Nightshade Free Basil-Pesto Fruit Harvest Salad
Fresh fruit salads are often dressed with store-bought vinaigrettes that can hide unexpected additives, so making your own from scratch is always the smarter move. Here, a bright basil-pesto-style dressing — built from olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic, and a whisper of ground ginger — gets chiffonaded basil stirred right in and left to infuse for ten minutes, which makes the flavor genuinely bloom. That fragrant, herby dressing then gets tossed over a generous mix of halved red grapes, blueberries, strawberries, apple, and pear for a bowl that looks like a farmers' market haul and tastes even better. Every single ingredient here is naturally free of nightshades, so there's no label-reading stress or ingredient swaps required — just clean, whole foods doing all the work. The combination of sweet, tart, and savory is surprisingly sophisticated, and the optional torn mint on top adds a cool, fresh finish that takes it over the edge. It's the kind of dish that works as a light lunch, a stunning brunch side, or even a dessert when you want something that feels indulgent without being heavy.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the basil-pesto dressing
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 small garlic clove, finely minced
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
For the salad
- 2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 medium pear, cored and thinly sliced
For serving
- 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, torn (optional)
Instructions
- 1
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, fine sea salt, and ground ginger until fully combined and slightly emulsified.
- 2
Stack the basil leaves, roll them tightly lengthwise, and slice into thin ribbons (chiffonade). Add the basil to the dressing and stir to combine. Let the dressing sit for 10 minutes so the basil flavor infuses into the oil.
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