Caprese with a Kick Salad

There couldn’t be a more perfect summer salad. The Caprese salad is a quintessential recipe to have in your recipe box. There are so many different variations of this salad, and you can’t go wrong, as most of them just add more nutrients and vegetables to your salad.

That’s what I did with this salad. I added the classic ingredients of tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil, but here’s where the Caprese with a Kick Salad comes in. I added red onion, Italian seasoning, and a dash of red pepper flakes—the kick.

How and When to Make This Salad

This is the type of salad I make when I need a quick salad to go with lunch or dinner. It comes together in less than 10 minutes—five minutes if you’re quick with a knife. This is also a favorite of potlucks.

Here’s why it works for both:

You don’t want to make this too far in advance. Tomatoes are highly water soluble, which means that the salt in the dressing will pull the water out of the tomatoes. This is great to keep this salad moist, but you can’t make this the day before. You’ll have sad tomatoes and a watery, lifeless salad. 30 minutes is idea, one hour in advance is max.

Use What You Have

I used specific ingredients, but you can have this exact salad, using ingredients that may already have.

1. Tomatoes: I used cherry, but any type of tomatoes works.
2. Mozzarella: I used the mozzarella ball, but if you have a block of fresh mozzarella, you could cut this into cubes and it works just fine.
3. Onion: I used red onion, but I have also made this salad with sweet yellow onions. It’s delicious!

Pick up all of these ingredients at the store the next time you visit and you’ll have a quick side almost ready to go one night this week.

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