Fruit Salad for a Crowd
Looking for an easy and colorful side dish for your next cookout or BBQ? This fruit salad has just five ingredients - cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and kiwi - and is sure to be a hit with both kids and adults. Plus, it can be prepped ahead of time, making it the perfect addition to any summer gathering. Read on for how to make it, plus some tips on what fruit to NOT put in a fruit salad.
Servings 12 people
Equipment
- A large colander
- A small paring or peeling knife
- A kitchen towel
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb cantaloupe one small one or half a large one
- 10 oz blueberries
- 14 oz whole strawberries
- 10 oz grapes red or green
- 3 large kiwi
Instructions
- Start by washing the berries and grapes. Place the berries and grapes in a large colander and rinse them with cool water - you may need to move them around with your hands to get all of them rinsed off. Set them in a sink to drain while you cut up the other fruit.
- To cut up the cantaloupe, place it on a cutting board and cut it in half with a sharp knife. Use a large spoon to scoop the seeds out of the middle and discard them. Cut the half into half again, to get a quarter of the cantaloupe. Use the knife to cut one of the quarter pieces into 3 pieces lengthwise.
- Take one of the pieces and make slices with the knife straight into the flesh, cutting it into bite-sized pieces that are still attached to the rind. Once the whole slice has pieces cut into it, slide the knife on the bottom between the flesh and rind of the fruit and cut the pieces out - this can be down with the slice resting on the cutting board or in your hand, but be careful doing so. Discard the rind and repeat the process with the other slices until all the cantaloupe is cut. Place the cut pieces in a large bowl.
- Next cut up the kiwi. Use a small paring or peeling knife and start slicing the skin away from the flesh of the fruit. You can do this either end to end or around the sides in circles. Discard the peel and set the kiwi on the cutting board on its side. Use the knife to slice off the ends if there is still peel on them. Then slice the kiwi into ¼ inch slices. Take each slice and cut it into quarters and add those quarters to the bowl with the cantaloupe. Repeat the steps until all the kiwi is cut up.
- At this point your berries and grapes should be mostly dried off. If they're not, pour them out on a kitchen towel and dry them off. The blueberries can be added directly to the bowl of other fruit as is. Remove the grapes from the stem and add those to the large bowl of fruit as well.
- Cut the strawberries by first removing the green stems, then use the paring or peeling knife to cut the inner stem out of the top. Cut each strawberry into quarters by making one cut from top to bottom, then cutting each half from top to bottom again. Add the cut strawberries to the bowl of fruit.
- Use the large spoon to mix all the fruit together - do this gently so as not to bruise the more delicate fruit. Serve immediately or store in the fridge in an airtight container and serve later. The fruit salad will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge if your fruit wasn't too ripe to begin with, though looks best when served right away or the day of.
Notes
- Makes roughly 6 lbs of fruit salad.
- You can easily double or triple this recipe by doubling or tripling the ingredients. You'll just need a large bowl to mix everything in.
- This fruit salad doesn't need a dressing, but if you're wanting a little extra flavor you can make a batch of my white balsamic vinaigrette dressing and pour it over the fruit once it's cut up. Gently mix it with a large spoon to incorporate and serve.