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Tropical Winter Salad with Caramelized Cashews and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This Tropical Fruit Salad is sweet, refreshing, crunchy and what paradisaical dreams are made of! It is loaded with your favorite tropical fruits: pineapple, mangos, oranges, apples, pears, kiwis, bananas and pomegranate then dusted with toasted coconut, caramelized cashews and drizzled with Pomegranate Vinaigrette. Mmmm... Hello tropics. This tantalizing tropical fruit salad takes minutes to make, goes with practically everything and is a fabulous side for everyday OR entertaining. You can make in the Spring, Summer and Winter for a winning fruit salad you will be dreaming about all year-round.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 10 1 cup servings

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup Pomegranate Vinaigrette*
  • 1/2 pineapple, chopped
  • 1 mango, peeled and chopped
  • 2 kiwis, peeled and chopped
  • 1 blood orange, peeled and chopped or 3 mandarin oranges, peeled and segmented
  • 1 sweet apple, chopped, like Fuji or honeycrisp
  • 1 large pear, chopped
  • 1 banana, peeled and sliced
  • pomegranate arils from 1 pomegranate*
  • 1/2 cup sweetened coconut
  • 1 cup Recipe 5 Minute Perfect Caramelized Nuts

Instructions

  • Prepare 5 Minute Caramelized Cashews according to recipe
    .
  • Toast coconut on a baking sheet at 350F degrees for approximately 5 minutes or until golden, stirring halfway through.
  • Add fruit, coconut and cashews to a large bowl and toss with 1/4 cup Marzetti Simply Dressed Pomegranate Vinaigrette until evenly coated. Refrigerate any remaining salad.

Notes

*I use Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Pomegranate Vinaigrette located in the refrigerated section.
**You can buy just the pomegranate arils if you don't want to deseed a pomegranate (1 pomegranate contains about 1/2 - 3/4 cup arils).

CAN I AHEAD OF TIME?

  • The most time consuming part of this Tropical Fruit Salad is chopping the fruit BUT this can be done whenever you have time. With the exception of the bananas, you can chop all of your fruit a day in advance and store them in airtight containers in the refrigerator (using one of the aforementioned methods to prevent the pears/apples from oxidizing).  You can also peel and segment your oranges and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  • You can toast the coconut up to one week in advance and store in an airtight container.
  • You can make the caramelized cashews up to one week in advance and store in an airtight container.
  • This Tropical Fruit Salad is best if allowed to chill at least 30 minutes after you add the dressing and served within 2 hours but it is still delicious if allowed to chill longer, but be aware the coconut will soften as well as the bananas, so consider adding those right before serving.

HOW LONG DOES FRUIT SALAD KEEP?

  • This Tropical Fruit Salad stores well for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
  • If you expect leftover Tropical Fruit Salad and don’t want the coconut to get soggy, either toss coconut with just part of the salad or top individual servings with coconut.
  • If storing leftovers of this Tropical Fruit Salad, remove the bananas and store the rest of the salad in an airtight container. I like to add freshly sliced bananas to my new servings of fruit salad.
  • The fruit will taste delicious the next day but the pears and apples will turn slightly brown sound the edges.
  • Juices will accumulate from the fruit the longer it sits in the refrigerator. Toss the fruit in the juices then you can use a slotted spoon if you prefer to serve your fruit.