Caprese Salad is an easy Mediterranean salad prepared with a handful of fresh ingredients.
Make this Italian salad all year round and enjoy for lunch or as an appetizer, or make it your own with my flavor options!
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Caprese Salad makes me happy, and I can eat it all the time, not just in summer. My husband was mesmerized by the flavors the moment he was introduced to it.
He describes the tomato mozzarella and basil as a brilliant marriage between ingredients, and the olive oil completes the dish.
Sounds promising, right?
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What is Caprese Salad?
Caprese Salad, Insalata Caprese in Italian, means salad from Capri. The island of Capri belongs to Italy.
The salad consists of fresh basil leaves, fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes. The green, white and red ingredients represent the Italian flag in the Caprese Salad.
Green for the basil, White for the buffalo mozzarella and red for the tomato. The textures and flavors make this layered salad so special.
It's served as a dish on its own or as a side dish salad.
Ingredient Notes
Getting and using quality ingredients for your Caprese salad is crucial!
- Mozzarella — Use only fresh buffalo mozzarella, not the processed mozzarella cheese which is used on pizzas and which looks like cheddar. Soft fresh mozzarella cheese is turned into a ball and then kept in brine. Soft mozzarella can be stored for a few days in the brine in the fridge. Follow the expiry date. You can use small mozzarella balls too.
- Basil — Use Italian fresh sweet basil for this recipe. That's the most common basic basil in stores. Don't use Thai Basil or Holy Basil (Tulsi), they taste different. Young Italian basil leaves are always preferred.
- Tomato — Pick red fresh tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market are great for this. I love juicy tomatoes in my caprese salad!
- Olive Oil — Quality olive oil is the dressing for this salad. Drizzling a bit of olive oil over your caprese salad makes it a proper Italian dish. Use extra-virgin olive oil with this salad, which can taste a bit spicy. This just adds flavor to your dish.
- Salt & Black Pepper — You can use pink Himalayan salt or French sea salt. Try to use only freshly crushed quality black pepper for the best result. I like fruity black pepper varieties such as Tellycherry.
If you intend to use mini fresh mozzarella balls (known as bocconcini), use cherry tomatoes or small grape tomatoes.
You can use orange or green ripe tomatoes varieties too, but then it's just a tomato mozzarella salad.
It's called a caprese salad because the colors of the ingredients represent the Italian flag.
The tomatoes can be room temperature or cooled. Cut the slices of tomatoes not too thin, nor too thick.
How to make it?
Step 1
Cut open the mozzarella packet and remove the cheese ball from the brine. Drip off excess water. Cut the soft mozzarella into slices.
Step 2
Wash your tomato, pat dry and slice.
Rinse off fresh basil leaves to get rid of impurities and pat dry as well.
Step 3
Layer the salad the traditional way by placing a basil leaf to a mozzarella slice and a tomato slice (for the Italian flag). Arrange on a serving platter.
You can also place all the ingredients into a salad bowl. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and black pepper. Serve your salad.
📖 Recipe
Italian Caprese Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Tomato medium
- 1 Large Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
- Basil Fresh fresh
- Dash Olive Oil extra virgin
- Pinch Salt
- Pinch Black Pepper Ground
Instructions
- Rinse tomatoes, pat dry and cut into medium to thick slices.3 Tomato
- Cut open the mozzarella cheese bag, discard all the water, shake off liquids from the cheese ball. Cut mozzarella into slices. You may cut the ball first into half if it's a large one.1 Large Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
- Rinse fresh basil leaves to get rid of impurities. Pat dry.Basil Fresh
- Layer your salad ingredients. Place basil leaves, mozzarella slice, and tomato slice alternating on a serving platter.
- Sprinkle olive oil, salt and if you like black pepper, over the arranged Caprese salad.Pinch Salt, Pinch Black Pepper Ground, Dash Olive Oil
- Serve your salad cooled.
Notes
Nutrition
Variations
You can enhance your salad by adding the following ingredients to it. Italians would call this an adulterated version.
- leafy greens such as lettuce, arugula and baby spinach.
- strawberries (Panera Copycat)
- other fruits such as peach and watermelon
- chicken cooked, such as leftover rotisserie chicken
- avocado
For the dressing, you can also sprinkle balsamic vinegar, a balsamic glaze reduction over the salad or enjoy it with basil pesto.
