Easy Fruit Salad

Do you need an Easy Fruit Salad Recipe? Have I got the one for you! This is my mom's delicious fruit salad with apple pie filling. It uses canned fruit like pineapple, pears, peaches, mandarin oranges, and cherries as well as fresh grapes and bananas. It's the perfect fruit salad to serve up for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is the fruit salad that I grew up eating for every holiday dinner. It's easy to make and everyone loves it. The apple pie filling coats all of the fruit giving it a glossy sweet glaze.

What goes in a Fruit Salad

Basically one of everything canned fruit goes into this salad.

• apple pie filling - use your favorite canned apple pie filling.
• pineapple - I like to get the pineapple tidbits that are in 100% juice.
• pears - You can get the pear halves, slices, or chunks, whatever is available. I usually opt for the pears in heavy syrup but you can use lite.
• peaches - Again you can use peach halves, slices, or chunks for this recipe. I usually grab the peaches in a heavy syrup, but you can use lite.
• mandarin oranges - The mandarin oranges in the tin cans always taste really tinny (if that's a word) to me so I get the oranges in the plastic jar.
• maraschino cherries - I like loads of maraschino cherries and my son and I still fight over them.
• grapes - A combination of red and green grapes add a nice pop of color, but you can just use one or the other.
• bananas - I don't like brown bananas in my fruit salad so I add them last minute to the fruit salad and make sure they're thoroughly coated with Fruit Fresh or lemon juice. They will still turn brown but not as quickly.

How to make Fruit Salad

Start by cutting up the slices of apple in the canned apple pie filling and add them to a large bowl.

Drain the pineapple tidbits, peaches, and pears. Cut up the peaches and pears if you didn't get the chunks. Add them all to the large bowl with the apple pie filling in it.

Drain the mandarin oranges and maraschino cherries. Add them to the bowl of fruit.

Slice the grapes in half and toss them into the fruit salad. Stir all the fruits together. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

Just before serving, add in the bananas and carefully fold in.

How long does Fruit Salad last

This salad will last up to 5 days covered with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator.

Can I use frozen fruit for fruit salad?

Yes, the fruit won't be as sweet and I would recommend thawing the fruit in a strainer before adding it in with the apple pie filling, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

The less liquid being adding to the fruit salad, the better since we want that glossy sweet glaze from the pie filling to coat the fruit instead of sitting in a puddle at the bottom of the bowl because it was thinned out.

Can you put bananas in fruit salad?

Yes! I have a love/hate relationship with bananas in fruit salad but I find that if I coat them well with Fruit Fresh or lemon juice and add them last minute that the bananas don't turn brown right away.

Now I can't guarantee that they won't be brown the next day after hanging out in the fridge for a day though.

What else can I add to this recipe?
You can add fresh or frozen strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, or blackberries.

Can I use homemade apple pie filling?

My answer to this is only if it closely resembles canned apple pie filling. If yours is a thinner consistency, you can still use it but it probably won't glaze the fruit like the canned filling does.

What should I serve this recipe with?

You should serve it with Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter dinner!

More fruit recipes to try

• Snickers Salad
• Easy Fruit Pizza
• Redd’s Apple Fruit Shortcake
• Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
• Raspberry Sangria Punch