Home » Blog » Course » Fall Fruit Salad For Thanksgiving And Christmas
Pin RecipeRate Recipe
Published: · Modified: by Andrea + Stef ·
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see ourfull Disclosure Policyfor details.
This colorful thanksgiving fruit salad is full of apples and citrus flavors. A homemade dressing adds sweetness and warm fall spices.
Jump to Recipe
If you have been looking for a lighter and healthier holiday side dish, then this Thanksgiving fruit salad is the perfect recipe for you. It combines crunchy apples, sweet grapes, tangy oranges, dried cranberries and toasted nuts for the most delicious fruit medley. A sweet and citrusy dressing with just the right hint of warming spices makes this fruit salad out of this world good. Ready in only 10 minutes, spiced apple fruit salad can be served as a side at any holiday dinner. You can even turn it into a mouthwatering dessert by topping it with a scoop of ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream. This is the best fruit salad you will ever make and your family will sure love it.
Table of Contents
What is Thanksgiving Fruit Salad?
This fall fruit salad only uses fruit that is in season, like apples, grapes, oranges or pears for example. The fruit is combined with nuts and dried cranberries before being tossed with a sweet and spiced dressing. The dressing is made from orange juice, orange and lemon zest, apple pie spice and some sugar for sweetness. This red and green apple fruit salad goes particularly well with holiday dinners, breakfasts and brunches.
Why You’ll Love This
- Notable: crunchy fresh fruit mixed with sweet dried cranberries and a delicious spiced dressing
- Main Ingredients: green apples, red apples, dried cranberries, pecans, grapes, navel orange, lemon, orange juice, sugar, apple pie spice
- Nutrients: excellent source of fiber and vitamins
- Cooking Time: 10 minutes
- Pairs well with: holiday dinners, holiday breakfast and brunch, roast turkey and chicken
- Diets: dairy free, vegetarian, vegan
- Special Equipment Needed: sheet pan, apple slicer (optional), small saucepan, fine mesh strainer
Ingredients
You may have all of these spiced Thanksgiving or Christmas fruit salad ingredients in your refrigerator or pantry and not need to make a trip to the grocery store. See recipe card below for ingredient amounts and print the recipe.
- Pantry Ingredients: sugar, orange juice, pecans, dried cranberries
- Produce Ingredients: green apples, red apples, navel orange, grapes, lemon
- Spices: apple pie spice
Stef says….
Crunchy and colorful salads are a great way to lighten up the Thanksgiving menu. If you are looking for a more savory salad option, then you have to try my Broccoli Grape Salad. Fresh broccoli florets are combined with sweet grapes, toasty almonds, crunchy celery, flavor-punching bacon and a creamy mayonnaise based dressing.
WHAT TO MAKE NEXT: If you are looking to include more fall fruit into your Thanksgiving menu, then you have to try our flavorful Thanksgiving Sangria. It is a bold blend of red wine, sparkling cider, rum and cranberries with a hint of spice! It’s the best cranberry sangria recipe!
Fine-mesh strainer –This helps remove any small spice particles that you don’t want in your finished fruit salad.
Apple Slicer – We love this easy to use apple slicer, because it makes cutting up apples for fruit salad, apple pies or apple crisps so much quicker.
Instructions
This section shows how to make holiday fruit salad with dried cranberries, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique. For full step-by-step instructions, photos and nutritional information see the recipe in the recipe card below. You can print the recipe with or without photos.
TOAST THE PECANS: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place pecans on a lined baking sheet and place in the oven while it’s heating up. Remove pecans from the oven when you can smell their aroma. This should be about the same time as when the oven is fully heated. Remove from the oven and cool.
MAKE THE DRESSING: In a small saucepan, mix orange juice, sugar, apple pie spice, zest of 1 lemon and zest of 1 orange. Place over medium heat. Whisk to combine. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Strain in a fine mesh strainer and cool completely.
COMBINE AND SERVE: Core and slice apples to bite sized pieces. Toss apples with juice from half a lemon to prevent browning.Cut the peel off the orange and cut into bite sized pieces. In a large bowl, mix apples, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, grapes and oranges. Drizzle dressing over the fruit and toss to combine. Serve.
