This fruit salad with honey walnuts is the perfect summer salad. Loaded with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, grapes, orange juice, and lemon zest. Topped with the most delicious honey walnuts made with butter, honey, cinnamon, and salt!
Today’s post is sponsored by the California Walnut Board. All opinions are my own.
If you love this fresh summer delight, you’ll also love: walnut cobb salad lettuce wraps, antipasto farro salad, and easy caprese salad.
Summer season = salad season. Pasta salads. Potatoes salads. Leafy green salads. And my personal favorite: fruit salads. Today, we’re making a fruit salad with honey walnuts. While I L.O.V.E. fruit on its own, it’s also so much fun to mix a bunch of your favorite fruits together, throw on some freshly squeezed citrus, and toss in some candied honey walnuts for crunch.
Summer season = salad season = the most perfect season.
Ingredients to make candied honey walnuts:
- California walnuts
- Walnuts add good fats, protein, and nutty deliciousness to all the fresh fruit.
- Just 1 oz of walnuts has 13g polyunsaturated fat and 2.5g monounsaturated fat– including 2.5g omega-3 ALA – and 4g of protein.
- Butter
- Honey
- Cinnamon
- Salt
How do you make honey walnuts?
Simply melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Stir in honey, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Then stir in the walnuts. Gently simmer the mixture together, stirring often, until the walnuts are coated in THE most delicious honey butter-y sauce. Cool completely.
How long can you store candied nuts?
Store these candied walnuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or in the fridge for a few months! I prefer storing these in the fridge and letting them sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving.
What is the best fruit for fruit salad?
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries or raspberries
- Apples
- Grapes
That’s what we’re using for today’s fruit salad with honey walnuts. What kind of fruit would YOU use? I like picking fruits with very different flavors and textures to keep things interesting. 🙂
Can you make fruit salad the night before?
You can prep all the components of this fruit salad the night before:
- Wash, thoroughly dry, and cut the fruit as directed. Store in an airtight container the fridge.
- Squeeze the orange juice and zest the lemon. Store these together in another airtight container in the fridge.
- Make the honey walnuts. Again, store these in an additional airtight container in the fridge.
Tips for making fruit salad with honey walnuts:
- If desired, prep everything the night before like I mentioned above!
- That being said, this is a GREAT last minute quick and easy, throw and go recipe.
- Don’t assemble the salad until the morning of. This will prevent your fruit from getting soggy, but also allows the fruit flavors to really meld together.
- Again, that being said, this is still GREAT thrown together last minute.
- Keep the walnuts on the side. Have people put their own serving of fruit salad into a bowl and top with the honey walnuts. This keeps the walnuts from getting soggy.
- If you REALLY want to mix the walnuts in, that’s fine, just wait until *just* before serving.
Summer’s freshest fruit, tangy citrus, and candied, crunchy, nutty walnuts . . .
. . . this salad’s got it ALL goin’ on.
– Jennifer
Fruit Salad with Honey Walnuts
Ingredients
Honey Walnuts
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups California walnuts
Fruit Salad
- 1 (1 lb) container strawberries halved
- 1 (6 oz) container blueberries
- 1 (6 oz) container blackberries or raspberries
- 2 Mcintosh apples sliced
- 2 cups green grapes
- 2 oranges juiced (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup)
- 1 lemon zested
Instructions
Honey Walnuts
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a non stick skillet over medium heat.
- Once melted, stir in honey, cinnamon and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Stir in California walnuts. Cook for 5 minutes (it should start lightly simmering), stirring often, until the walnuts are well coated and the honey mixture has started to thicken.
- Pour walnuts onto the lined baking sheet .
- Be sure to quickly separate the walnuts using a spatula or spoon.
- Let cool completely before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temperature. I prefer storing these in the fridge, then leaving them out at room temperature for a few minutes before serving.
- Pro tip: if your nuts are really sticking together and not separating after they cool, place them into an airtight container in the fridge for a couple hours, then break them apart.
Fruit Salad
- Place strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, and grapes together in a large bowl.
- Toss with orange juice and lemon zest.
- Serve immediately. Let people scoop their own fruit salad into an individual bowl and top with honey walnuts.
- See my notes in above post if you’re making this in advance.
- Take 5 seconds to rate this recipe below. We greatly appreciate it!
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Nutrition Information
*Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
Thanks again to our friends at the California Walnut Board for sponsoring today’s post!
Ant
Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy
Elaine
Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy
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