Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad Recipe
Calling all cheese lovers! This salad is for you. Yes, that's right. This is the most epic and popular of cheese salads. Oh, you didn't know cheese salads were a thing? Well, we're here to tell you that they are and they are fabulous. This cherry tomato caprese salad combines the classic flavors of tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese. As self-declared cheese-lovers, we highly recommend this dish to satisfy your cheese cravings without going overboard on your fat intake.
Recipe developer and registered dietitian nutritionist, Kristen Carli, MS, RD, brings us this recipe as a solution to our boring salad problem. She recommends eating this one for a quick weekday lunch or even bringing this for a brunch as potluck style side dish. Follow this step by step guide below to learn how Carli whips up this cherry tomato caprese salad in less than ten minutes. Who doesn't have time for that?
Gather your ingredients for a cherry tomato caprese salad
To make this cherry tomato caprese salad, you first need to gather the ingredients. For this recipe, you will need cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, mozzarella balls, and balsamic vinegar. There are a few ways to make a caprese salad, but the most traditional caprese salads include mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. However, they are highly versatile and customizable, so feel free to have some fun and get creative with this basic caprese salad recipe. If you want to choose some other ingredient substitutions, you have our blessing to go for it. If you don't want to use cherry tomatoes, an obvious substitute would be grape tomatoes or sliced beefsteak tomatoes. Instead of dressing with balsamic vinegar, you could alternatively use balsamic glaze which is a bit thicker and much more sweet. If you want, you can also use the mozzarella pearls which are smaller mozzarella balls, but this is up to your discretion.
Halve the cherry tomatoes and slice the basil
Once we have assembled our ingredients, we can begin to prepare them. In this recipe, since we are using cherry tomatoes, you will need to halve them in order to make them the perfect size. In addition to halving the cherry tomatoes, you also need to slice up our basil leaves. You can either do this by stacking the basil leaves and thinly slicing them. Alternatively, you can take the stack of basil leaves and roll it up tightly. Once the leaves are rolled up tightly, you can thinly slice this roll, creating extra thin strips.
Stir the salad ingredients together
In a medium-sized bowl, add the halved cherry tomatoes, the thinly sliced basil leaves, the mozzarella balls, and the balsamic vinegar. Give the entire salad a good stir to fully mix the ingredients together. If you want, this salad is great when allowed to chill or marinade in the fridge for at least ten minutes, allowing the flavors to truly meld together. However, this chilling step is not absolutely necessary, so if you're in a pinch for time, you can skip right to the eating part!
Serving suggestions
We like making this salad for a weekend brunch celebrating Mother's Day, Easter, or a baby shower. It's a great side dish or meal to make for a crowd as it is simple, yet delicious. In a matter of minutes, you can throw together a crowd-pleasing dish without a ton of effort. We always love dishes like that. We've also made this as a quick prepared lunch option for busy work days. It always hits the spot!
If you have any leftovers, we recommend storing this salad in an airtight container in the fridge. This salad will stay fresh for up to two days in the fridge. After two days, the salad will likely start to get mushy. Ideally, to keep this salad at its freshest, we recommend eating the whole salad after serving. Considering how easy it is to whip this caprese salad up in a pinch, we don't think you'll need to worry too much about the hassle of leftovers.
- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes
- ¾ ounce basil leaves
- 16 ounces mozzarella balls
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- Halve cherry tomatoes.
- Thinly slice the basil leaves.
- Add the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella balls to a medium bowl.
- Top with balsamic vinegar.
- Stir to combine, then serve.
| Calories per Serving | 358 |
| Total Fat | 25.5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14.9 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.0 g |
| Cholesterol | 89.6 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 6.1 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.9 g |
| Total Sugars | 3.6 g |
| Sodium | 715.7 mg |
| Protein | 26.0 g |
