This zesty Fruit Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing features a variety of fresh fruit in addition to fresh basil, lime zest, and a touch of pure maple syrup or honey. It is the for ultimate creamy, dairy-free, mayo-free fruit salad recipe!
Welcome to the wildest, most unique fruit salad recipe you’ll ever stumble upon!
I first shared this recipe in 2015, after bringing it to a friend’s barbecue. Everyone loved it so much that I continued making it for all food gatherings for the rest of the summer.
It has been a cornerstone in my summer eating ever since!
Fresh fruit is tossed in a creamy dressing made up of coconut milk, plain yogurt, honey, lemon zest and fresh basil. I know…bonkers!
The end result is a refreshing side dish that’s packed with all the sweet, tangy, zesty, creamy flavors to really please the palate.
Customize it to your heart’s delight and put it on repeat throughout the entire year!
Fruit Salad Ingredients:
Fresh Fruit: Choose your favorite fruit for fruit salad! I selected red grapes, apple, orange, kiwi, blueberries, and banana.
I love the way all of the sweet and tangy flavors come together in addition to the snappy textures paired with some creamy texture.
Dressing Ingredients: Full-fat canned coconut milk, Greek yogurt, fresh lime zest, Greek yogurt, honey, and fresh basil.
This combination of ingredients brings sweet, tangy zesty flavor with a little herby vibe and some creaminess to the salad, enhancing the experience to a whole new level.
Recipe Customizations:
- Pick any of your favorite fresh fruit you love. Any kind of apple, clementines, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries are all good options.
- Swap out the fresh basil with fresh mint, or skip the fresh herbs.
- Use any kind of sweetener in the dressing, or skip the sweetener.
- Make it dairy-free by skipping the Greek yogurt. Or, for creamier texture, add more Greek yogurt.
How to Make Fruit Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing:
- Step 1: Thoroughly rinse all of the fruit. Peel and/or chop all of the fruit accordingly. Place the fruit in a large bowl.
- Step 2: Stir together the ingredients for the coconut milk dressing in a small bowl or a measuring cup.
- Step 3: Pour the dressing over the fruit and toss until everything is well combined.
- Step 4: Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Note: decrease the amount of time to 1 day if you have included sliced bananas.
My favorite part about this amazing fruit salad recipe is how incredible the flavors are without the need for any processed ingredients. No cool-whip, no mayonnaise, and no added sugar.
I also love that it can be made no matter the time of year using any seasonal fruit.
Whip it up and let me know in the comments what you think!
Looking for more healthy side dishes? Try out these favorites.
More Healthy Side Dishes:
- Avocado Salad
- The Best Broccoli Salad
- German-Style Potato Salad
- Italian Pasta Salad
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Salad
I am complete.
Fruit Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 large fugi apple cored and chopped
- 1 navel orange peeled and chopped
- 2 kiwifruit peeled and chopped
- 1 large ripe banana peeled and chopped
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup red grapes halved
Lime Coconut Basil Dressing:
- 1/3 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
- 3 Tbsp Greek yogurt*
- 6 leaves basil finely chopped
- 1 lime zested
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey
Instructions
- Add all of the fruit to a large serving bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, yogurt, basil, and lime zest. Pour the coconut milk mixture over the fruit and toss everything together. Drizzle the honey over the fruit salad and serve.
Yum! This sounds deliciously different! I love the use of basil and the creamy coconut milk!
Happy belated birthday, fren! I hope it was fantastic and filled with all of this yummy fruit salad you could ever want (and booze. Obvi).
And now I’m singing the song from Little Mermaid. While wanting fruit salad, which I don’t think she got (until maybe after she married the dude).
PS, happy belated birthday! 🙂
I love this version! I never put a sauce on my fruit salad, but it sounds delicious!
Belated happy, happy birthday!! I’m also glad you got to have a good visit in Richmond. I lived there for about 20 years and really loved it (I only left because I got married to a man who lived about 2000 miles away).
This fruit salad sounds great. I think I’d do it with berries and melons (for summer) and the way you have it for winter. I love the use of lime zest and basil – the basil is an excellent unexpected ingredient.
This dressing = genius. Also, happy birthday girl! I saw that on the old FB. Glad you had a fun birthday. And PS – I’m going to be 35 (yikes!) on Friday, so 29 is looking YOUNG. Whew!
What a beautiful Summer salad! I love the addition of coconut milk, so clever!
what the what! Happy Birthday!!! Dang we should have toasted to you. I’m all heart eyed over this fruit salad, looks amazing lady!
THIS LOOKS SO EASY–I love. I would enjoy hearing your 29 ways to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew because I YouTubed it once and it was a total fail. Happy belated!
I am a sucker for fruit salads. That coconut milk really takes this one over the top for me. I love all things coconut! And Sabra was amazing. I am so happy that we got to hang out and get to know each other better off of the Internet! 🙂 Cheers to more healthy fruit salads like this one!
Happy Birthday from a fellow Gemini! I definitely agree that we have the prerogative to use the royal “we”. This fruit salad looks amazing!!
Coconut milk?! Now I am complete! You are a busy bee girlfriend and happy belated birthday! You deserve all the bike riding/hiking/milkshakes you want because–> balance (also birthdays don’t count for calories, righhhht?!).
We got to taste test this salad, and the basil flavored the salad in the most amazing way. This is a salad to serve when your BBQ with friends or want something a little different to impress!
Your trip to Sabra sounds like a blast!! I can’t wait to hear more about it. And 29? You’re just a babe! I’ll be 31 this year..eeeesh. 😉
I think the stars aligned for you and this fruit salad because it looks like the best thing EVER. I love that you used coconut milk in place of that marshmallow garbage. I bet it would be a yoooge hit at a potluck but I might have to make it just to have all to myself!
Love this fresh twist on fruit salad! Thank goodness there are no rules to salad — just fun!