Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad
This creamy Christmas fruit salad is the perfect side dish for your holiday meal! Your family will love this winter fruit salad with homemade whipped cream, apples, cranberries, grapes, bananas and pecans.
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Christmas Fruit Salad Recipe
Ever since I can remember, whipped cream fruit salad has been a side dish with our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
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 is an all-time favorite of mine, this year, I am making something a little different, and even more festive!
This Christmas fruit salad is filled with festive red and green colors! There are crisp red and green apples, grapes, bananas, cranberries and pecans, plus homemade honey-sweetened whipped cream tops off each bowl.
I used to swear by using Cool Whip in fruit salad recipes, but ever since I started making 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 tasting and real dairy topping.
Fruit Salad Recipe Tips and Tricks
- The ingredients aren't set in stone, and the amounts are flexible, too. 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 you can peel them if you want, 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.
Making Christmas Fruit Salad Ahead Of Time
This dish is really simple to make at the last minute before your dinner is ready. It comes together fast, and can be done while your main dish is resting or the 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 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 Additions
Add any of your favorite fruits in, like:
- kiwi,
- pineapple
- fresh berries
- chopped dates
- other nuts
- mini marshmallows
- chopped Snickers bars (my husband swears by this!)
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Creamy Christmas Fruit Salad
Video
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
- 1 banana cut into 1 inch slices
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.
Nutrition
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!
Kitchen Tools for Making Fruit Salad
I'll teach you how to make simple from-scratch recipes, like seasonings, sauces, dinners and even desserts, that make cooking from home less overwhelming and more enjoyable.
My recipes have been featured on publications like South Your Mouth, Fun.com, Her Campus, Mental Floss, and the TastingTable.
Bananas weren't mentioned in the ingredients, but were mentioned in the notes on the bottom. Haven't made the recipe yet.