This tomatoes and feta salad is so refreshing and easy, you'll want to make this 5-minute recipe whenever you have ripe tomatoes on hand, heirloom or not.
A simple salad of sliced tomatoes topped with crumbled feta is pretty much our family's favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes in the summer - any type of garden-fresh tomatoes. But when the heirloom varieties start ripening in colors of orange, yellow, purple-red, or even green - it amps up the flavor and makes for a pretty presentation, too.
Even though I grow tomatoes to preserve as dried tomatoes, addictive chutney, great salsa, and easy pizza sauce, eating our fill of fresh tomatoes every summer is a priority. Salads like this - not to mention good old tomato sandwiches - help us get our fill.
What do you serve this salad with?
This easy salad (made with any flavorful tomatoes you have) goes with pretty much anything you want to serve it with when the tomatoes are ripe:
- grilled chicken, sausages, steak, or fish
- grilled shrimp or chicken and vegetable skewers
- Creamy Pesto Pasta
- Greek Style Beef Lettuce Wraps
- baked chicken
- Parmesan-Herbed Topped White Fish
- Roasted Sausage, Pepper & Onion Sheet Pan Dinner
Well, I could go on, but you probably get the idea!
Here's another serving idea, though:
Have this for lunch! Slice a tomato, top with the other ingredients and eat it with a slice of toasted crusty bread like Easy Artisan Bread or Sourdough Artisan Bread.
Not only are the flavors of this salad simple and pure, it's also the easiest thing in the world - yet looks great on a platter. I've served this for company many times, and everyone loves it. Talk about easy entertaining!
Grilled chicken + grilled artisan bread + tomatoes & feta salad + good friends & family = bliss.
Tomatoes and Feta Salad
How do you make this salad?
Well, it's hardly even a recipe, really! In fact, I've been making this and loving it for years, but it never seemed like a 'recipe' to me. I only recently realized it needed to be on the site so others might be inspired to make their own simple tomato salad. We come to sites like AOC for inspiration and ideas, right? And this is one of my best, I think. It again shows that simple often equals best.
To make this, all you need are garden-fresh tomatoes (or the freshest you can find), balsamic vinegar (olive oil is optional) and some feta cheese. That's it, really.
I sometimes add fresh basil leaves for my version of the typical tomato, mozzarella, basil salad (aka, Caprese Salad). I know many love this salad, but I always find the large mozzarella pieces to be bland even if it's fresh. I much prefer the tang of feta - I'm actually sorta addicted to this salad and could happily eat it everyday when the tomatoes are ripe. For lunch and dinner.
Do you think this recipe is too simple? Or think I'm making too much of a fuss over a plate of tomatoes?
Try it and I bet you'll agree with me!
Heirloom Tomatoes and Feta Salad
Ingredients
- 2 to 4 fresh tomatoes preferably heirloom
- 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil optional
- ⅛ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 to 2 ounces feta cheese crumbled
- basil or other fresh herb chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Slice however many tomatoes you'd like and arrange them on a plate.
- Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar. Add a bit of olive oil if you'd like (I do only sometimes).
- Sprinkle with black pepper.
- Add crumbled feta evenly over tomatoes, top with herbs, if using and serve.
Nutrition
Note: this recipe was originally published the first year of AOC, 2009, and has been updated with new photos, formatting, and printable recipe.
Other easy, seasonal recipes you my like:
Spicy Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower
Kit says
Those pictures look absolutely delicious! We grow heirloom tomatoes in our backyard and it is one of the most refreshing foods to eat right off the vine, especially when you combine them with some fresh mozzarella and balsamic vinegar. YUM!
Jami @ An Oregon Cottage says
Whoo-hoo- glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know.:-)
Lauren S says
Last night, my husband was saying he really wanted to go to the store just to get mozzarella to have with our tomatoes. I told him about your feta tip, and he agreed since we had feta on hand. We loved it! I forgot about the balsamic, so we'll have to add that next time. Thanks for the tip!
Angie says
I bake mine with mozzerella and put it on toast, kids LOVE it! I love feta, i will give this a try too. Thanks!
Gayle says
Mmmm. So yummy. If I don't have feta I'll just do the balsamic and salt and pepper. But the feta, oh baby! Yours looks so pretty.