Another idea is to use burrata instead of a mozzarella ball in this caprese salad recipe.
FAQs
Yes, you can make this salad ahead of time. Just slice and place all ingredients into an airtight container. To serve, sprinkle olive oil and seasoning over the arranged fresh ingredients.
Italians always assemble this salad according to the Italian flag. Start with a fresh leave of basil, a slice of mozzarella cheese touching a tomato slice. Repeat the process and create as many rows as you like. You can serve up a whole caprese platter!
Yes! It's a well-balanced salad with fresh ingredients that is served with olive oil. The salad is low-carb keto.
The salad goes well with small Italian Ravioli, Gnocchi or Pasta meals. You might also enjoy it with veal Milanese or Bistecca alla Fiorentina.
White wines or roses are most suitable with your Carpese Salad. I recommend a crisp, slightly sweet but balanced Pinot Gris white wine or a Laroque rose.
More international salads:
One of my summer staples but please check calories, that can't be correct.
Thanks, for pointing this out. Fixed it!
This combination was made in heaven.
Love basil, growing Sweet Basil, makes great Pesto. I have been growing basil in a pot here in State of Gujarat in India. Have been regularly fertilizing using Goat poop. Too bad can't find fresh mozzarella in my neck of the woods!
Hi Nilesh,
really goat poop as fertilizer? That's interesting. When do you plant your basil seeds? That's a pity that you are not getting mozzarella in your corner of Gujarat. I think retail market will be selling those sooner or later. We have lots of cheese choice for the past 4 years now in Goa and I think the cheese market is gradually expanding in India, which is good. 🙂
I agree, this is the ultimate summer food, sadly we have a few more months to go before this delicious salad reappears in our lunch and dinner plates—tomatoes this time of year are so bland and mealy they actually gross me out. I usually serve oven dried tomatoes in this recipe during our winter. Such beautiful photos too.
I can't wait for summer and fresh tomatoes. I've made mozzarella a couple of time. I'll be honest and say I didn't find that it was a lot better than I could buy so I haven't made it again.
This is the salad that definitely says it's summer to me.
Ciao Helene, sono contenta che una ricetta italiana ti ha resa felice e che tu riesca a trovare la mozzarella anche in India! Un grande saluto
M.G.
What a lovely presentation!
yummy, tempting salad..
Hey Helene!
Beautiful photos. I agree with you. Something so ordinary to us might be totally new to someone else. I am super crazy about tomatoes but I've never had Caprese Salad before! So, thanks for sharing this 🙂
Delightfully refreshing combination of flavors - makes me long for summer more! 🙂
Sorry! I should have have read your post a little closer. It waw self explanatory.
oh that's alright, glad you asked. =)
I didn't know you could get fresh mozzarella in Goa? Is it from the Indian buffaloes?
I don't know since I couldn't find a way to contact the dairy I am buying from. But I know an Italian lady who was one of the first to make mozzarella here and she told me that they used the milk from Indian buffalos and also from cows.
so simple but so delicious and so fresh and screams spring
I have had something very similar to this, but not with the love put into it that you have. Beautiful presentation, and I am sure it tastes even better! Perfect summer afternoon appetizer. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I'm in love with how fresh it looks and such a delicious dish 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
When the ingredients are fresh, I swear there is no better salad than this. It looks beautiful on that plate, Helene.
This is by far one of my favourite summer salads and if I see it on a menu, I will almost always order it. Except when tomatoes are out of season and they taste like nothing, it is infuriating to see it on a menu out of season. The combinations you mention are exquisite and satisfy the emotional hunger as well as the physical hunger. It's nice to know you can find this cheese in Goa; my friend John (from the Bartolini Kitchens) made soft mozzarella some time ago, I haven't tried making it yet but will sometime soon.
So glad to found your beautiful Caprese salad , Helen! This is so funny, we all created something delicious with tomato, basil and mozzarella this weekend. How wonderful for you to be able to experience life in Goa. We have many friends form India from the Pune region and they often tell us about their vacation to the scenic coast of Goa.
J+C
Oh this speaks of summer! I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes and make this.
Great salad, and I love the presentation. We can get great mozzarella here, too. But it's too early for tomatoes and basil from my garden. But in a few months, this will be on our table! Really nice -- thanks.
Fresh and delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa