Fruit Salad Recipe for a Crowd is bursting with candy and juicy fruits and berries. This massive batch recipe is ideal for events and potlucks.
We’re knocking on the door to summer season and I for one can’t anticipate heat nights spent outdoor with family and friends whereas fireflies showcase to a choir of cicadas (ask me how excited I’m for this 12 months’s uncommon cicada season — screaming!)
Along with whipping up batches of Finest Ever Pasta Salad and Judy’s Baked Beans anytime we entertain within the hotter months, I like to have a giant recent fruit salad available to spherical out the meal.
A serving bowl of candy and snappy fruit salad for a crowd is refreshing, gentle, and wholesome. It’s the proper dish to have available for cookouts, events, child or bridal showers, grad events, and any get collectively in between!
Finest Fruit Salad Recipe Elements
It might appear to be you possibly can mix all of your favourite fruits to create a fruit salad and, technically, you’d be proper! That mentioned, I occur to consider this explicit mixture of tropical fruits, candy berries, and pomegranate arils achieves a perfect stability of candy, tart, crispy, and juicy. It’s really fairly addicting! Right here’s what you’ll want:
- Pineapple: chopped, recent pineapple types the bottom of this fruity salad. Don’t miss my tutorial on find out how to trim and chop a pineapple.
- Mango: do you know summer season is champagne mango (aka yellow mango) season? That is my favourite mango selection as a result of they’re exceptionally candy and juicy.
- Strawberries: present sweetness and a gorgeous pop of crimson to the salad.
- Kiwi: my youngsters are kiwi-crazy and like to see it of their bowls of fruit salad. You should use inexperienced or yellow kiwi.
- Pomegranate: I like the jewel-tone pops of coloration and sweet-tart style pomegranate arils deliver to this fruit salad combine. You should buy simply the arils, although I’ll present you beneath find out how to de-seed a pomegranate with zero mess.
- Lime + Honey: a drizzle of each creates the “dressing” for this fruity salad. Just a bit of every helps create a light-weight and luscious sauce that brings the salad collectively right into a cohesive dish.
As satisfying as this dish is throughout the hotter months utilizing recent summer season fruits, all of the elements are available throughout the chilly months so it may be made 12 months spherical. A serving bowl of this straightforward fruit salad recipe could be a festive and welcomed addition to any Christmas or winter celebration!
Methods to Preserve Fruit Salad from Getting Soggy
We’ve all skilled a smooth and soggy scoop of fruit salad earlier than. Dislike! Listed here are my suggestions for guaranteeing your summer season fruit salad is recent, snappy, and nonetheless dazzling at serving time.
- If making totally forward: It’s greatest to serve this fruit salad the identical day it’s made. I like to recommend assembling the fruit salad plus dressing up to a few hours forward of time, which supplies the elements time to macerate with out changing into overly smooth and soggy.
- If prepping forward: If you happen to’re seeking to save time on the day you’re serving the salad, peel/chop the fruit parts as much as 2 days forward of time however retailer them individually. Mix the elements then gown with lime juice and honey up to a few hours forward of serving.
Except for events and potlucks, I like having a bowl of fruit salad within the fridge as a wholesome, after-school snack for my youngsters, or to scoop as a simple facet dish with their dinner entrees. For these functions, the fruit salad can hand around in the fridge for as much as 3 days after assembling as a result of my youngsters don’t care if the fruit turns into a little bit smooth.
Do that Contemporary and Summery Appetizer
Methods to Make Fruit Salad for a Crowd
Step 1: Prep the fruits and berries.
Trim / prep / peel / chop recent fruits, berries, and pomegranate arils in a big mixing bowl or serving bowl. Once more, we’ve bought:
- Mango: peeled then chopped
- Strawberries: trimmed then chopped
- Pineapple: trimmed then chopped
- Kiwi: peeled then chopped
- Pomegranate arils
Another fruits to swap out or add into the combination are blueberries, blackberries, and cantaloupe. Raspberries, nectarines, or peaches would even be DIVINE — however fold these into the combination simply earlier than serving since they’re so delicate!
