Italian · Salad · Easy
Caprese Salad
Ripe tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and basil in nothing but good olive oil and flaky salt. Three ingredients, zero cooking, and the whole flag of Italy on one plate.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Caprese Salad, in 5 ideas
- Use the ripest tomatoes you can find, the salad is only as good as them.
- Room-temperature mozzarella slices more cleanly and tastes creamier.
- Slice everything evenly so each bite stacks tomato, cheese, and basil.
- Dress at the last minute with your best olive oil, cheap oil shows here.
- Flaky sea salt and fresh pepper are the only seasoning it needs.
What you need
Ingredients
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, sliced 5mm thick
- 450g fresh mozzarella, sliced 5mm thick
- 20g fresh basil leaves
- 60ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- 0.5 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp balsamic glaze (optional)
How to make it
Directions
- Arrange the tomato and mozzarella slices on a platter, alternating and slightly overlapping them.
- Tuck the basil leaves between the slices.
- Drizzle evenly with the olive oil.
- Sprinkle over the flaky salt and black pepper.
- Rest for 5 minutes at room temperature, drizzle with balsamic glaze if using, and serve.
Buy mozzarella in the larger deli packs rather than single balls, the price per gram drops sharply. Any leftovers melt beautifully on pizza or into a tomato sauce.