Balsamic Tomato Peach Salad

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s a one-bowl salad. Usually you make the dressing in one bowl, assemble the salad in another bowl and then drizzle in the dressing. This salad is different because you make the vinaigrette in a big bowl and then you add the salad ingredients to it.

If you’ve never made a marinated salad, you will instantly become a fan. No matter what they are, when ingredients have a chance to marinate, they develop incredible flavor. With tomatoes, peaches and other produce, it doesn’t have to be for a long wait to taste the results.

Does it get any better than ripe tomatoes and peaches? If you’ve never thought about pairing these two, you have to try it. The tartness of the balsamic vinaigrette brings together the all sweet and savory ingredients.

Ingredients & Substitutions

This is what you need for the salad. You also have options to make swaps with many of them:

• Peaches: Ripe peaches should be fragrant and give a little when you gently press them. You can also use nectarines in the salad instead.
• Tomatoes: You can include cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes in any color you want. Just slice them in half. Cherry tomatoes tend to be a bit juicier than grape. 
• Arugula: This salad is more about the peaches and tomatoes than the greens. I think of them as a final addition along with the parsley and chives. You can substitute with baby spinach or use a mix of both.
• Red onions: Finely chopped, they are a wonderful salad onion. If you want something more mild, thinly slice 2 scallions.
• Fresh herbs: I stir chopped fresh parsley and chives into the salad. You can add torn fresh basil leaves too.
• Almonds give the salad nutty crunch. You can substitute with chopped walnuts, pistachios, pecans or even pine nuts.
• Feta: Crumbled feta cheese gives the salad a salty accent. Goat cheese is the closest substitution, but you can also use grated Parmesan. It depends on your cheese preference and what you have in your kitchen. If you are vegan, leave it out.
• Balsamic vinaigrette: For the dressing ingredients, you will need the obvious balsamic vinegar and olive oil plus garlic, whole grain mustard, salt and pepper.

How To Make This Balsamic Tomato Peach Salad

1. Make the vinaigrette. Use a bowl big enough for the entire salad. Whisk the garlic, mustard, onions, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. I don’t think of the red onions as one of the vinaigrette ingredients, but it’s best to mix them in during this step. Then they will be more evenly distributed throughout the salad when you combine everything.

2. Stir the peaches and tomatoes into the vinaigrette and let them marinate. Give them 10 minutes before you add anything else to the bowl.

3. Add the arugula, parsley, chives, almonds and feta.

4. Mix together the salad. I like to use a big spoon and really make sure the vinaigrette is dressing the peaches and tomatoes.

Serving

This is a great lunch or dinner salad. Or treat it like a side dish. Because of the balsamic vinegar, it goes well with Italian or Mediterranean recipes such as Grilled Halloumi & Vegetables or Roasted Ratatouille Quinoa. Serve it with Baked Zucchini Corn Fritters or a Grilled Mushroom Corn Pizza. This peach salad is also great with proteins like grilled chicken, salmon or shrimp.

Leftovers & Storage

You can keep the salad in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. If you’re planning to save some of the salad, don’t add all of the arugula because it will wilt the longer it’s stored. Also, before you eat leftovers, let them sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, so they aren’t as cold as when you first take them out of the refrigerator. They will taste better. And always add fresh greens.

Recipe Tips

You can add more leafy greens. If you want the salad to be more of a lettuce-based salad, so ahead and toss in more arugula. Also, this is a helpful way to stretch the recipe if you want it to serve more people. If you do decide to lean into greens, chopped romaine lettuce or butter lettuce are good too.

Do not use store-bought salad dressing. This can seem like a tempting shortcut, but the salad won’t taste as good. Bottled dressings often have lower quality oil and not extra-virgin olive oil.

If you add homemade croutons, you can turn this recipe into a panzanella. I love a tomato bread salad. You can even add cucumbers and Kalamata olives too. Those savory ingredient are are excellent with sweet fresh peaches.

More Summer Salad Recipes

Peach Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese
Grilled Peach Salad with Corn
Avocado Corn Salad
Zucchini Corn Salad
Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
Tortellini Pasta Salad
Mediterranean Bean Salad
Quinoa Salad with Corn and Blueberries