Caprese Salad

Caprese salad is a simple and classic Italian salad made with juicy ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s an easy throw-together salad that makes a wonderful appetizer any time of the year.

What is Caprese Salad?

Caprese salad (Insalata Caprese) is an Italian classic salad that is now known all over the world. Insalata Capri means the salad from Capri island as that’s where it originated from in the 1950s.

This simple Italian salad is made with sliced tomato, mozzarella, fresh sweet basil leaves, salt, pepper, and olive oil. The colors of the ingredients represent the Italian flag, and it’s usually served as an antipasto (appetizer) rather than a side dish.

There are many variations of the Caprese salad, in the West, it is often made with cherry tomatoes and baby mozzarella cheese balls. Other versions are made with balsamic reduction drizzle (like I did in this recipe), or even pesto. Sometimes it’s paired with arugula, romaine lettuce, and olives.

You can turn Caprese into a full meal with my Chicken Caprese Recipe! It’s made in one pan, and so simple.

How to Make Caprese Salad

If you have 10 minutes on your hands, and a handful of the ingredients, you can totally whip this up really quickly and easily.

The Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make Caprese salad:

• Tomatoes: Whether you’re using plum tomatoes, or heirloom tomatoes, just make sure that they’re fresh, ripe, and red.
• Mozzarella cheese: You need fresh whole-milk mozzarella in this recipe, low-moisture mozzarella won’t work. Use high-quality cow’s or buffalo mozzarella, as rubbery mozzarella will ruin the dish. You can also substitute with burrata if you like, also check out my burrata salad recipe it’s SO good!
• Basil leaves: Use fresh basil leaves from your garden if you have them. Harvest right before you serve the salad for the best result.
• Extra virgin olive oil, and salt are a must. Ground black pepper and balsamic reduction are optional but highly recommended.

The Directions

1. Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese into ¼ inch thick slices.
2. Arrange on a serving platter by alternating a slice of tomato with a slice of mozzarella. Tuck in fresh basil leaves between the slices.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
4. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar or reduction/glaze if using and serve!

Pair this beautiful salad with a glass of good quality Italian wine, and this will transform your tastebuds to the heart of Italy!

Serve this Caprese salad as an appetizer along with fresh tomato bruschetta, followed by chicken cacciatore, and finish it off with homemade tiramisu for dessert!

What Is Balsamic Reduction and Can I Omit It?

The balsamic glaze is made by reducing balsamic vinegar into a thick syrupy glaze over medium-low heat, adding a little bit of honey or brown sugar for sweetness. It’s not a classic ingredient in Caprese salad, and it’s not necessary. But I personally really like it as it adds a lovely tangy-sweet flavor to the salad.

If you’re making this salad during the summer when the tomatoes are at their peak, juicy, ripe, and fresh then you can omit the balsamic glaze. But I strongly recommend that you add it if you’re making it at other times in the year when tomatoes are not in season.

You might also like to make a Creamy Balsamic Dressing instead!

For a fun twist on Caprese Salad, substitute the mozzarella with Fried Halloumi or Grilled Halloumi.

For more fresh salad recipes, check out my watermelon and feta salad, cucumber tomato and tahini salad, they’re so fresh and easy! Another great summer salad is this Greek Orzo Salad, and this delicious and filling Caesar Pasta Salad.