Simple Macerated Fruit Salad
A bounty of cut fruit topped with a little sugar & orange juice creates an amazing fruity dressing in this simple macerated fruit salad—magic!
Today I’m sharing a delicious simple macerated fruit salad that I’ve made for years–using many different combinations of fruit. And let me tell you, it still amazes me every time I dip in a spoon!
I first tasted this when I was a college student studying in Ireland–made by the Cordon Bleu educated “mom” of the family I lived with. It was a favorite of mine (and the whole family) so I asked how she made it. And I could hardly believe how easy it was!
You simply take a variety of cut fruit and top it with a little sugar and some orange juice. The orange juice forms the sauce base and the sugar helps draw juices from the rest of the fruit to enrich and thicken the sauce. In a couple hours—magic!
The other thing I must mention about this, is it is a great way to use up neglected fruit. Like when the berries come in and then your kids consider the plums and pineapple like red-haired stepchildren. Put it together in the simple fruit salad and it will all be loved!
What does it mean to Macerate
Maceration is the key to the beautiful sauce that sets this fruit salad apart.
Per All Recipes “Fruit can be macerated by soaking in vinegar, a liqueur, wine, fruit juice, or sugar. The mixture is then allowed to sit and soften the fruit.” The action of the sugar is similar to using salt to draw water from a vegetable like eggplant before making Eggplant Fries or Eggplant Parmesan.
But in the end, I think this definition misses the best part. The sugar pulls out juices from all the different fruits, which forms the most incredible fruit salad dressing that has a more complex flavor from all the variety. Yum!
Why You’ll Love This!
Seriously Flavorful. The combination of fruits makes this Macerated Fruit Salad lovely in the first place. But the fruity dressing really puts it over the top.
Easy. Simply cut up the fruit, then toss with orange juice and a little sugar. It really is like magic!
Healthful. Lots of fruit, very little sugar (less than a teaspoon per serving) and as satisfying as any dessert (even my kids would agree).
Use up leftover, imperfect or unloved fruit. You don’t want to use bad fruit in here. But if your peaches are flavorful but slightly mealy or your kids are tired of cantaloupe, cut them up and they’ll be great in this. Or use up the leftover half dragon fruit that you’ve been trying to decide how to finish.
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes (Details Below)
- A variety of fruits. Go with a variety of juicy fruits (the only fruits I think I haven’t used are apples and bananas) for best flavor and maximum juice. Use pears, grapes, plums, melon, and raspberries for a fall fruit salad. Or go with cherries, peaches, plums, mangos and apricots for a summer stone fruit salad. Or make up your own combination with whatever you have!
- Sugar. This helps draw out the juices from the fruits to add to the thickness and the flavor complexity of the sauce. This has also be successfully tested with the sweetener allulose.
- Orange Juice. OJ is used in the maceration since this is a fruit salad with orange juice based sauce. I like to squeeze my own, but I don’t hesitate to go with prepared orange juice either.
Special Tools
- No special tools required!
Step by Step Overview
Cut fruit into smaller than bite-sized pieces. Halve grapes if using.
Place cut fruit in a large bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and orange juice.
Toss to mix, adding anything super delicate like raspberries at the end. Then cover and place in refrigerator for at least an hour.
Serve, making sure you scoop up the juice.
Enjoy!
Variations and Special Diets
The sugar is low in this but if you’d like to go no added sugar entirely you can use a granulated allulose sweetener. While the sugar is important to draw out the juices from the fruit, allulose will do it almost as well. Stevia, my other go to sweetener, will not work in this.
If you’d like a very lovely, formal version of this for a special occasion, take a look at my Seven Layer Fruit Salad pictured below, which was featured in newspapers all over the country! Or you could even do a fun Halloween Fruit Salad!
Tips & FAQs
Store the leftovers in the refrigerator and finish no later than the second day after it’s made. After this, the fruit starts to soften too much.
Be sure to use a lot of juicy fruits to create the best sauce. Cut the pieces fairly small, both to help them juice out and to allow a combination of fruits on a spoon.
Then give your guests a tablespoon to eat this so they can get a variety of fruits and some lovely juice in every bite.
Can I use frozen fruit in this? Frozen fruit is best used in cooked dishes, since the freezing process breaks it down a lot. The one exception I sometimes make is to use frozen blueberries, which seem to hold up better.
And really, really, be sure to eat the syrup with this. It’s so good!
Simple Macerated Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups fruit of different varieties, see note
- 1 orange juiced (or 1/4-1/2 cup orange juice in a pinch)
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Cut fruit into smaller than bite-sized pieces. Halve grapes if using.
- Place cut fruit in a large bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and orange juice.
- Toss to mix, adding anything super delicate like raspberries at the end. Then cover and place in refrigerator for at least an hour.
- Serve, making sure you scoop up the juice. (Give each guest a tablespoon so they don’t miss a drop!)
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from the original, from Aug 2017.
Always a hit in our house, the perfect ending to a meal.
There really is nothing better than a simple fruit salad at this time of year! Whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it is the best.
Beautiful fruit salad, and I love the idea of adding fresh squeezed orange juice…so much more refreshing!
Oh, before I forget…you asked about the heat and air fryer…amazingly the air fryer does not generate as much heat as compared to oven, making it much pleasant to use during hot days.
Have a wonderful week ahead Inger 🙂
i would go to town on this, inger! it’s as pretty as it must be delicious.
love this ! look absolutely delicious !
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