A delicious summer salad with a mix of sweet and juicy stone fruit, drizzled with a simple dressing of honey, lemon and fresh thyme. A show stopping side dish or dessert for your next summer party or backyard bbq.
This stunning summer stone fruit salad is made with a mix of fresh peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and cherries. In my opinion, there's no better way to enjoy seasonal stone fruit than this salad right here.
This recipe celebrates the seasonal bounty of stone fruits in the best way. Bring this to your next outdoor party and I guarantee you'll be the most popular guest!
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Why you will love this stone fruit salad
Unpopular opinion - I do not like melons and therefore avoid most fruit salads at a picnic or bbq as this tends to be the base. Not anymore! There are so many reasons to love this fancy fruit salad.
- It's easy - all you have to do is slice the fruit, arrange it and drizzle with a simple 3 ingredient dressing made with honey, lemon and thyme. You can also make it up to a day in advance!
- Flexibility - you can use whatever combination of stone fruits you like or that look best at the grocery store or farmer's market.
- Elevated - fruit salad is normally super basic and well, boring. This fruit salad is elegant and interesting.
What are stone fruits?
While watermelon is widely known as the the darling of summer fruits, stone fruits are the sweet, juicy and very versatile gems of the season. Also known as drupes, stone fruit is generally in season late May through early October in the United States.
Stone fruits have a pit or "stone" in the center and thin skins that are either fuzzy or smooth. They are highly seasonal, picked at their peak and only good for a short time. All the more reason to eat as many as possible when you can get your hands on them!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this simple and wildly delicious stone fruit salad.
- Stone fruits - for this recipe I used a combination of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and cherries. You can follow your heart and choose your own adventure but I definitely recommend including peaches and cherries. It's tedious work to pit cherries but if you love them like I do, get yourself a cherry pitter - worth it.
- Lemon - fresh lemon juice.
- Honey
- Fresh thyme - use fresh only.
- Salt - just a tiny pinch in the dressing really brings out the flavors.
Instructions
This impressive fruit salad is super easy to make. Just three simple steps!
- Prepare the stone fruit by removing the pits and slicing thinly. To remove the pits, take a paring knife, starting at the stem and run it all the way around the diameter of the fruit, using the pit as a guide. Depending on if the pit is clinging to the flesh or not, you may be able to twist the halves apart. If not, don't panic, simply cut a thin slice in the same direction as the first cut and wiggle the knife a bit until it loosens. If you don't have a cherry pitter, use a chopstick or straw to push the pit from the stem side all the way through the bottom before slicing in half.
- Arrange fruit on a platter.
- Stir together fresh squeezed lemon juice, honey and fresh chopped thyme until the honey is completely dissolved. Drizzle over fruit. Chill for one hour in the fridge before serving. That's it!
This fruit salad can be made up to a day in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Tips and variations
For quick reference, a large peach or nectarine will yield about 1 cup of sliced fruit. For smaller stone fruits like apricots or plums, you'll need about 3-4 to get 1 cup of slices fruit. You want to aim for about 1 cup of fruit per person.
Either. That's why you'll love this particular fruit salad recipe so much. It's perfect on its own and goes with anything on the grill. Or you can enjoy it as a healthy dessert or make it more decadent with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Yes. This salad is also wonderful with mint or basil. I recommend just sticking to one herb of your choice.
Yes. Fruit salad stays fresh for about 2 days in the refrigerator. If you're making this for a summer party or bbq, you can make it up to 24 hours in advance. I recommend chilling it in the fridge for at least one hour after making to let the flavors of the dressing soak into the fruit.
Yes. All the more reason to love this salad is for the versatility. To make it more savory, serve it over a bed of arugula, add a bit of olive oil to the dressing or get wild and break open a ball of creamy burrata to serve with it.
More summer salad recipes to try
Stone Fruit Salad with Honey Lemon and Thyme
Ingredients
- 8 cups sliced mixed stone fruit peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, cherries
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Instructions
- Remove pits from stone fruit and slice thinly. Pit cherries and slice in half lengthwise.
- In a small bowl, stir or whisk together honey, lemon juice and chopped fresh thyme leaves until well combined.
- Arrange fruit on a platter and drizzle with dressing.
- Wrap tightly and chill in the refrigerator for one hour before serving.
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