Tropical Fruit Salad

Introducing the world’s most simple fruit salad recipe, with a tropical twist! It’s a refreshing salad starring ripe watermelon, pineapple and cantaloupe. (I know cantaloupe isn’t everyone’s favorite; feel free to substitute honeydew or your favorite tropical fruit.)

I encountered this fruit salad last December, when I kept my grandma Virginia company on her dream trip to Costa Rica. It was dreamy! Virginia is 86 years old and nothing slows her down. She flew over the jungle on zip lines with the zeal of Hermione Granger.

We found this fruit salad on an epic breakfast spread at Tabacon Thermal Resort. Fresh fruit is abundant in Costa Rica, but this fruit salad caught my attention because I loved how tiny they diced the fruit—even smaller than I managed for these photos. They served it in little shooters, which almost made it look like candy.

Usually, melon and pineapple are cut into fairly large chunks, right? Their salad taught me that if you cut them very small instead, you can appreciate the flavor of all three fruits in every bite.

Their fruit salad was refreshing, colorful, delightful and very simple—so simple that I hesitated to make it an official recipe here. But hey, it’s summertime and summer produce hardly needs any help. This salad would be perfect for your Fourth of July festivities!

You can enjoy this salad as a simple, naturally sweet side dish, snack or light dessert. Serve it over yogurt (maybe with coconut granola) for breakfast.

Want to step it up a few notches? You could sprinkle it with Tajín seasoning (affiliate link), which is a salted chili-and-lime blend. Look for it in the international aisle near the Mexican hot sauces.

Enjoy the holiday, and please let me know how you like this fruit salad in the comments! I hope it’s a big hit.

Tropical Fruit Salad

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Author: Cookie and Kate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 12 cups 1x
Category: Salad
Method: Diced
Cuisine: Costa Rican

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5 from 6 reviews

Serve this simple tropical fruit salad as-is or over yogurt! It’s made with equal parts watermelon, cantaloupe (or honeydew), and pineapple, with a splash of lime. The trick is to dice your fruit into very small pieces. Recipe yields about 12 servings (12 cups); it’s easily doubled.

Scale

Ingredients

½ medium cantaloupe or honeydew melon, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
½ mini seedless watermelon, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
1 small pineapple, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
1 medium lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
Optional, for serving: yogurt, granola, or Tajín seasoning for a spicy kick

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Instructions

In a medium serving bowl, combine the diced cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple and lime juice. Toss to combine. For best flavor, cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving.
This fruit salad is best when freshly prepared but keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days.

Notes

Recipe inspired by Tabacon in Costa Rica.

Change it up: This recipe is beyond flexible. Substitute any fresh, seedless, tropical fruit you’d like, or add to taste.

▸ Nutrition Information

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

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