Cranberry Fruit Salad

The holiday season is fast approaching and Kim and I are scrambling to get new holiday recipes to you like this cranberry cheesecake, hot chocolate cupcakes, and rice pudding. Those are holiday recipes, right?! Now, we already have quite a few on our sister site. But, More Than Meat and Potatoes is new.

It needs some extra TLC. For today, we’re sharing a delicious cranberry fruit salad that’s perfect for Thanksgiving. To keep the tartness in check, I suggested that we use a cranberry syrup.

Kim loved the idea and ran with it. This recipe uses fresh fruit, nuts, and a homemade cranberry syrup. We just finished it yesterday and it’s so good, we had to share it with you. Let’s get started!

How to make cranberry fruit salad?

To get started, you want to prepare the cranberry syrup because it needs to chill for 6-8 hours.

I recommend doing this part the night before you want to serve the cranberry salad.

First, grab a medium saucepan and place it over low heat. Next, add the cranberries, sugar, and water.

Stir the mixture and let it cook until the berries start to soften and blister (about 10-minutes).

After that, transfer the syrup to a heat-safe container and place it into your fridge. Be sure to keep 1/4-1/2 cup of the liquid.

The sweetened cranberries need to chill for 6-8 hours before you toss them with the other fruit. You’ll have plenty of time to prewash your fruit.

Afterward, when the cranberries have chilled, remove them from the fridge. It’s time to prepare the salad.

Chop and slice the apples and bananas. After that, toss them with the lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.

Then, add the blueberries, strawberries (tops removed and diced), raspberries, grapes (sliced in half), and walnuts.

Now, pour in the berries along with some of the syrup. Carefully, stir or toss the cranberry salad.

Last, chill the salad for about 10-minutes before serving. That’s it the recipe is done!

Kim and I hope you enjoy the cranberry fruit salad and wish you all the best this holiday season 🙂

Looking for another Thanksgiving dish? Check out our turkey breast brine or homemade cranberry sauce recipes!

Recipe Tips:

• The amount of sugar listed in the recipe is a guideline. You know your diet better than anyone on the internet. So, look at our amount as a suggestion. Taste test the fruit as you go along and add the amount of sugar that’s best for you and your personal diet.
• Personally, I would serve this dish as a dessert, it’s certainly sweet enough. However, I know some people would use it as a side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I leave that decision up to you.
• While we chose fruit like bananas and apples, you may want use pineapples and cherries. Use whatever fruit you think you’ll enjoy with the cranberries.
• You can use dried cranberries for this recipe. The dried variety should plump and soften when heated with the water and sugar.