This avocado caprese salad recipe is just a bit different from the classic Italian salad.
Traditional caprese salad is simply fresh tomatoes layered with slices of soft mozzarella cheese. Topped with some fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of great olive oil it’s really delicious. When you add slices of avocado, with it’s mild taste and creamy texture, it works perfectly.
The addition of avocado to this wonderful summer salad recipe makes it super healthy and even more delicious than the original.
Once you have a taste of how well all of these flavors meld together, you will immediately add this to your list of favorite avocado recipes.
You can make this caprese salad any time of the year, but in the summer, when tomatoes come fresh out of your own garden or from your local farmer, you just can’t beat it.
How to Make This Avocado Caprese Salad Recipe
When I make a tomato, cheese and avocado salad like this, I think it looks nicest and tastes best if you layer the ingredients.
I start out with placing a circle of tomato slices around the plate. Then slice the soft mozzarella cheese and place the slices in between the tomato slices, so you have them alternating around the plate.
Slice the avocado into wedges that are about the same thickness as the tomatoes and cheese and sprinkle them around the top of the salad.
It is important, if it’s at all possible, to use a softer mozzarella cheese in this recipe. If you have access to fresh mozzarella, bocconcini or burrata, that would be perfect. But it’s not always a perfect world, so don’t hold yourself back from making this great tomato salad if you just have regular mozzarella. It will still taste great.
What are Burrata and Bocconcini Cheese?
Burrata cheese is made from mozzarella cheese mixed with cream. It has straight mozzarella cheese as it’s outer shell and a mix of mozzarella and cream inside. It is nice and soft and explodes a bit when you break it open.
When you use burrata cheese in a recipe like this, it’s nicest if you just break it into pieces and spread it around the salad rather than trying to slice it.
Bocconcini are smaller balls of soft mozzarella cheese. They are the perfect choice of cheese for this avocado caprese salad if you don’t have access to a cheese shop to buy the fancier (and more expensive) burrata. You can get containers of bocconcini balls in most large grocery stores. For this recipe I would buy the larger ones and cut them into a few slices, but truthfully either size would work.
Let me know how this caprese salad recipe works for you and if you made any creative additions or changes. I’d love to hear from you.
Avocado Caprese Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tomatoes, large, about 1 pound
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, fresh or bocconcini cheese
- 2 avocados, sliced
- 1/4 cup basil, fresh, loosely packed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsam vinegar
- black pepper, optional
Instructions
- Slice the tomatoes, cheese and avocado fairly thickly. I like them to be about 1/4" thick. Not too much thicker or the flavors won't mix together as well (at least in my opinion).
- Mix the olive oil and balsam vinegar together in a small bowl.
- Arrange the slices of tomato on a serving platter. Place a cheese slice between the slices of tomato. There should be overlapping slices - tomato, then cheese, then tomato etc.
- Slice the avocado and place the slices all around the serving plate over the tomato and cheese slices. Top the salad with fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the salad.
- Drizzle the salad with the combined oil and vinegar dressing.
- Add a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper to your taste if desired.
Nutrition
Serves 4 to 6.
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