Methods to Seed a Pomegranate
Belief me after I let you know I’ve tried each technique below the solar for eradicating pomegranate seeds, aka arils, from a pomegranate and that is BY FAR one of the best one (this can be a hill I’m prepared to die on). There isn’t a mess, splatters, stains, nor whacking with a picket spoon required!
Pomegranate Step 1: Rating a sq. across the blossom finish.
Minimize deep sufficient to undergo the peel, however not deep sufficient to the place you’re slicing into the pomegranate seeds. Use the blossom to peel away the sq..
Pomegranate Step 2: Vertically rating the membrane traces.
Do you see the 6 white vertical membranes separating the 5 clusters of arils from one another? Use your knife to attain the pores and skin inline with the membranes. Once more, not too deep — simply sufficient to chop by the pores and skin/pith.
Pomegranate Step 3: Open the pomegranate and take away the seeds.
The vertical rating traces will assist you to open the pomegranate like a flower. Subsequent, use your fingertips to pop the seeds out right into a bowl of water.
Once more, there may be zero mess utilizing this technique, as you possibly can see!
Pomegranate Step 4: Clear the arils.
Little bits of pith would possibly stay on the arils, so I prefer to swish them round in a bowl of chilly water and scoop out something that floats to the highest. Drain in a colander in between rinsing. I do that perhaps two or thrice.
Voila — pomegranate seeds made straightforward!
Step 2: Costume the Fruit Salad
Drizzle recent lime juice and honey over the elements then fold to mix. It’s arduous to say how a lot of every you’ll want as a result of fruit and berries don’t include pre-determined sweetness ranges.
I begin with 1/2 lime and about 2 teaspoons of honey, let the fruit macerate for a few hours, then style and add extra of every if wanted.
- Tip: need to hold this fruit salad vegan? Use powdered sugar or maple syrup as a substitute of honey. SO scrumptious!
Step 3: Let the Fruit Salad Macerate.
Refrigerate the fruit salad for not less than half-hour, and up to some hours forward of serving, with a view to macerate — that’s, draw out the pure juices of the fruits to mix and make a cohesive salad. It really makes a HUGE distinction!
After that, its time to share! Be at liberty to garnish the serving bowl with recent mint, as I’ve proven right here. That is at all times a enjoyable contact for events. Seems fancy however simply takes a minute.
Methods to Retailer Fruit Salad
Retailer the fruit salad straight within the mixing bowl or in a big serving bowl coated with a lid or saran wrap / press-n-seal previous to serving.
Leftovers may be saved for as much as 3 days, although the fruit will develop into softer and saucier with every passing day.
Remodel Leftovers
Fruit salad for a crowd will serve 8-10 individuals, and if in case you have leftovers, they repurpose fantastically!
- Smoothie: Pour the leftover fruit salad right into a blender with yogurt and/or a splash of milk then mix till easy.
- Lazy Lady Sorbet: Scoop leftovers right into a freezer-safe container or Ziplock freezer bag then freeze flat. Pour the frozen fruit right into a blender or meals processor then mix till easy. Sorbet texture — no churning required!
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Fruit Salad Recipe for a Crowd
Description
Fruit Salad Recipe for a Crowd is bursting with candy and juicy fruits and berries. This massive batch recipe is ideal for events and potlucks.
Elements
- 4 cups chopped pineapple (~1 small pineapple)
- 1lb strawberries, chopped
- 4 kiwi, peeled then chopped
- 2 mangoes, peeled then chopped (Champagne mangoes really helpful)
- 1 pomegranate, seeded (~1 cup arils)
- juice of 1/2 lime
- drizzle of honey
Instructions
- Add the fruits and berries to a big mixing or serving bowl then squeeze the lime juice on high and drizzle with honey, 1-2 teaspoons. Fold with a spatula to mix then refrigerate for not less than 1 hour earlier than serving.
- Style previous to serving then add extra lime juice for tartness, and/or honey for sweetness. For greatest outcomes, serve the Fruit Salad the identical day it is assembled. Retailer leftovers coated within the fridge for as much as 3 days.
Notes
- Use powdered sugar or maple syrup as a substitute of honey to make this recipe vegan.
- Have leftovers? Flip them right into a recent fruit smoothie, or freeze then mix to create a quick-version of sorbet.
- These images present mint as an elective garnish.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Lady Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Photographs by Ashley McLaughlin