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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.

Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette {A Pretty Life}

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.

Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette {A Pretty Life}2

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.

Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette {A Pretty Life}3

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.
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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.

  • Author: Jo-Anna Rooney
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
  • Category: Salad

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1012 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

  1. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add them to a salad dish.
  2. In a separate bowl combine the olive oil, vinegar and sugar and mix. I like to use a hand blender to do this.
  3. Add the fresh basil leaves and blend again.
  4. Pour the dressing over the tomatoes, and lightly stir the salad.
  5. Add more chopped fresh basil if you like!
  6. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.
  7. Enjoy right away!

Notes

Make sure to serve this salad right away! If it sits too long the tomatoes will release their juices which will dilute the dressing.

Keywords: tomato salad, fresh tomato salad, balsamic tomato salad

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Looking for more recipes with fresh summer tomatoes?

Roasted Tomato, Gouda Cheese & Basil Dip

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!

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6 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Outstanding dressing for my precious garden tomatoes! This dressing would taste good on a shoe! Mmmm

  2. 5 stars
    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!