Chopped Caprese salad

Chopped Caprese salad. An easy way to toss together this delicious vegetarian appetizer and perfect for sharing – or for keeping the whole bowl to yourself. Basil gives this a fresh taste and the flavors meld together for a delicious, crowd pleasing dish.

Confession: I’m in love with Caprese salad.

Fresh mozzarella, flavorful tomato, it all just WORKS.

Usually I only see this as an appetizer choice in Italian places, and I don’t get to order it often.

Though let’s be honest, I have been known to eat cherry tomatoes with a handful of cheese while I stand in front of the fridge. What, am I the only one?

When I realized that I could actually make a “real salad” for this, one that doesn’t require fork AND knife, I immediately went to the store to load up on tomatoes and cheese.

Luckily, I have a fresh supply of basil at my doorstep.

After I broke a full bottle of balsamic vinegar in the store, ran and hid (kidding, kind of), I came home to make this beautiful salad.

Here’s a thing I learned though. Do NOT mix the balsamic vinegar in. Balsamic is for drizzling! See for yourself…

#Pinterestfail.

Not the most gorgeous picture.

Luckily it still tastes good, and enough so that I finished it off and immediately made a second batch that was much prettier to photograph.

So again, balsamic is for DRIZZLING.

Also, when I was reading other’s recipes about this chopped Caprese salad, many of them had (in my opinion) way too much oil and vinegar added.

I only used 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar. One recipe called for 1/4 cup balsamic alone, which I started to do in the first batch but realized it was drowning in brown liquid.

I’d recommend to start small with the oil and vinegar. You can always add more later!

Other Caprese recipes you will love:

• Caprese Pasta Salad
• Peach Caprese Salad

 

Balsamic glaze, salad bowls, and herb choppers are all available in the Trial and Eater amazon shop!