WHAT TO MAKE NEXT: If you love fruity thanksgiving side dishes then you’ll love Stef’s amazing Cranberry Jello Salad. Not only do the bright and zesty flavors of raspberry, cranberry, and orange taste delicious, but this dish also looks stunning and is a real holiday showstopper.
Make Ahead
We do not recommend assembling this apple fruit salad too far ahead of time. Even though tossing the apples in lemon juice will prevent them from browning too quickly, they will turn slightly brown eventually. However, you can prepare certain components of this fruit side dish in advance.
NUTS: You can toast the pecans up to week ahead of time. Make sure they are completely cold before transfering them into a dry airtight container.
DRESSING: The dressing can also be made up to 3 days ahead of time. Cool it completely, transfer to an airtight container or jam jar and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Autumn Fruit Salad Recipe Tips
Follow these tips to make the best spiced apple fruit salad.
- Tip: Use fresh, firm apples. Crunchy apples have the best texture for this fruit salad. If they are blemished or mealy they are not enjoyable to eat.
- Tip: Toss apples in lemon juice. This prevents the apples from browning too quickly.
- Tip: Use organic oranges for zest. To avoid ingesting harmful pesticides or additives try to use organic citrus fruits for zesting.
- Tip: Assemble right before serving. This ensures most freshness and makes the fruit salad look irresistible.
The Best Holiday Cranberry Sangria (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years)
Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
Convection Oven Turkey
Convection Oven Roast Chicken
How To Store
Refrigerate: We recommend making this spiced fruit salad fresh and serve it immediately. This way all the fruit will look fresh and most appetizing. Leftover fruit salad can be stored in an airtight container or ziploc bag in the fridge for 1-2 days. Even though the overall appearance might not be as fresh anymore after 1 or 2 days of storage, the holiday fruit salad will still taste great.
Common Questions
How do I zest a lemon without a lemon zester?
It’s not a problem if you don’t own a lemon zester. You can also use the fine side of a box grater to rub off the lemon zest. Another way to zest a lemon is using a vegetable peeler. First, peel off very thin slices of lemon peel (avoid the white part) and then chop the lemon peel finely on a cutting board with a knife.
How long ahead of time can I make this salad?
Although we recommend making the salad fresh right before serving, it can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days. Alternatively, you can toast the pecans and prepare the dressing a couple of days ahead of time, and therefore speed up assembly when ready to serve.
What apple brands are best for Thanksgiving fruit salad?
For the red apples we recommend using Fuji apples, Honeycrisp apples, Jazz apples, Gala apples or even Red Delicious apples. For the green apples we chose Granny Smith apples.
Can I add any other ingredients to this fruit salad?
Of course! You can add some diced pear, pomegranate seeds, slices of mandarin oranges, kiwi or walnuts to this fall fruit salad.
5 from 21 votes
Thanksgiving Fruit Salad
Author Andrea + Stef
Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American, vegan, vegetarian
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Total Time 10 minutes minutes
8 servings
This colorful thanksgiving fruit salad is full of apples and citrus flavors. A homemade dressing adds sweetness and warm fall spices.
Equipment
baking sheet
small saucepan
whisk
fine-mesh strainer
apple slicer and knife
large bowl
Ingredients
Fruit Salad Ingredients:
- 2 medium green apples
- 2 medium red apples
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup grapes
- 3 medium navel oranges
- 1 medium lemon juiced
Dressing Ingredients:
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon apple pie spice
- zest of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 orange
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pecans on a baking sheet and place in the oven while it’s heating up. Remove pecans from the oven when you can smell them, about the same time the oven is fully heated. Remove from the oven and cool.
In a small saucepan, mix orange juice, sugar, apple pie spice, zest of 1 lemon and zest of 1 orange.
Place over medium heat. Whisk to combine. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Strain in a fine mesh strainer and cool completely.
Core and slice apples to bite sized pieces. Toss apples with juice from half a lemon to prevent browning.
Cut the peel off the orange and cut into bite sized pieces.
In a large bowl, mix apples, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, grapes and oranges.
Drizzle dressing over the fruit and toss to combine. Serve.
Notes
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until you serve.
- Refrigerate the fruit salad for 1-2 days.
Additions or substitutions:
- Add diced pear instead of the green apples.
- Add pomegranate seeds.
Nutrition
Calories: 223kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 279mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 198IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg
Pin
Share
Tweet
