Italian Tomato Salad (Marinated Tomato Salad)

Look at all this goodness! So incredibly simple to make, this Italian tomato salad reminds me of warm summer days spent eating outside with my family.

This salad really lets the tomatoes shine through, so I really recommend using the ripest, reddest tomatoes you can find. Homegrown or very ripe organic (field fresh) tomatoes work great. We used my Grandma’s homegrown tomatoes (Granadero variety, I believe), however any Heirloom tomatoes would taste lovely here too.

Pro tips:

• Check which ingredients your Balsamic Vinegar of Modena has. More often than not, they contain unnecessary ingredients like sulphites, sweeteners and colouring agents! A ‘clean’ balsamic vinegar should only contain wine winegar and cooked grape must.
• For the olive oil, a general rule of thumb I was taught whilst growing up in Spain is: the darker the colour of the oil, the better quality it is! So search for extra virgin olive oils which are dark greenish-yellow, and not transparent or light yellow.
• If you have your own basil plant, try harvesting like this: Instead of ‘plucking’ the leaves off the stem, leaving long, leafless stems, cut the tops of the stems off. This way, you’ll encourage new leaves to grow and keep the plant more compact!

You can serve the salad with bread as an entré, as a side dish for a grill party or just eat it as is – it’s that good! This salad will hold up for a day or two in the fridge, however in our family, it usually never even lasts that long.

Please let us know in the comments below how you liked this Italian tomato salad, and don’t forget to tag us on Instagram and Pinterest when you make it!

For more recipe inspiration, see the Recipes section of our blog.

Italian Tomato Salad (Marinated Tomato Salad)

Cooking Method: Raw Cuisine: Mediterranean Courses: Sides Recipe Keys: Dairy Free Gluten Free Vegan

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 10 mins Total Time 10 mins

Servings: 3

Best Season: Summer

Ingredients

Scale

1/2x 1x 2x 3x

• 6 Tomatoes
• 2 clove Garlic
• 0.5 Small Red Onion
• 10 Basil Leaves (or as much as you like!)
• 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
• 2 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Slice the tomatoes and layer them onto a plate, in a spiral. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, and place on top of the tomatoes. Chop the basil leaves and add on top, too.

2. Add salt and pepper to taste, then drizzle the balsamic vinegar over everything. Finally, drizzle the olive oil over everything too. Serve either right away or make in advance and let the tomatoes marinate in the dressing for a few hours.