Mexican Fruit Salad

          Mexican Fruit Salad

A simple Mexican fruit salad that’s spiced up! I toss my favorites – watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, cantaloupe and of course, mangoes in a light honey-lime and chili flavored dressing! This is the perfect refreshing and healthy treat for all your summer gatherings!

Food too pretty to eat. ????

But beside it being just a pretty face, it’s refreshing, cooling, and it’s anything but your basic boring fruit salad. And let me state the obvious here for a second, it’s HEALTHY. I mean a healthy salad that’s sweet and can pass as dessert but totally waistline friendly and perfect for the summer months that are just around the corner? Cheeyeah.

And hello! Cinco de Mayo! Isn’t the 5th of May all about those delicious flavor bites. Then how is this not suppose to be the highlight of our week? A fruit salad drizzled with honey-lime-chili dressing is absolutely perfect.

Yes, a thousand times over.

And then there’s Mother’s Day which is all about those brunches, picnics, and just fun summer shenanigans in general. My summer-inspired Mexican fruit salad recipe is a total twofer. Make it for the 5th, love it, obsess over it, then make it all over again for Mother’s Day.

For my Mexican fruit salad I used:

• mangoes (because hi!! mangoes covered in ancho chili powder are so amazing)
• pineapples
• watermelons
• cantaloupe
• honeydew

But really, no one is stopping you from tossing in strawberries, cuties, kiwis, blueberries or anything else you, please! My simple lime, honey, and ancho chili dressing would go great with berries, melons, and so much more. Thankyouverymuch. Once in a while, I get these crazy ideas to toss in things like avocados into a fruit salad, because, why not? And have you ever had honey-sweetened dressing on avocados? DO IT.

I know that some people might find it a little weird to put a chili powder flavored dressing on a fruit salad. I mean what?

But my friends, you have to give this a try. My bestie/ex-neighbor introduced me to the world of lime and chili on all things fruit last year. And yeah, for her it was a total pregnancy craving but me, OMG. I became OBSESSED. My biggest snack obsession last summer? A diced mango tossed with a pinch salt, lime juice, and you guessed it, chili powder. And then I met chamoy (()), which is kind of sort of similar to hot sauce but a little more acidic and a little less spicy. But mangoes have becomes a favorite of mine covered in chamoy.

I kid you not, my mouth is salivating at the thought. ?

Ingredients

dressing:

•  2 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup or agave nectar)
•  3 tablespoons lime juice
•  ⅛ teaspoon salt
•  ¼ -¾ teaspoon ancho chili powder (use more or less to taste)

salad:

•  2 ½ cups honeydew, diced (~½ a melon)
•  3 cups watermelon, diced (~½ a melon)
•  3 cups cantaloupe, diced (~1 melon)
•  2 ½ cups pineapple, diced (~1 pineapple)
•  1 ½ cups mangoes, diced (~2 mangoes)

Instructions

1. DRESSING: In a small bowl, combine the honey, lime juice, salt and ancho chili powder to taste. Add additional sweetener if you want it to be sweeter or another pinch of salt if you want it to be a little saltier. Set aside.
2. ASSEMBLY: In a large bowl, combine the fruit until thoroughly mixed. Dress the salad with as much or as little of the dressing as you like. Add additional chili powder to taste if desired.

Notes

• You can replace any/all of the fruit with what you like. I've used diced avocados, jicama, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, and orange slices in the past. The possibilities are endless with this fruit salad!