes and dates.
Subacid fruits, on the other hand, like sweet apples, apricots, mangoes, pears, papayas, berries and cherries can somehow mix well with either acid or sweet fruits.
Simplicity is the key in creating a fresh fruit salad recipe.
How long can you keep fresh fruit salad in the fridge?
When making fruit salads go for fresh firm fruits, it can be cut up way in advance (about 2-3 hours) before you plan on serving it. If not, it’s best to cut and serve within an hour.
What you can do though is prepare the dressing ahead and store it in the fridge. Toss it in your mixed salad 30 minutes prior to serving.
For the dressing, you can use pulp passion fruit puree, guava puree, pineapple puree or mango. These pulps are available in most Hispanic markets in the freezer sections. I like to use two combination – passion fruit and guava (my two favorite).
Now go ahead and buy all the fresh fruits that you want before everything turns into pumpkin flavored. 😉 As always, adjust the taste according to your preference. You can substitute fruits base on the pointers above on what fruits go well. But I’d suggest you start with this tropical fruit salad recipe. I promise, not a week goes by without a big bowl of this.
Aaaand…summer won’t be complete without a fruity-refreshing drink like this Tropical Sangria. It has crazy good flavors and as vibrantly colored as the tropical fruit salad. Serve these two and you’ll never regret it.
Want more healthy salad in your menu? Check out my Strawberry Spinach Salad, Cucumber Tomato Salad and my 7 Layer Salad.
Enjoy!
Tropical Fruit Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ lime Juice
- ½ lemon juice
- 1-2 cups passion fruit pulp
- 1-2 guava or pineapple juice or pulp
- ½ large Pineapple , (peel and cut into small dice)
- 2 ripe mangoes (peeled and cut into small dice )
- ½ large or 1 small papaya , (peeled and cut into small dice)
- 4-6 kiwi fruist , (peeled and cut into small dice)
- Cold water (adjust to taste )
Simple Syrup
- ¾ cup sugar replace with honey, or any sweetener
- 2 cups water
Instructions
Simple Syrup
- In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, keep stirring until sugar has dissolved- about 5-7 minutes. Let it cool.
Fruit Salad
- Combine all fruits in a large bowl. When ready to serve, mix the fruit pulps and lime and lemon juice. Add simple syrup as needed. Pour over the fruit salad. Adjust with more water and/or simple syrup. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Serve cold.
Nutrition Information:
Sophia Nassanga says
It’s so good and you have made my fasting easy
Immaculate Bites says
Goodluck on your fasting, Sophia 🙂 Glad I can help!
mike says
your article is very good. I can’t wait to try it at home. Thank you for sharing the recipe with me. I’m waiting for your next article.
Mucki says
I was browsing around because you posted yet another recipe I wanted to try and stumbled across this one…oh my goodness…Fall or Summer, I’ve gotta give this a try
imma africanbites says
Yes please! It’s a great salad to have especially this coming holiday season. 😉
Margo Robinson says
I love your cooking and style of african cooking
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Margo.