Chopped Caprese Salad

A chopped caprese salad is an excellent recipe to turn to for a side dish or light snack. This crowd-pleaser dish is so easy to make with chopped or shredded mozzarella and cherry tomatoes.

Unlike a traditional Caprese salad, which uses slices of tomatoes and large medallion shaped slices of mozzarella, a chopped Caprese salad has bite-size pieces of tomatoes and cheese.

You can serve it in a very easy way using a large bowl and a nice size serving spoon. So, chopped caprese salads can make great alternative to the traditional dish.

Like a regular Caprese, a chopped Caprese salad also has fresh flavors of olive oil and balsamic, with a pinch of salt and pepper to bring out the tastes. Let’s look a more detail about how to put together this easy breezy Caprese!

Looking for a delicious salad recipe? Try Spinach Bacon Salad with Onion Vinaigrette!

Chopped Caprese Salad Ingredients

Making a chopped Caprese salad is simply a matter of combining the ingredients after a few simple prep steps.

First, get your ingredients on hand.

The main ingredients you need for this caprese chopped salad recipe are:

• 24 oz cherry tomatoes, or about 4 cups
• 8 oz mozzarella (1 ball)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Balsamic glaze (optional)

Those are the ingredients for the main mozzarella and tomato salad. But then you’ll want to coat it with a delicious balsamic vinaigrette dressing that’s also extremely easy to make. You just need to use the right proportion of oil and vinegar as well as a sweetener, which is honey here. The ingredients you’ll need for the balsamic dressing are:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 Balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Pepper to taste

How to Make a Chopped Caprese Salad

The first step for making a Caprese chop salad is to combine chopped tomatoes and mozzarella. First, wash 4 cups of cherry tomatoes and then cut them in half.

Then cut your mozzarella ball into small cubes. If you are using small mozzarella balls, then cut those in half just as you did with the cherry tomatoes.

Finally, chopped your basil into small pieces. One easy way to cut basil is to stack the leaves, and then roll them together like a cigar and chop horizontally into small ribbons.

Add your tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh, chopped basil into a bowl and combine. Add 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt and a bit of black ground pepper to taste.

How to Make Balsamic Vinaigrette for Caprese Salad

Tangy balsamic vinaigrette is the perfect dressing for a Caprese salad. In a small bowl, whisk together: 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of vinaigrette, and 1 tablespoon of honey.

Then pour the vinaigrette over the chopped Caprese salad and gently combine so that the salad is well coated evenly.

Finally, garnish with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and a bit of extra basil.

How to Serve Caprese Chopped Salad

Caprese chopped salad is best served chilled with cool tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. You can simply serve it in a large bowl with a serving spoon.

You can also keep a Caprese chopped salad in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. In this case, consider keeping the basil and the balsamic vinaigrette separate and adding right before serving.

For a twist on this recipe, you can include chopped romaine lettuce to make a chopped caprese salad with lettuce recipe. Or try caprese salad with added chopped cucumber!

Want another flavorful side dish using fresh veggies? Try spicy Corn Salsa!