Quick Summary: Fresh jicama, mango, cucumber, and radish tossed with a ginger lime dressing and finished with chile-lime salt (Tajín). A riff on the popular Mexican street fruit cups. Sweet, spicy, crunchy, and refreshing. Prep: 20 min | Serves: 5
Jump to: RECIPE | Ingredients | The Dressing | Chile-Lime-Salt | FAQ
If you go to any region of Mexico you will most likely see street food vendors selling cups of chopped fruit sprinkled with chile, lime, and salt. It is a really popular snack item for young and old alike.
This salad is my riff on that street food. It is made with crunchy jicama, tropical sweet mangoes, and cool cucumbers and then enhanced with a ginger lime dressing and sprinkled with chile-lime salt for a finish.
What Is Mexican Fruit Salad?
Mexican fruit salad (ensalada de frutas or frutas con chile) is fresh fruit seasoned with lime juice, chile powder, and salt. Street vendors throughout Mexico sell it in cups or bags, often with a wooden stick for eating on the go.
The appeal is the contrast: sweet fruit against sour lime, spicy chile against cool, juicy textures. The salt ties everything together and amplifies all the other flavors.
Common fruits include mango, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, jicama, and cucumber (yes, cucumber is treated as a fruit in this context).
The dressing is typically just lime juice and chile powder, though some versions add chamoy (a sweet-sour-spicy sauce)
Ingredients and Substitutions
For this salad I used the following fruits:
- Jicama: crisp, slightly sweet, holds its crunch
- Mango: creamy texture, tropical sweetness
- Cucumber: cool and refreshing
- Radishes: peppery bite and color
Other fruits that work well:
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Papaya
- Oranges
- Strawberries
- Kiwi
The key is mixing textures: something creamy (mango), something crunchy (jicama), something juicy (watermelon or cucumber). Avoid fruits that brown quickly (apples, bananas) unless you’re serving immediately.
The following photo shows you all the ingredients you will need for this recipe. For details on measurements, see the recipe below.
For the Ginger Lime Dressing
The classic Mexican street dressing is simply lime juice, a little oil, salt, and chile powder. It is simple and it’s great.
My version adds ginger lime simple syrup, which brings warmth and a touch more sweetness.
The Classic Mexican Street-style Dressing:
- 1 tsp grated lime zest
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- kosher salt and ground white pepper
- finished off by sprinkling 1 tsp chile powder or crushed red pepper over the top of the dressed salad
The Ginger Lime Syrup Dressing:
For ginger lime syrup, dissolve sugar in water over medium heat. Bring to a low boil and add ginger slices and lime juice. Turn off the heat, cover and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain into clean container.
- ½ c. Root ginger Sliced into coins
- 2-3 limes juiced
- ½ c. sugar
- ½ c. water
For the dressing, combine 1 tablespoon ginger lime simple syrup with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Shake or whisk to combine. Toss with fruit and finish with chile-lime salt.
Both versions are good. The ginger lime syrup version is just a little sweeter and a little more unique.
For the Chile-Lime-Salt (Tajin)
Tajín is a Mexican seasoning made from ground chile peppers, dehydrated lime, and salt. It’s the classic finishing seasoning for fruit, and you’ll see it on tables at Mexican restaurants alongside the salt and pepper.
If you can’t find Tajín, you can make a homemade version by mixing:
- 1 tablespoon chile powder (ancho or guajillo work well)
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Tips for the Best Mexican Fruit Salad
- Cut fruit into uniform pieces. Bite-sized, roughly 3/4-inch cubes, so the dressing coats everything evenly.
- Chill the fruit first. This salad is best served cold.
- Add the dressing just before serving. The salt draws moisture from the fruit, so dressed salad gets watery if it sits too long.
- Don’t skip the chile-lime salt. It’s what makes this Mexican fruit salad rather than just fruit salad.
- Taste as you go. Adjust lime, salt, and chile to your preference.
FAQ
No. The fruit contains natural sugars and the dressing contains sugar, so this is not slow carb compliant. However, jicama and cucumber are very low carb, and in moderation this is a better choice than most desserts.
Jicama (HEE-kah-mah) is a root vegetable with crisp, white flesh and a mildly sweet flavor. It’s common in Mexican cuisine and stays crunchy even when dressed. Look for it in the produce section near the root vegetables.
You can cut the fruit ahead and refrigerate, but add the dressing and chile-lime salt just before serving. Otherwise the salad gets watery.
Mix chile powder with lime zest and salt. Or use any chile-lime seasoning you have on hand.
More Great Summer Salads:
If you enjoy all types of Mexican food, check out this category of ALL Mexican recipes, where you will find over 40 Mexican recipes, from casual, to low carb, to fancy.
Spicy Mexican Fruit Salad
Equipment
- large bowl
Ingredients
- 1 Cup chopped jicama cut into 3/4 inch cubes
- 1 Cup chopped cucumber peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 Cup chopped mango peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 radishes sliced into thin rounds
- 1 Tbsp Ginger Lime simple syrup or see notes for DIY dressing
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil Or see notes for DIY dressing
- 1 Tsp Chile-lime salt Or Tajin
Instructions
- Peel the produce and chop into bite-size pieces and place in a large bowl.1 Cup chopped jicama, 1 Cup chopped cucumber, 1 Cup chopped mango, 4 radishes
- Combine Ginger Lime syrup and oil in a covered jar and shake it up. Alternatively, see the lime/oil DIY dressing recipe in the notes. Combine the dressing with the fruit.1 Tbsp Ginger Lime simple syrup, 2 Tbsp Olive oil
- Sprinkle the dressed fruit salad with chile lime salt (or Tajin).1 Tsp Chile-lime salt
Video
Notes
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest,
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice,
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger (optional)
This recipe was a hit with our family. It was our first experience with jicama too. Loved it. I never found the recipe for the ginger lime syrup so I used the homemade dressing recipe you listed toward the bottom and added a tablespoon of honey and about 3/4 inch of minced ginger. Thank you!
Hi Melinda. So happy to hear your family liked the salad! I need to modify the post and take out the ginger lime syrup comment. I used to make the syrups and sell them online, but I have downsized the online sales to just teas now. Thank you for bringing that to my attention (and I’m glad you tried the dressing instead!)