Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad is the perfect side dish for your holiday dinner! Your family will love this winter fruit salad with heavy whipping cream, apples, cranberries, grapes, bananas and pecans.
Ever since I can remember, we've had Whipped Cream Fruit Salad for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
It is by far the side dish I look forward to most and I'm always caught red-handed with the serving bowl and a spoon after our holiday dinner is over.
Even though the traditional version of this creamy fruit salad is an all-time favorite of mine, I wanted to create something a little different and even more festive!
That's when the idea for this red and green, Christmas fruit salad came to my head. It has crisp red and green apples, grapes, bananas, cranberries and pecans, plus it's topped with homemade honey-sweetened whipped cream.
Cool Whip or Fresh Whipped Cream?
I used to swear by using Cool Whip for this fruit salad, but ever since I started making my own homemade whipped cream, I'll never go back to store-bought whipped cream.
Especially when you consider the ingredients in the store-bought version versus homemade!
And the best part is, making your own whipped cream only takes five minutes. Five minutes for a much better version of store-bought whipped cream.
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Creamy Festive Fruit Salad Tips & Tricks
- This recipe doesn't have to be strict with quantities. If you don't like an ingredient, substitute it for something else. No biggie! Check out my list of fruits for fruit salad to get some more ideas.
- I prefer to leave the skins on the apples, but if you prefer peeled, that is totally fine too. I just love the red and green shining through the whipped cream!
- Your whipped cream can be made ahead of time. If you are making it more than a day in advanced, be sure that your heavy whipping cream is good until you're planning to serve the fruit salad. You may also want to put the whipped cream back into your stand mixer to rejuvenate it when you're ready to serve it.
Tips to Make Christmas Fruit Salad Ahead Of Time
This creamy fruit salad is perfect to make right at the last minute before your dinner is ready because it's quick and can easily be done while your main dish is resting or table is being set.
Give this dish to someone who isn't YOU and isn't in charge of the main dishes. My grandmother always does this part of the meal and it's a great thing to keep her busy!
Here are a few other things you can do to make this fruit salad seem super fresh:
- You can make your whipped cream ahead of time as long as your heavy whipping cream isn't set to expire before you're ready to serve it. You might want to whip it with your mixer again for 30 seconds or by hand to give it a fresh whipping.
- If you're chopping your apples ahead of time, spritz them with a bit of lemon juice to preserve them and keep them from browning.
- Don't chop your bananas ahead of time or they will brown!
This fruit salad is actually better the second day sometimes.
It would be totally fine to make this and toss it all together the day before your meal (as long as all of your ingredients would have been good for that long — i.e. your heavy whipping cream wasn't set to expire).
How to Make Homemade Whipped Cream
- In a stand mixer or using a mixing bowl, pour in one cup of heavy whipping cream.
- Whisk using a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium high for 3-5 minutes using peaks begin to form.
- Pour in two tablespoons of honey (you can also substitute sugar) to the whipped cream and continue mixing for 2-3 more minutes.
- Serve over your fruit salad, reserving a little bit for pie if you'd like!
Other Toppings for Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad
- Add any of your favorite fruits in, like kiwi or fresh berries
- Dates, chopped
- Other nuts
- Mini Marshmallows
- Snickers candies chopped (my husband swears by this!)
Complete Your Holiday Meal:
- Browned Butter Sage Turkey
- Southern Cornbread Dressing
- Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
- Garlic Brown Butter Green Beans
And of course, don't forget about holiday desserts...
Try some of my favorite Christmas dessert recipes!
Tools for Your Winter Fruit Salad
Mixing Bowl
or
Cutting Board
Sharp Knife
Save this recipe for later:
Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad
Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad is the perfect side dish for your holiday dinner! Your family will love this winter fruit salad with heavy whipping cream, apples, cranberries, grapes, bananas and pecans.
Ingredients
- 1 green apple, cored, chopped into chunks
- 1 red apple, cored, chopped into chunks
- 1 cup red grapes, sliced horizontally
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Honey Sweetened Whipped Cream
- 1 cup of whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Chop fruit and place in a mixing bowl (not your serving bowl). Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, whip whipping cream on high speed until peaks begin to form.
- Once cream is whipped, add in honey and mix for another minute. Taste test and add more honey if you prefer it to be sweeter.
- Add whipped cream to your fruit and stir to coat fruit.
- Then transfer to serving bowl. Refrigerate if not serving right away.
Notes
- You can make your whipped cream ahead of time as long as your heavy whipping cream is good until you're ready to serve it. You might want to whip it with your mixer again for 30 seconds or by hand to give it a fresh whipping.
- If you're chopping your apples ahead of time, spritz them with a bit of lemon juice to preserve them and keep them from browning.
- Don't chop your bananas too far ahead of time or they will brown.
- This fruit salad is actually better the second day sometimes. So it would be totally find to make this and toss it all together the day before your meal.
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