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!
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
- 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
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.
This will be my summer go to salad. Love all the tomatoes.
Yum!! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! Hope to see you tomorrow! Pinned!
This sounds simple and delicious – I’ll be it’ll be a BBQ side hit! Found you at What to Do Weekends.
Oh yes, so perfect for a bbq – no refrigerator needed!!
This looks delicious! Sometimes I get sick of salads with lettuce and want to try different salad variations :)
This looks SO yummy! Fresh and summer-y! :) Yum!
the salad looks amazing! I always have a garden but not this year because I am moving. I love fresh tomatoes picked from the vine!!! Nothing better!
I love how vinegar brings all of those ingredients together. Great recipe, Sam!! I love basil so so much. Now, if only I could learn to keep a basil plant alive…
Great summer recipes! I love fresh summer tomatoes :)
Oh my goodness- delicious and beautiful! I will need to add this to our meal plan!
Tomatoes and fresh basil <3 I can just taste the fresh summer beauty from here! Haha <3
LOVE!! This recipe reminds me of my dad! He always makes one of these!
I LOVE basil. I don’t like raw tomatoes though… but this in the oven roasted and on a pizza would taste amazing, haha!
On of my favorites! So simple and delicious! We have a pretty big garden and I missed it so much last year. We already have it planted this year, lost a couple plants due to the frost last week or the week before but got replacements. Now just wait for it to start booming!
Ah, so many of my favorite things in this salad! <3 I'm really loving all the colors, and hooray indeed for summer veggies! <3
I have everything to make this except the white balsamic vinegar- any suggestions for substitutions?