Tropical fruit salad

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This tropical fruit salad is an easy and delicious combination of bright and flavorful fruits. It’s versatile enough to be a side for a potluck, dessert or breakfast. In other words, enjoy any time!

Bowl of tropical fruit salad with cut lime to side and spoon in front

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Many years ago now, I went on a trip to Mexico for a meeting at the place I had previously volunteered, followed by a bit of traveling. One of the stops was a lovely bed and breakfast in Merida, on the Yucatan peninsula. They served breakfast on the patio by the pool and it was a delightful experience.

You could choose from the odd cooked dish but they also had a wonderful fruit salad with a delicious mix of tropical fruits. So often cut fruit in hotels is pretty disappointing, I find, as the fruit is often underripe and so not exactly the most flavorful.

This was completely different.

Bowl of tropical fruit salad from overhead

I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the ingredients were from the local market the day before. Merida is inland and so considerably less touristy than places on the coast, but we found it a charming place to spend some time. This included exploring the colorful market and central plaza.

I’m a big fruit fan so having fantastic fresh fruit in the area was heavenly for me. And the perfect way to start the day. It’s both full of delicious flavors plus light enough to be perfect for a warm day (and not just at breakfast time).

Now that we’re in Australia, we’ve been enjoying access to some great fruit here as well. My kids were already big fans of mango, as I am, but they have now also got into passion fruit as well (passion fruit mousse was a huge hit!).

various chopped fruit ready to make into salad

What fruits go in this salad?

This salad combines all your tropical fruit favorites in one colorful bowl. While I’ve given a suggested list, you can obviously pick and choose according to what you have available and your preferences.

I used mango, papaya, cantaloupe, banana, orange and pineapple, along with passion fruit in the dressing. You could also use watermelon, dragon fruit and/or star fruit, for example.

The dressing, though, to me is one part you really shouldn’t miss. I suppose it’s not technically a dressing since there’s no oil, but it is certainly a wonderful way to bring the whole thing together, with fresh lime and aromatic passion fruit. The touch of honey takes the edge off the tartness of the fruits.

A couple tips for making the dressing – you want to make sure that both the honey dissolves and that the passion fruit pulp breaks up. I found giving the mixture a shake in a small jar worked well for both, with a little stir after to catch any sunken honey.

This tropical fruit salad is great for breakfast or brunch, either as it is or alongside some yogurt. It would also be great to add as a side for a potluck or BBQ or enjoy as dessert. Plus, it’s as easy as chopping up a few fruits and mixing the dressing, but the result is a wonderfully tasty mix of fresh flavors. Easy, versatile and delicious: in other words, try it soon.

finished dish from side with spoon under bowl

Try these other ideas for tropical fruit:

Print Recipe

This bright and colorful fruit salad is a delicious combination of tropical flavors. Easy, versatile and tasty.

Ingredients

¾ cup cantaloupe 130g (peeled and de-seeded quantity/weight)
¾ cup papaya 130g (peeled and de-seeded quantity/weight)
¾ cup pineapple 115g (peeled quantity/weight – one thick slice)
½ mango approximately, 110g
½ orange
1 banana

For dressing

2 tablespoon passion fruit pulp (1 – 2 fruit, depending on size)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon honey

Instructions

Remove seeds and skin from cantaloupe and papaya. Remove the core and skin from the pineapple, taking out any spiney “eyes”. Cut half the mango from the stone and peel. Peel the orange, removing any white pith left on the flesh. (Leave the banana for later to avoid it browning).
Cut all of the fruit into roughly even, bite-sized pieces. If you have any tougher-looking edges on any of the fruit, where you might not have peeled them quite enough, then remove these as they won’t be as sweet or tasty.
Put the passion fruit, lime juice and honey in a small jar, cover with lid and shake them together to mix and break up the passion fruit pulp. Open and stir in any honey that didn’t dissolve.
Peel and slice the banana and add to the other fruit. For over the passion fruit dressing, mix gently and serve.

Ratings

Make sure all of the fruits are ripe but not overly ripe – this means they’ll have a good flavor but not fall apart and become musky.

Nutrition

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline’s Cooking Amazon store.

See more tasty ideas for #Brunchweek:

Tropical fruit salad – Caroline’s Cooking

What fruits go in this salad?

Try these other ideas for tropical fruit: