Marinated Mozzarella Tomato Basil Salad
This easy, flavorful Italian Marinated Mozzarella Tomato Basil Salad recipe tastes so fresh and is a winning side dish to go with your next meal. This salad fits the bill for anytime of the year or to bring to a picnic!
How was your Labor Day weekend? We celebrated four birthdays just on Sunday: what would have been my dad’s 68th birthday, Mr. Wishes’ aunt Diane, my grandpa, and my good friend of 20 years, Megan. So fun!
Everyone else in the food blogging world is all “pumpkin this and pumpkin that”. I’m over here like, “Look, I made you another fresh, summery salad!” Most of us still have some summer-like temperatures in the forecast and we need to keep eating summer foods while we still can. That is my attitude, anyway. I’m just not even close to being ready for fall or fall food. I know, I know….you think I’m looney tunes. The weather has been perfect here lately so it will make it that much harder to let go of! For example: it’s 11 p.m. here right now and it’s 77 degrees. Perfect!
I love how colorful this Marinated Mozzarella Tomato Basil Salad is. In all honesty, it’s not just a summer salad. I will be eating this well into the winter months. Anything similar to a Caprese salad is totally acceptable anytime of the year and even throughout the holidays. Wouldn’t the red and green look so pretty on a Christmas dinner table? Did I just take it too far by mentioning Christmas already? #sorrynotsorry
The cherry-sized mozzarella balls (also called “ciliegine”) are marinated in extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, fresh parsley, salt and pepper. They are then tossed with sweet cherry tomatoes and sweet balsamic vinegar. You can also use all basil if you prefer! I had fresh parsley I needed to use up so I just threw that in there and was very happy with the taste. Enjoy!
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅛ cup freshly chopped basil
- ⅛ cup freshly chopped parsley (or use all basil)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese (cherry-size mozzarella balls)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (about 2 cups)
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- Combine the oil, garlic, parsley and basil in a bowl.
- Add the mozzarella and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cover and let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Add tomatoes (cut in half or not) and vinegars to the mozzarella and toss to combine.
- Season to taste with more salt and pepper if desired, and serve immediately.
Recipe source: adapted from seriouseats.com
This salad looks delicious! I also posted a Summer recipe on my blog and also mentioned the fact that many other bloggers are posting pumpkin and apple recipes 🙂 🙂
What a yummy salad. I love the marinade as mozzarella can be a bit bland on its own. I’m right there with you for eating fresh, summer ingredients as long as possible. Great post thanks. Sammie http://www.feastingisfun.com
Love the salads – I’m totally not ready for pumpkin season yet!
Honestly? I could eat this every single day! Looks SO good!
This is one of my favorite appetizers! Love it all year long.
Love this salad, Ashley! So fresh and with beautiful flavour. I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye to summer!
I could eat the entire bowl all by myself!
Bring on all the summery salads you can! I’m not quite ready for summer to be over yet.
This salad looks delicious, EATaly at it’s best!
Wow, so many birthday celebrations on just one day- must have been great fun.
As anxious as I am for apples and pumpkin, I’m with you – in fact, I’m posting a salad this week, too! We still have a few days of nice weather left and the produce is still phenomenal…I’m taking advantage while I still can!
This salad looks fantastic. I love, love, love marinated mozzarella — and also am so not ready for fall anything yet! So keep on sharing the summer (and I will too!).
My labor day weekend was packed full of labor haha. We cleaned out the basement and started packing the house up and I have a bunch of recipes to photograph. 🙂 Sounds like you had a great weekend of celebrations though! I’m all good with pumpkin right now but I’m still craving fresh, summery salads!!
As much as I love pumpkin, I’m just not ready yet. Your beautiful summer salad is exactly what I’m craving right now!
I really wish we were next door neighbors so you could invite me over to dinner – and serve me this salad! Happy Birthday to your Dad! xox
I hear you about summer salads! I am totally into them. In fact I’ve had salads on our meal plan these last two weeks and the family has been enjoying it! I bet they would love this!
I love how colorful this salad is too! And heck yeah for summery salads!
It’s definitely still summer weather here for the foreseeable future! This marinated mozzarella salad sounds awesome!
This reminds me of a salad that my mother-in-law makes every summer…and it’s one of my all-time favorites! I love the mozzarella balls in this salad, too!
So, I’m one of those who has already switched into fall mode (although no pumpkins in sight yet haha!) even though our temperatures in NC do not inspire fall recipes! So, I’m loving this summer salad of yours! I haven’t had mozzarella in a while so this is going to be on the menu soon 🙂
This salad look so pretty and delicious. Tomatoes are still growing like crazy here so it’s perfect timing for a tasty recipe like this.
Keep the summer stuff coming! THIS…I would eat every bit of them most likely lick the bowl clean! Yummmm!