Make this Grilled Fruit Salad with fresh pineapple, watermelon, berries, and peaches. Serve drizzled with a sweet and tart dressing that will wow your family and friends!
If you’ve never grilled fruit, then you’re in for a treat with this Grilled Fruit Salad recipe. Grilling draws intense flavor from fruit like watermelon and pineapple. Stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, and apricots benefit from a quick sear too!
The process causes the sugars in fruit to caramelize and, just like with onions, fruit becomes even sweeter. Add the smoky flavor from the grill and you have a taste your family and friends will love.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when grilling fruit.
- High water content in fruit can cause hot juice to splatter. Cut your fruit a bit ahead of time and pat dry with paper towels before grilling.
- Always brush your fruit with a bit of oil before placing it on a hot, lightly oiled grill. Olive oil on fruit deepens the flavor. Oil your grill with a vegetable oil. Use oils sparingly. Be alert for flare ups.
- Small fruit like strawberries can be grilled too. Place strawberries on skewers and grill as you would vegetable skewers.
- Stay close by when grilling fruit. Most fruit only takes 1 or 2 minutes per side to cook.
- Even bananas can be grilled. Choose firm bananas. Cut in half lengthwise. Brush cut side with melted butter and brown sugar. Place cut side down and grill just until seared. Flip to peel side and grill for about a minute until peel starts to pull away from the banana.
Now we’re ready to make our Grilled Fruit Salad!
Slice your fruit in large pieces to grill. Pat fruit as dry as possible.
Lightly brush with olive oil. Place fruit on a hot grill and sear.
Remove and cool slightly before serving.
What about a dressing?
Depending on which fruits you choose, you may want to serve more than one kind of dressing.
There are several types of dressings that pair well with fruit.
- Oil and vinegar based fruit vinaigrettes add a light touch.
- Yogurt based dressings can be served drizzled on top or as a dip on the side.
- If you are more of a purist, honey might be all you need.
This fruit purée dressing made with blackberries adds a subtle tartness with a touch of sweet. Add equal amounts of plain yogurt to the dressing for an easy fruit dip.
- 1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters
- ½ medium seedless watermelon, peeled and cut into 3-inch or larger pieces
- 15 strawberries
- 2 to 3 peaches or nectarines, halved
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Dressing
- 1 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons water
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon chopped basil (optional)
- Skewer strawberries onto wooden presoaked or metal skewers.
- Pat all cut fruit dry with paper towels.
- Preheat lightly greased grill to high.
- Lightly brush fruit with olive oil.
- Place fruit on a hot grill and cook until seared with grill marks.
- Remove, season with salt and pepper, and cool slightly before cutting into desired size.
- While fruit cools, prepare dressing.
- Place blackberries, honey, vinegar, and oil in a blender. Purée. Add water if needed to reach desired consistency.
- Drizzle over fruit or serve dressing on the side.
Serve your grilled fruit salad warm or at room temperature. Drizzle with dressing or serve dressing on the side. You can serve grilled fruit as a side for your steak, chops, or chicken too. Just sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Use leftover fruit to create fruit pizzas, smoothies, or top ice cream.
We hope you love this colorful and simple Grilled Fruit Salad recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Cindy from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings, as much as we do. If you love this simple recipe, be sure to stop by our Salad Section so that you never miss another one like it. For daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook, follow us on Pinterest, and stop by our Google+ Community to see all of the amazing recipes our community members are sharing. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply