Introducing the world’s most simple fruit salad recipe, with a tropical twist! It’s a refreshing salad starring ripe watermelon, pineapple and cantaloupe. (I know cantaloupe isn’t everyone’s favorite; feel free to substitute honeydew or your favorite tropical fruit.)
I encountered this fruit salad last December, when I kept my grandma Virginia company on her dream trip to Costa Rica. It was dreamy! Virginia is 86 years old and nothing slows her down. She flew over the jungle on zip lines with the zeal of Hermione Granger.
We found this fruit salad on an epic breakfast spread at Tabacon Thermal Resort. Fresh fruit is abundant in Costa Rica, but this fruit salad caught my attention because I loved how tiny they diced the fruit—even smaller than I managed for these photos. They served it in little shooters, which almost made it look like candy.
Usually, melon and pineapple are cut into fairly large chunks, right? Their salad taught me that if you cut them very small instead, you can appreciate the flavor of all three fruits in every bite.
Their fruit salad was refreshing, colorful, delightful and very simple—so simple that I hesitated to make it an official recipe here. But hey, it’s summertime and summer produce hardly needs any help. This salad would be perfect for your Fourth of July festivities!
You can enjoy this salad as a simple, naturally sweet side dish, snack or light dessert. Serve it over yogurt (maybe with coconut granola) for breakfast.
Want to step it up a few notches? You could sprinkle it with Tajín seasoning (affiliate link), which is a salted chili-and-lime blend. Look for it in the international aisle near the Mexican hot sauces.
Enjoy the holiday, and please let me know how you like this fruit salad in the comments! I hope it’s a big hit.
Tropical Fruit Salad
- Author:
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Diced
- Cuisine: Costa Rican
Serve this simple tropical fruit salad as-is or over yogurt! It’s made with equal parts watermelon, cantaloupe (or honeydew), and pineapple, with a splash of lime. The trick is to dice your fruit into very small pieces. Recipe yields about 12 servings (12 cups); it’s easily doubled.
Ingredients
- ½ medium cantaloupe or honeydew melon, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
- ½ mini seedless watermelon, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
- 1 small pineapple, diced into ¼″ cubes (about 4 cups)
- 1 medium lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
- Optional, for serving: yogurt, granola, or Tajín seasoning for a spicy kick
Instructions
- In a medium serving bowl, combine the diced cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple and lime juice. Toss to combine. For best flavor, cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving.
- This fruit salad is best when freshly prepared but keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days.
Notes
Recipe inspired by Tabacon in Costa Rica.
Change it up: This recipe is beyond flexible. Substitute any fresh, seedless, tropical fruit you’d like, or add to taste.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Emily Myer
Looks delish. But what i really want to know is where you found those beautiful skinny gold spoons!
Kate
Thanks Emily! I bought them a while ago at West Elm. I think they still offer them, but in a darker gold color. They are pretty but they need to be hand washed.
Wendy
Looks like a lovely, refreshing salad! Tajin seasoning…surprised you didn’t asterisk that and explain what it is, etc. It’s not like ingredient was “salt”. Now I have to take the time to research. I say this with love
Sarah Rosenblatt
But if you read the post, Kate said: “Want to step it up a few notches? You could sprinkle it with Tajín seasoning (affiliate link), which is a salted chili-and-lime blend. Look for it in the international aisle near the Mexican hot sauces.” Seems like enough of an explanation for me!
Wendy
Oh man Sarah, I missed that! I stand corrected. I’ll look for Tajin.
Kate
Thanks Wendy and Sarah—it’s always tricky to know where to provide information, or if repeating information seems redundant. I’m glad you found the details you needed!
Elaine West
I’m a little curious about the lime, juiced, diced into 1/4 inch cubes.
Kate
Hi Elaine, I’m sorry about that! I went overboard with the copy-and-paste function. You just need juiced lime for this recipe.
Kate
You just use the lime juice. Not diced. :)
Mae Gregory
Living in Australia I am no stranger to this lovely tropical fruit salad except never cutting the fruit so small which I will do when I serve it again next summer. It’s so great with Greek yoghurt or on a really on a really hot day with vanilla ice cream. BUT cutting the lime into 1/4″ cubes is a mistake surely?
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Mae, I think you’ll enjoy the smaller pieces of fruit next time! Thank you for pointing out that error; I went overboard with the copy-and-paste function. You just need juiced lime for this recipe.
Brittany Audra @ Audra's Appetite
Summer in a bowl!! :)
Kate
Right! Thanks so much.
Yolanda
This recipe is exactly what I need. It’s so warm lately that all I need is a refreshing dish to cool down. Already have all the ingredients on my grocery list :)
Kate
Wonderful, Yolanda! Let me know what you think when you make it.
PAM
Kate, I must confess I thought this would be just a fresh fruit cup with lime; but it is so much more! I was delightfully surprised! Chopping the fruit into small pieces makes every bite have layers of flavors from the different fruits, much as a chopped vegetable salad does. The kiss of lime takes it to recipe status. I made it for our 4th of July party later today and had breakfast out of the cup that wouldn’t fit in the salad bowl. Yum!
Kate
Pam, you described it perfectly! I’m so glad you enjoyed the salad. :)
Jenn
This is truly the secret to the best fruit salad! I know because my husband is from Brazil, and they usually prepare fruit salad like this. Makes a huge difference to have all those tiny pieces come together in every bite. Here they usually use banana, papaya, apple, mango, orange and whatever else they have on hand.
Kate
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear you say that. If you would like to leave a star review, I would appreciate it!
HJ
This salad looks awesome and delicious!! I’m going to make it for our church potluck. :)
Kate
Great!
Janette Mullis
Very good!
Refreshing!!
Kate
Thank you! If you would like to leave a star review, I would really appreciate it.
Donald B. Parker
I like the tempting tastes of tropical fruit, it takes just a few easy steps for me to whip up this special recipe for a tasty tropical fruit salad.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks, Donald!
Alison Hebert
I made this today, and it is beyond words! I find cantaloupe to be ok (not great), but I try to eat it because of how good it is for you. When everything is blended like this, it makes for a stunningly delicious taste sensation. It is perfect for a summer day like today. Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
It’s perfect for a summer day! Thank you, Alison. I appreciate the review.
Victoria
I like this recipe . Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you liked this recipe, Victoria! Thanks so much for your review.
Naomi Godfrey
Hi Kate,
I just learned about tajin in The New York Times’ cooking section. I immediately came here to see if you had recipes using it. Besides fruit salad, what could you suggest using it on? Kale is always on my mind ;), so do you think it could be used in some of those recipes? My faves are the tahini-based dressings. How do you think tajin would be sprinkled over those salads?
Thanks much!
Kate
Hi Naomi! Sounds interesting. Mexican flavored dishes you want to add extra flavor to could be nice. Or some of my potato recipes!