Fruit salad made of fresh and canned fruits bathed in a deliciously sweet and creamy dressing with condensed milk and cream. It’s an actual dessert, rather than a salad. Best served chilled or frozen!
Filipino-style Fruit Salad
Fruit salad is a favorite holiday dessert in the Philippines. Canned or preserved fruits are its main ingredients and occasionally fresh fruits are added. It all depends on what’s in season.
Thi salad can serve two ways–chilled or frozen.
I call the frozen version Summer fruit salad. Freezing the whole mixture instead of just letting it cool in the fridge completely transforms each piece into melt-in-your-mouth soft fruit candies.
Meanwhile, the chilled version is perfect for breezy and colder months. And that is why this is one of our favorite dessert salad for Christmas and New Year family dinners.
Fruit Salad Ingredients
The first three ingredients are classic Filipino fruit salad ingredients. They are inexpensive and widely available in any grocery store in the Philippines. Amongst the three, nata de coco is my favorite. I love its lush chewy texture. There’s really nothing like it.
- canned fruit cocktail
- kaong or sugar palm fruit
- nata de coco or coconut gel
- fresh fruits like apples, grapes, pears etc.
Once you have the main ingredients, you can pretty much add any fresh fruits you have at hand. Just choose the fruits that work together and flavors that complement one another.
Feel free to make your own fruit cocktail from scratch. Just use fruits that won’t easily get mushy after being frozen.
A popular addition to this fruit salad is young coconut strips. If you have that, I highly recommend adding some.
If you are using pears or apples, drizzle it with lemon or calamansi juice to prevent oxidation.
Filipino Fruit Salad Dressing
The sweet and creamy dressing is what makes this distinct from all other fruit salads. To make it, you will just need two simple key ingredients: table cream and condensed milk. When mixed together, it creates a sweet and luscious coating to the fruits. It is so good especially after it starts to melt just before serving.
While the table cream can easily be replaced with fresh cream, sweetened condensed milk is essential in making this salad. There’s no other substitute for it.
Storage and Shelf-life
- The shelf life of the frozen fruit salad with the dressing is 2 weeks and 5 days for the chilled version.
- DO NOT refreeze after thawing. Keep it in the fridge and it should be good within 24 hours.
More MUST TRY Filipino Desserts
- Cassava Cake
- Banana and Jackfruit Spring Rolls (Turon)
- Ginataang Bilo-Bilo
- Oven-baked Bibingka
- White Puto Flan (Leche Flan Puto)
- Buko Pandan (Coconut Pandan Salad)
- No-Bake Banana Caramel Cake (Icebox Cake)
- Ensaymada Cupcakes
Watch the video on how to make Filipino-style Fruit Salad
Sweet and Creamy Fruit Salad (Filipino Style)
Ingredients
- 2 cans fruit cocktail (drained)
- 2 packs (12.7 oz / 360g each) nata de coco (drained)
- 1 small jar (12 oz) kaong or sweet palm fruit
- 2 apples diced
- bunch of grapes (sliced)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice or calamansi juice
Sweet Dressing
- 3 cans (6 oz /170 g each) table cream or fresh whipping cream
- 1 can condensed milk
Instructions
- Drain the cans of fruit and nata de coco using a mesh strainer. Discard the syrup.
- Wash the apples and grapes thoroughly. Slice or dice the apples. Cut the grapes if desired or leave them whole. If serving to kids or toddlers, I suggest slicing them for safety reasons.
- Toss the sliced apples in lemon juice, let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the canned fruits, nata de coco, kaong, apples, and grapes.
- Pour the cream and condensed milk over the fruits. Using two large spoons, gently toss the dressing and the fruits. Transfer to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight. Thaw for 15 minutes just before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes & Tips:
- If serving to toddlers, slice fruits like grapes to bite-size pieces TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.
- Other fresh fruit variations: pears, papaya, pineapples, peaches, young coconut strips.
- Table cream can be substituted with fresh whipping cream.
- Feel free to make your own fruit cocktail from scratch. Just use fruits that won’t easily get mushy after being frozen.
- You can freeze the half and chill the other half in the fridge and see which ones you like better. The chilled version is equally good.
- The shelf life of the frozen fruit salad with the dressing is 2 weeks and 5 days for the chilled version.
- DO NOT refreeze after thawing. Keep it in the fridge and it should be good within 24 hours.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will make a small percentage of your purchase. This helps keep this website running. Thank you!
I tried it and it was very nice and fresh thank you for your recipe
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed this. Happy holidays!
– Mella