This Strawberry Tomato Salad is fresh, colorful and packed with seasonal flavor! Toss juicy strawberries and cherry tomatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, good quality balsamic vinegar and a fragrant helping of fresh herbs. This is the perfect summer side dish to bring to your next summer gathering or to enjoy as light, cooling lunch during summer heat waves.
🍓🍅Balsamic Salad Highlights🍓🍅
- Simple ingredients + season produce: This salad is loaded up with sweet strawberries, juicy tomatoes and fresh herbs.
- Cool and refreshing: No cooking required! Simply chop, toss and enjoy. It’s a great salad to make when it’s too hot to cook during hot summer months.
- Basic prep: Altogether this easy salad takes about 15 minutes to make and can be thrown together in one big bowl.
- Customize & adapt: Enjoy as written for a super simple summer salad or bulk it out with nuts, seeds, leafy greens, extra veggies, cheese, etc.
↳ Looking for more summer salads? Try Greek Lemon Cucumber Pasta Salad, French Carrot Salad, Tomato Arugula Salad with Walnuts or Piyaz (Turkish White Bean Salad) next!
How to Make This Strawberry Tomato Balsamic Salad
- Gather & prep: Halve or quarter the strawberries and tomatoes depending on how large you like you fruit & veggies chunks. Dice the shallot and finely chop the herbs to ensure they mix evenly in the salad.
- Combine: Add tomatoes, berries, herbs, shallot, salt and pepper to a large salad bowl.
- Add oil & vinegar: Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Toss together: Toss everything together until fully mixed together. Taste and season with more salt and pepper or balsamic vinegar if you like your salads with more bite.
↳ FYI: Quality Matters – For the best flavor, use a quality extra-virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar. A syrupy, aged balsamic will create a deeper, richer flavor. If your balsamic is thin or sharp, make your own DIY balsamic glaze by reducing it down into a thicker glaze for a more mellow, concentrated flavor.
🍅Tomato Tip🍅
If you have the time and patience, scoop out the watery tomato seeds as you prepare.
You won’t miss out on any amazing flavor, but you will reduce the excess water the release which will prolong the freshness of the salad.
Cheese is Optional
Add mozzarella to lean into the Caprese salad vibes or keep it dairy free and skip the cheese altogether.
You can also try burrata instead of mozzarella for an extra fresh & creamy alternative. Swap for feta cheese for a salty, briny flavor. Parmesan cheese is also a great option.
Ingredient Swaps & Customizations
A few ways to adapt this salad:
🔀 Substitutions
- Tomato: Feel free to use whatever fresh tomatoes you have on hand. Just make sure to slice and cut the tomatoes down into smaller chunks to make them roughly the same size as the strawberries.
- Shallot: Use red onion instead of shallot.
- Vinegar: Instead of regular balsamic, try white balsamic vinegar or sherry vinegar.
➕Additions
- Leafy Greens: Add arugula, spinach or other fresh greens to bulk it out.
- Avocado: Great with both strawberries and tomatoes – add sliced avocado for an extra creamy addition.
- Nuts & Seeds: Add a handful of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, etc for a bit of crunch.
Serving Suggestions: This salad makes a great side to bring to BBQ’s & picnics to serve alongside grilled meat like this Cilantro Lime Marinated Chicken. Enjoy it a light lunch with some homemade gluten free bread or focaccia.
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Strawberry Tomato Balsamic Salad recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Strawberry Tomato Balsamic Salad Recipe
Sweet, tangy and herb-packed - this Strawberry Tomato Balsamic Salad is the perfect way to use fresh summer produce!
Ingredients
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (340g | 12 oz)
- 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (340g | 12 oz)
- 2 tbsp shallot, finely chopped (about 1 small shallot)
- 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella pearls or a large ball torn into small pieces (115g) - optional
- 1/2 tsp salt and freshly cracked black pepper, each or more to taste
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or more to taste (30 ml)
- 2 tbsp balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar or more to taste (30 ml)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine: tomatoes, strawberries, shallot, mint, basil, mozzarella (if using), salt and pepper.
- Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over top then toss everything together until fully combined.
- Taste and season with more salt and pepper as you see fit. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
- This salad is best served & enjoyed within 1 day. If you want to make it to bring to share at a cookout or picnic, I recommend you prepare the ingredients separately and mix together before serving.
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