Buko salad is the ultimate holiday dessert! This Filipino fruit salad is easy to make and so creamy and delicious. A guaranteed party favorite!
I have so many merry holiday memories growing up and a lot of them are centered around food, of course. Like most Filipino families, buko salad was one of our Noche Buena traditions.
I remember my mom and I would make a special trip to the supermarket a few days before Christmas to buy the ingredients and early morning of Christmas Eve, we’d group around our kitchen table to make a big kawa of the delicious concoction. My mom would painstakingly peel grapes, dice the apples, and cube cheese while my brothers and I would squabble over who gets the cherries in the canned fruit cocktail.
They might seem like an unusual expansion to a natural product salad however the mix works! The corn gives extra surface while the pungency of the cheddar adjusts the pleasantness of the treat.
Make the natural product salad as basic or happy as you like. You can pick and add from these choices underneath to suit your preferences.
Filipino Fruit Salad Ingredients
- Fruit Cocktail
Mixed tropical fruit-this canned fruit mix usually includes pineapple, red and yellow papayas
Pineapple tidbits or chunks
Canned Peaches or Pears
Mandarin oranges
Canned Lychees
Fresh fruits such as grapes, strawberries, and diced apples (drizzle the cut apples with lemon juice to keep from browning)
Shredded young coconut-if using the frozen packages of buko, thaw completely and drain. Reserve the juice and add to the salad if you want more liquid
Nata de coco (coconut gel)
Kaong (palm fruits)
Cut corn kernels or creamed corn
Cubed cheese
Condensed milk
All-purpose cream
How to Serve Buko Salad
Buko salad is as easy as tossing all the ingredients together in a large bowl. You can serve the mixture as soon as it’s prepared but for best results, chill for a few hours until very cold or freeze until firm. Either way, it’s delicious as an after-meal dessert or midday snack.