Tomato Basil Salad (Vegan, Whole30)
Tomato Basil Salad is a quick and healthy recipe that only takes 5 minutes to make and is incredibly delicious! This salad is light and refreshing and perfect for weeknight meals, cookouts, brunch or appetizers! Vegan, dairy free, gluten free, paleo, Whole30 and low carb friendly!
If you have fresh tomatoes on hand, you should try salsa with grape tomatoes or roasted cherry tomato pasta sauce.
Why this recipe works:
- This healthy salad only has 6 ingredients and is so easy to make
- This salad is great for topping eggs for breakfast, as brunch, for lunch or dinner.
- This tomato basil salad recipe is gluten free, dairy free, paleo, vegan and Whole30.
Ingredients:
- Cherry or grape tomatoes
- Fresh Basil
- Red Onion
- Vinegar (white balsamic, balsamic, white wine vinegar)
- Salt
- Pepper (optional)
Directions:
- Step 1: Start by halving the cherry tomatoes (or slicing up a larger tomato). Add the tomatoes to a large bowl.
- Step 2: Finely chop the red onion so that there are no huge chunks to bite down on. Add the red onion to the bowl with the tomatoes.
- Step 3: Chop the basil. The best way to do this is to chiffonade the basil. Simply stack all the basil leaves on top of each other. Then roll the basil up into a log. Cut thin strips down the basil shaped log.
- Step 4: Pour the vinegar over the mixture and add salt and pepper. Stir well. Serve immediately or allow to sit to further combine.
What else can you add?
- Chopped cucumber
- Avocado
- Chopped chicken, shrimp, salmon, steak, chickpeas or white beans (vegan)
- Feta cheese, goat cheese, mozzarella cheese, blue cheese
- Chopped green onion
- Fresh parsley, oregano, thyme
- Drizzle of creamy basil dressing
How to serve this salad:
This salad is great as a side dish. It can also be used as part of the meal or as an appetizer.
- Serve over pasta or zucchini noodles
- Stuffed in an omelet or on top of eggs
- On flatbread like pizza (like a margarita style pizza)
- Top crusty bread (like bruschetta)
- On top of grilled chicken, grilled salmon
FAQs
Why should you add vinegar to this tomato basil salad?
The vinegar actually helps neutralize the bite from the red onion and helps it taste sweeter. This is a trick I learned years ago. If I have time I often allow red onions to soak in vinegar before adding them to a salad.
What kind of vinegar should you use?
I like to use white balsamic so that the vinegar doesn’t take away from how pretty the tomatoes are. You could also use regular balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar.
Why cherry tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes are great in this recipe because they are easy to chop and make a great presentation. Larger tomatoes are often full of seeds and can make the tomato basil salad a little too watery.
What if you don’t have fresh basil?
If you don’t have fresh basil, you can use fresh parsley, mint, oregano or thyme. It will change the flavor but still be very refreshing. You can also try dried basil (about 1 tsp per pint of tomatoes).
If you love this recipe you should try:
Tomato Basil Salad
Guided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh tomatoes - chopped
- 5-10 leaves basil - cut into ribbons
- 2-3 tbs. red onion
- 1-2 tbs. white balsamic vinegar - or balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl, Stir with a spoon and let sit 5 minutes before serving. Store in air tight glass container for up to 2 days in the fridge.
- Cook time indicates rest time.
Notes
- If you don’t have fresh basil, you can use fresh parsley, mint, oregano or thyme. It will change the flavor but still be very refreshing. You can also try dried basil (about 1 tsp per pint of tomatoes).
- White balsamic vinegar doesn’t take away from how pretty the tomatoes are, but regular balsamic or champagne vinegar is great as well!
- If you don’t have access to cherry tomatoes, you can use regular tomatoes, However regular tomatoes have more seeds so they can make a more watery salad.
Nutrition Information
Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in May of 2015, but was published again in May of 2019 to include step by step directions, new photos and a video.
Oh my goodness, i am so excited about this because, well we have a ton of basil growing in the garden and we have a bunch of onions so all i need really, is the tomatoes to make this perfect. Thanks for sharing!
YUM! I love how simple and delicious Summer salads are. I can’t wait to make this with tomatoes from my garden!
There’s nothing quite like tomato and basil together! MMMM!
Oh, I love tomatoes & basil. I know I am going to make this. Every ingredient is great! Thanks for posting.
The colors alone make me want to enjoy this delicious looking salad! Yum!
I’m growing my own tomatoes I can’t wait to try this out!!
Tomato salads are my go to all summer long with flavored balsamic and mozzarella
Yum! This looks so fresh and delicious.
Yeah I second the fresh mozzarella thing. This is totally one of my favorite fresh bites.
Yum! I love tomato basil salad. I also toss this with pasta and mozzarella cubes/balls for a cold summer pasta salad!
This looks amazing and so summery! I am definitely bookmarking this!
Yum, yum! As I was reading your opening I was loving each of your serving suggestions! Like, “yeah, this would be tasty with eggs! Oh… tossed with noodles (or zoodles) would be SO good! Like a pizza, genius!” They all sound amazing! Thanks for sharing! I’ve pinned. :)
tomato and basil is one of my favorite combinations ever! love it so much :)
Tomatos and basil (with balsamic) just screams summer to me!
My favorite summer veggies are the different varieties of peppers! I am a little partial to the fruit since there is so much good stuff to choose from once summer gets a little closer.