Fresh Fruit Salad Parfaits with Pineapple Greek Yogurt
I was messing around with the idea of fruit salads the other day and was trying think of something other than the ‘just a big bowl of fruit’ or the ‘just a big bowl of fruit with gloppy dressing’ that is often so sweet you can’t taste the fruit. Here is the end result: Still plenty of fresh fruit, and the dressing is a pineapple Greek yogurt that is thickened by straining it for a couple of hours. Fruit is beautiful to look at, so rather than slathering it with the dressing, it’s layered, parfait style. The Greek yogurt is not super sweet, and since I love pineapple it’s the flavor I chose, but if you’d prefer a different flavor, go for it. This was really fun to do, and you can pick a couple of kinds of fruit, or several. If you make this in parfait glasses, it’s fun to mix and match the fruit differently in each one. If you are feeding a crowd, just grab a large glass bowl and start layering, making sure you’ve got some fruit on top. It started out as a fruit salad, but also works great for breakfast, a high protein snack, or dessert.
Ingredients
- NOTE: This is one of those recipes that doesn’t have much in the way of how much of any ingredient you should use. It will require some eyeballing on your part and decisions on what fruits look best at the supermarket, what you like to eat, and what seems to go well with each other.
- TYPES OF FRUIT I USED:
- Pineapple
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Mango
- Blood Oranges
- OTHER TYPES THAT WOULD BE GOOD:
- Kiwi
- Blackberries
- Melons only if ripe and in season however
- Bananas if you are serving this right away since bananas have that tendency to turn brown in a hurry
- Or anything else that sounds good to you. If you venture into pears or apples remember they also have a tendency to turn brown so if you aren’t serving right away that could be a problem.
- FOR THE DRESSING
- I used ‘Lite and Fit’ nonfat Greek yogurt. This is because it’s got a ton of pineapple flavor that isn’t too sweet. I used four 5.3-ounce containers for five parfaits. This gives you quite a bit of dressing in each parfait, so you might want to try a little less.
Instructions
- TO PREPARE THE FRUIT
- Wash or rinse the fruit you’ve chosen, and any types that need to be cut should be cut in roughly the same sizes as the berries you’ve chosen. This is to prevent everything from looking lopsided if you care about such things.
- TO PREPARE THE DRESSING
- Place the yogurt in a fine mesh strainer over a medium sized bowl. Cover the yogurt with plastic wrap and allow to drain in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or overnight is even better. You will be amazed at how much whey drains off, and you will be rewarded with a luscious, thick and creamy dressing. That’s all there is to it.
- TO ASSEMBLE
- Dollop a couple of teaspoons of dressing in the bottom of each parfait glass. Then add a layer of fruit, followed by another few dollops of dressing, another layer of a different kind of fruit, etc. until you’ve filled the glass as high as you’d like. Be sure to end with some fresh fruit on the top. It looks better and your guests can get a glimpse of what they’ll be eating. NOTE: It’s the best fun to mix and match your fruit among each parfait, so each one tastes and looks different.
