Christmas Fruit Salad

This easy Christmas fruit salad recipe is sweet, refreshing, and perfect for any holiday meal! It’s so versatile – serve it for Christmas morning breakfast, a brunch side dish, a quick afternoon snack, or a light fruit dessert. The whole family will love this festive fruit salad, and it’s ready in less than 20 minutes!

Homemade fruit salad is the best! For more easy recipes, try our Thanksgiving fruit salad, creamy condensed milk fruit salad, and strawberry banana cheesecake salad.

Easy holiday fruit salad

I make this Christmas fruit salad a few times during the holidays! It’s an absolute crowd-pleaser and tastes so vibrant, bright, and refreshing!

The symphony of winter fruit is delicious on its own and further enhanced with a bright, sweet, and tangy honey orange dressing.

The holiday fruit salad comes together in minutes and can be made in advance. Yay to stress-free serving and easy entertaining!

This festive fruit salad is an essential for Christmas morning brunch and makes a great side dish for dinner and potlucks.

Everyone will love this refreshing treat, and it always disappears fast!

Need more easy sides for Christmas dinner? Look no further than this Velveeta broccoli casserole, scalloped potatoes, and creamy mashed potatoes!

I chose fruits that are readily available during the winter months. They create a magical medley of flavors and textures. Please see the recipe card below for exact measurements.

• Apples: Pick your favorite red apples and slice them up. I used a small, star-shaped cutter to cut out mini stars and tiny shooting stars from some apple slices. It makes the fruit salad super festive but is optional.
• Green grapes add crunch to the Christmas fruit dish. Plus, the red and green combo (from the apples and grapes) looks very cheerful.
• Mandarin oranges: I recommend fresh mandarin oranges instead of canned ones because canned easily fall apart. Look for clementines as they are seedless and easy to peel.
• Kiwis add a pop of tang. Make sure the kiwis are ripe, or they might taste bitter or super tart.
• Pomegranate arils: You can pick up ready-to-eat pomegranate seeds for convenience or buy a whole pomegranate and remove the seeds yourself.
• Orange juice prevents the fruit from browning, amplifies the refreshing flavor, and takes away the stickiness when you mix it with the honey. I prefer freshly squeezed juice, but good-quality bottled lemon juice is fine, too.
• Honey adds a sweet taste to the dressing.

This easy Christmas fruit salad comes together in a few simple steps. Take a look!

1. Mix dressing

Whisk together the orange juice and honey in a small jug or bowl until well combined.

2. Assemble the fruit

Place the fruit into a large mixing bowl.

3. Add dressing

Pour the dressing over the fruit in the bowl and gently toss to combine and coat completely.

4. Serve

If desired, transfer your holiday fruit salad into a serving dish. Serve the fruit salad immediately or refrigerate it until ready to eat. Enjoy!

Follow these tips and tricks to make the best Christmas fruit salad!

• Use ripe, but not over-ripe fruit: You want flavorful fruit, but it shouldn’t be too ripe, or it will get mush and fall apart – especially the mandarin oranges and kiwis.
• Chill the fruit: Chilled fruit is everything in a fruit salad. So pop your chopped or whole fruit in the fridge for at least 2 hours because no one likes lukewarm fruit salad!
• Chop it evenly: Keep all fruits bite-sized for easy serving and eating.
• Prevent apples from browning: Apples tend to brown quickly. Drizzle them with orange juice right after slicing to keep them fresh. The acid in the orange juice will protect them from turning brown.
• Adjust the sweetness: Depending on how ripe and sweet your fruit is, you can use less or more honey in your dressing.
• Serve within 2 hours: I think this festive fruit salad is best within 2 hours but will still taste delicious if served later than that.
• Scale up or down: My Christmas fruit salad recipe makes enough to feed about 8 people, which is excellent for a Christmas side or dessert. But the recipe is also easy to scale up or down, depending on the number of servings you need.

• Fruit variety: Use the combination of fruits your family enjoys best, and feel free to skip or add any fruit to your liking. Strawberries, pears, raspberries, crushed pineapple, and red grapes are tasty additions.
• Lime juice: This Christmas dessert salad tastes just as fabulous with a honey lime dressing. You can also use a mix of different citrus like oranges, lemon, and grapefruit.
• Dried cranberries: Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins) for extra sweetness and fruity flavor. Other dried fruit, like raisins, dried cherries, maraschino cherries, or chopped dried apricots, would be lovely too.
• For a crunchy texture, stir 1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or flaked coconut into the salad.
• Mini marshmallows: Fold 1 cup miniature marshmallows into the fruit salad for soft pops of texture throughout.
• Make it creamy: For a creamy Christmas fruit salad, mix 3 oz sour cream and 3 oz marshmallow fluff with the other ingredients.

This holiday fruit salad checks all the boxes! It’s simple, delicious, and refreshing – just perfect for the holidays.

You can serve it as an appetizer, a Christmas fruit side dish, dessert, breakfast, and brunch.

It goes perfectly with your favorite Christmas mains, from roasted turkey to glazed ham.

We love it as dessert together with cherry yum yum, a slice of eggnog pie, or cranberry custard pie.

And if you make it for your Christmas morning bunch, serve it alongside these treats:

• Christmas Morning Punch
• Christmosas
• Hot Chocolate
• Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Casserole
• Gingerbread Pancakes
• Christmas Morning Casserole from Jo Cooks

A Christmas fruit bowl is also great to bring to Christmas potluck dinners. I would double the recipe for a potluck.

While Christmas fruit salad tastes best freshly made, you can prepare some of the components ahead to save time on the day off.

• Dressing: The dressing can be made 2 to 3 days in advance. Mix the orange juice and honey, and then store in a sealed jar in the fridge.
• Fruit: You can wash and dry the grapes, prepare the mandarin oranges, de-seed the pomegranate the day before, and refrigerate them until ready to use. Cut the apples and kiwis close to serving time.

Store Christmas fruit salad

Place leftover holiday fruit salad into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. It will still taste delicious for 1 to 2 days, but the apples may be slightly brown around the edges.

Can you freeze Christmas fruit salad?

Yes and no. Fresh fruit changes its texture after freezing and thawing. Frozen, thawed fruit salad tends to be watery and mushy.

However, you can still freeze leftover fruit salad to make smoothies. Here is what to do:

• Arrange the fruit on a lined baking dish and flash freeze for 1 to 2 hours.
• Transfer the fruit into a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
• When ready to drink, pop the frozen fruit into a blender, a little more liquid (e.g., orange juice or yogurt), and blend until smooth.

My other favorite winter smoothies are this pomegranate plunge smoothie, cranberry truffle smoothie, and Bahama mama smoothie.