For a festive and flavorful dessert or side dish, try this Boozy Fruit Salad with Cointreau. It is an adult fruit salad marinated in Cointreau, a delicious orange liqueur. We love to serve this as a dessert after a heavy meal, at brunch, or even while entertaining family or friends for lunch.

Fruit salad prepared in a bowl, garnished with mint leaves

Kid Tip: This is also fun to make with kids. While I was assembling the adult version, my daughter was making small fruit cups for she and her brother, obviously without the Cointreau. She is excited for Gnarly Roots to introduce her version of the fruit salad in a future post.

Boozy Fruit Salad Ingredients

For this recipe, you can absolutely “choose your own adventure”, based on what you have on hand and what is in season. I do love peach season, as the peaches make this salad especially sweet and colorful. With peaches, I love using red or green grapes, strawberries, and blueberries. In addition to your fruit medley, you will need 1 ounce of Cointreau and the juice of half of a lemon. Optional fun garnishes are whipped cream and or mint leaves.

Assembling the Boozy Fruit Salad with Cointreau

First, wash all of the fruit needed for the salad and cut. Toss it all into a medium-sized salad bowl. With your citrus press, squeeze the juice of one-half of a lemon over the top of the fruit. If you don’t have a citrus press, squeeze the 1/2 lemon over a cup or bowl and remove the seeds before pouring over the fruit. Pour or squeeze the lemon juice over the top and stir to coat the fruit.

The lemon will give a very slight tang to the fruit, but it also helps to avoid the oxidation or turning brown if you are going to serve it later in the day or even if you serve it left over, the next day.

Next, pour the Cointreau over the fruit and stir to coat. Place in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve. Serve as is or with whipped cream or mint as a garnish.

Serving Tips and Suggestions

The fruit will continue to gain flavor over time, so leftovers the following day will still taste delicious!
This glass salad bowl and these vintage dessert cups are perfect for serving this Boozy Fruit Salad.
If you plan to serve this for brunch, consider these complementary recipes for French Crêpes and Veggie Frittata. And don’t forget a refreshing brunch cocktail! Either this Elderflower & Lime Prosecco or this Kir Royal would pair well with this fruit salad and a brunch menu.
This Boozy Fruit Salad would also be a great side dish for a summer barbecue. So if you are grilling up a Tri-Tip or Pork Tenderloin, try adding this festive and sweet salad.