Jacqueline Casey 
This is a perfect Summer Salad or Side Dish because it’s fresh, light, takes under 10 minutes to make and requires no cooking. This pairs well with any grilled protein or as a salad on it’s own. I served this with grilled balsamic chicken. This recipe get’s great flavor from the tomato and basil and is creamy from the avocado and mozzarella. Whether making for one or for a large group, you can completely tailor the quantity to fit your needs.
Options, Substitutions and Tips!
- This served 4 as the only side dish (served for dinner with grilled chicken). You can easily tailor the quantity of ingredients depending on how many servings needed. For a single serving, you would use about a quarter of an avocado, 4 oz. of chopped tomatoes, 2 oz. of mozzarella and just a few sprigs of fresh basil. I recommend trying to make only as much as needed, since the avocado is best when it’s just chopped fresh.
- I used grape tomatoes but you could also use cherry tomatoes.
- What is ciliegine mozzarella? Ciliegine means cherry in Italian because it is about the same size as a cherry. This cherry size ball of mozzarella is perfect for salads because of it’s size. If you cannot find ciliegine, you could easily use bocconcini, which is a slightly larger size of mozzarella or even just some diced fresh mozzarella.
- I definitely recommend using fresh basil for this recipe. Because there are such few ingredients and there is no cooking involved, dried basil just won’t give off the same flavor.
- How to pick out or know when your avocado is the ideal ripeness? I look for avocados that are deep dark green in color vs avocados that are bright green and that are a little bit springy when you firmly press them. There is a sweet spot for this recipe where the avocado should not be too hard to cut through, but also not to soft that it will not hold it’s shape.
- If your avocado is on the softer side, instead of tossing your salad, you can take all your cut up ingredients and then alternate adding them in a little at a time so you do not need to mix them and risk your avocado turning into mush.
- This is best eaten immediately after prepared (luckily it is so quick to prepare!). It’s fine refrigerated or left out (if it’s not too hot), for a little bit. If you are not eating this immediately a few squeezes of lemon can help keep your avocado looking green and fresh.
Avocado, Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad
A perfect salad or side dish for the summer with juicy tomatoes, avocado, ciliegine mozzarella and fresh basil. It has so much flavor and takes less than 10 minutes to make.
- 1 Avocado
- 16 oz Grape or Cherry Tomatoes
- 8 oz Ciliegine Mozzarella
- Fresh Basil
- Optional-Squeeze of Lemon
Chop Avocado and fresh basil. Reserve a few of the smaller pieces of basil to place on top of the salad at the very end. Slice tomatoes and ciliegine in half.
In medium size serving or salad bowl, add avocado, tomato, and basil. Gently toss salad so that avocado does not break apart.
Top with a few pieces of fresh basil. Optional-squeeze with a little bit of lemon (this will also help keep your avocado from turning brown).
