Caprese salad is a traditional Italian dish that is a great meal on its own! Drizzled with some balsamic vinegar or olive oil with garlic adds the final touch to already rich ingredients. Don’t miss this list of main dishes to serve with the Caprese!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
– Easy All you need to do is chop fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella, drizzle it with some olive oil or balsamic reduction and you are good to go!
– Low-carb and keto friendly. Caprese salad is very healthy and good for you! To make this dish more filling, serve it with low-card oven-baked pork chops.
– Budget-friendly. All you need is three simple ingredients that are available at every grocery store and are not expensive.
Ingredients
Mozzarella – you can get mozzarella pearls to skip chopping, otherwise use a regular mozzarella ball. You can also use burrata mozzarella for burrata Caprese!
Tomatoes – if you don’t have cherry tomatoes you can use regular larger tomatoes. In that case, you just need to slice them more and cut the cores out.
Basil – fresh basil is a must in this recipe!
Variations
– Add balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction to the finished dish;
– Add avocado or replace mozzarella with it for the vegan Caprese salad;
– Place the salad in between fresh pieces of bread for a Caprese sandwich;
– Put tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella onto skewers for a bite-size salad for a party.
How to Make Caprese Salad with Cherry Tomatoes
Step 1
Chop up the tomatoes (optional), mozzarella, and basil (optional).
Step 2
Place the ingredients onto a plate in layers (mozzarella, tomato, basil) or put them into a bowl and toss with some salt, pepper (optional), and olive oil or balsamic reduction.
Expert Tips
– If you are making this recipe ahead, don’t chop cherry tomatoes ahead of time. In fact, you don’t have to chop them at all as they are already bite-size!
– If you don’t like balsamic vinegar you can use white wine vinegar instead.
– If you are short on time, just toss all the ingredients into a deep bowl and toss with oil or vinegar. No need for layering the ingredients!
– This recipe is for one person, so multiply the ingredients by how many people you would like to serve!
FAQ
You may chop basil for the salad but you can also leave it as is! If you do decide to chop the leaves then you want to do it right before using them as they will start browning if you leave them to sit on the counter after cutting.
It is best to make Caprese salad right before serving it as basil loses its shape and beauty when you leave it to sit in the refrigerator. However, you can make this salad ahead if you don’t mind your basil looking slightly wrinkly and darker (avoid cutting basil if you are making the salad ahead of time). With cherry tomatoes, you can leave them in the salad without cutting them so that they don’t lose their shape. The salad will last up to 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
You can eat the salad with a piece of crunchy fresh bread if you want a light meal on a hot summer day but if you are looking for something more filling then there are plenty of options for you! You can serve Caprese salad along with pasta with pesto sauce or bolognese sauce, Parmesan risotto, you can add some grilled chicken, pork, or beef to the plate, or serve Caprese as an appetizer before any other main course.
In fact, you can serve Caprese with pretty much anything you like, just follow your intuition when it comes to what flavors pair up with each other. If I had to guess I would say that when it comes to food there are as many preferences as there are people!
Caprese Salad with Cherry Tomatoes (Easy!)
Ingredients
- 1 mozzarella ball
- 5-10 cherry tomatoes depending on their size
- 10 fresh basil leaves
- olive oil for drizzling or balsamic reduction
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop up the tomatoes (optional), mozzarella, and basil (optional).
- Place the ingredients onto a plate in layers (mozzarella, tomato, basil) or put them into a bowl and toss with some salt, pepper (optional), and olive oil or balsamic reduction.
Notes
Nutrition
What’s Next?
Have you made this Caprese salad recipe? Please, share your experience and questions in the comment section below!
Hi, I am Natasha! Glad to see you here. Hope you join along as I discover and share great recipes that make family cooking easier and more fun! To learn more about me, read my story of how I went from a world traveler to a countryside home cook. Read more…
I love this Italian salad. Balsamic reduction is my favorite dressing for this one!