Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette
Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette
This Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette can be made in 15 minutes, and is the perfect summer side dish. Summer ripened tomatoes paired with fresh basil, it just doesn’t get more delicious than this.
Don’t you just love summer produce? I can’t get enough. This is the time of year when I load up at the farmer’s markets and bring home loads of produce to cook with. All the cases and boxes of fruit and vegetables just call to me to take them home.
Summer Fresh Tomatoes are the best!
I especially have a thing for the cases of summer ripened tomatoes, all of the different and beautiful varieties to choose from. Cases and cases that smell like tomatoes…you know that smell? Mmmmm, is your mouth watering? We’ve been buying a lot of tomatoes this year so we’ve been enjoying them at almost every meal. I’ve also been busy thinking up new ways to serve them. But really, there is no other time than summer when tomatoes taste better, so I like to serve them fresh as much as I can.
Last week when we visited our local farmer’s market they were taste testing a fresh tomato salad, and I almost didn’t try it because it didn’t look like much, it was almost too simple. But am I ever glad I did, because this was a classic case of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. It was dee-licious. So good in fact that I knew I wanted to try to make it at home, so that’s what I did. I don’t really know what was in the original dressing, but I recognized most of the flavours, and figured I could pull something together that tasted almost as good.
A Beautiful Summer Salad
The result is this Fresh Tomato Salad with a Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette, and it is scrumptious. A tomato salad is a perfect way to showcase beautiful summer ripened tomatoes. It’s even better when you pair them with a simple vinaigrette with fresh basil, it’s basically have a match made in heaven. Think of this almost like a caprese salad, but without the cheese, and with the tomatoes as the star of the show. This is a really nice dish because the tomatoes are lightly coated in the dressing, so you get all of the flavours of this dish in every bite. So good.
Fresh Tomato Salad Recipe Tips
- Tomatoes: Ripe, flavourful tomatoes are best for this recipe.
- Make Ahead: This salad can be ready in 15 minutes! But you can also make it a few hours ahead of time. Keep in mind that if you make it ahead of time the tomatoes will release their juices which will dilute the dressing.
- Serve with: This salad would be perfect served alongside any type of BBQ chicken, steak, sausages, or pork. Add a loaf of cheesy garlic bread and this is a great summer meal.
Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 10 – 12 medium vine ripened tomatoes
Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- leaves ~ 10 fresh basil more if you like!
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add them to a salad dish.
- In a separate bowl combine the olive oil, vinegar and sugar and mix. I like to use a hand blender to do this.
- Add the fresh basil leaves and blend again.
- Pour the dressing over the tomatoes, and lightly stir the salad.
- Add more chopped fresh basil if you like!
- Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Enjoy right away!
Notes
Looking for more recipes with fresh summer tomatoes?
- Easy Tomato Burrata Salad
- Peach Caprese Salad
- Avocado, Tomato, Kale and Onion Salad
- Basil Tomato Bruschetta
- Bruschetta Pasta Salad
- Fresh Tomato and Mango Salsa
- Also, I made a Roasted Tomato, Gouda Cheese & Basil Dip, which I’m sharing over on the Kendall-Jackson blog. SO good.
Have a delicious day!
Disclosure: I am working with Kendall-Jackson wines to bring you some delicious recipes! But as always the recipe, my voice, all content, and opinions are mine alone. Enjoy!
Outstanding dressing for my precious garden tomatoes! This dressing would taste good on a shoe! Mmmm
Hahahaha I love that! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe Jacquie!
So simple and tasty! Thanks!
This was so good! The only white balsamic I had was peach and I also threw a clove of garlic in the food processor. Used probably a dozen or so fresh basil leaves from the garden and let the dressing sit for at least an hour before mixing with fresh, garden tomatoes just before serving. Will definitely make it again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Bob! Great idea to use peach balsamic vinegar and add fresh basil leaves!
Easy quick and tasty with garden fresh tomatoes