10 Creative Ways To Elevate Your Caprese Salad

The Caprese salad is a summery delight: juicy tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fragrant basil, all occupying one plate with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. The origins of the dish are rumored to be traced back to post-World War I Italy, specifically Capri, where the dish was meant to represent the colors of the Italian flag. Today, it's still massively popular, whether you're eating it tucked away on a back street somewhere in a small Italian town or enjoying an Americanized rendition of it at your favorite Italian joint in the States.

Of course, we value tradition, including the traditional way this Italian salad is prepared. But just because we appreciate tradition doesn't mean we have to abide by it every time. That's why we've come up with some delicious ways to elevate your next Caprese salad. Will they result in a biblically accurate salad that your Italian grandmother would be proud of? Maybe not. But they're all great ways to enjoy the delight of fresh produce with creamy cheese, arranged on a plate in the prettiest of ways. These are some of the best ways to elevate a Caprese salad.

Go to your local grocery store's produce section, and chances are, you'll see a wide variety of different kinds of tomatoes, ranging in size, color, and shape. Honestly, any of these will work for a basic caprese salad. But if you want to make an especially beautiful Caprese salad, you might want to try to find heirloom tomatoes. Generally, it's easier to find them at a farmer's market than it is to get them at the grocery store, but you may get lucky and find them there as well. Heirloom tomatoes are often available in a wide array of different colors, which can really make them pop on your plate.

Wondering what heirloom tomatoes are, exactly? Often, they have been passed down through generations, either on a commercial scale or through family or community members. Additionally, they're open-pollinated, which means that the "mother" of the tomato variety produces saveable seeds. If you can get your hands on some to make your next Caprese salad, you're in for a colorful treat.

In any salad — even one that's based mostly on tomatoes instead of leafy greens, as is the case with Caprese — needs an element of freshness and fragrance, which is where herbs come into play. Traditional Caprese recipes call for basil specifically, which does create a lovely complement to the sweetness and slightly umami quality of the tomatoes. However, you don't have to limit yourself to basil alone. Try incorporating other herbs into your next caprese salad to capture a more interesting, more vegetal flavor profile.

We like using parsley, thanks to its especially fresh flavor, which can add lightness to any dish in which it's featured. Additionally, dill can make a nice accompaniment to a Caprese salad, with its tanginess and touch of sweetness. Even mint can add a lovely freshness to the dish. Although we prefer fresh herbs, you can also use dried if that's all you have on hand. Either include these herbs in addition to that basil, or swap out the basil completely in favor of one of these herbs.

Let's be honest: Caprese is a rather simple salad. That's part of what we love so much about it, especially when we're enjoying it on a hot summer day. But sometimes, you might want a bit more simplicity in your dish, and that's where sundried tomatoes can come into play. Yes, they taste somewhat like fresh tomatoes, but all of those amazing flavors are even more concentrated. You'll get a lovely sweetness from sundried tomatoes, along with an immediately recognizable tang and even more intense umami than you'd get from the fresh variety.

We're not suggesting that you completely swap out the fresh tomatoes in favor of the sundried version instead, but adding some sundried tomatoes to the salad can make for an instant upgrade. Chop them up and sprinkle them over the salad, and you have an instantly elevated dish that may just be better than any other Caprese you've tried in the past. Oh, and don't throw out that sundried tomato oil, either — you can use it as a flavorful dressing for the salad.

If you're the kind of person who enjoys your salad super salty, then you may assume that you just need to be really heavy-handed with the salt when you're making your Caprese salad. Of course, that's always an option, but why not add some extra flavor along with all that saltiness? This is exactly why we love incorporating capers (which we always keep in the pantry) into a caprese salad so much. Take the first bite, and you'll notice that the dish is saltier than it is in its original form. When you keep eating, though, you'll pick up on more of those complex, pickled flavors that make capers such an incredible, versatile ingredient. They can add a ton of depth to an otherwise standard salad, and including them in the salad requires basically no extra work.

Don't work with capers often? Start by adding a small amount to your salad. Since they are so salty, they can easily overpower other, lighter ingredients, like basil, which makes for a muddy, too-salty salad that you may not even want to finish.

Sure, Caprese salad is delicious when you're craving a light, easy-to-eat meal, but if you're craving something more substantial, this kind of salad just may not cut it. The cheese delivers some bulk to the dish, of course, but otherwise, you're just eating a plate of raw tomatoes. Therefore, you may want to consider adding some other components to the dish to make it taste a bit more filling. Grilled vegetables are a lovely way to add some more heft to your meal while still keeping it light.

You can work with a lot of grilled vegetables in this kind of salad, but we especially like zucchini and eggplant. These veggies grill quite well and take on a nice smokiness from the fire, but their flavors aren't so pronounced that they will detract from the original Caprese ingredients. By adding this element to your salad, you'll transform a Caprese from an appetizer into a full-blown meal.

Don't have any basil on hand but still want to make a nice Caprese salad? Looking for a flavor that's sharper and more peppery? Either way, arugula can be used as a replacement for basil in a Caprese recipe for an interesting twist on the classic. Without the basil, you'll have less of that floral, fragrant flavor, but instead, you get that slightly bitter, mustard-like note that arugula is known for. Sure, this is a pretty drastic change to the recipe, considering that it completely swaps one ingredient for another, but we think it's a change that yields a seriously delicious salad.

If you are making this swap, you'll probably want to keep all of the other ingredients pretty classic, so the salad is still recognizable as a Caprese. Include burrata, fresh, juicy tomatoes, and plenty of balsamic vinegar to bring it all together. You may even find that you enjoy this version of the salad more than the original.

Classic Caprese salad recipes almost always call for mozzarella, which can be easily sliced thanks to its firm but soft texture. Those slices are then layered with tomato slices and basil to create the iconic salad you know and love. But if you ask us, mozzarella's cousin, burrata, may be even more delicious. Technically, burrata is a type of mozzarella. But instead of having that firm, easily sliceable texture, it has a firm outer layer and a soft, spreadable interior. This makes for a decadently creamy cheese that can shine in so many different contexts.

If you don't mind switching up the typical texture of a Caprese salad, why not try making it with burrata instead? Sure, you can't slice it quite the same way, but when the juices from the tomatoes mix and meld with the saucy cheese, you're in for a salad that feels extra indulgent. It's a combo that every burrata lover out there absolutely has to try.

Every salad needs an acidic element to keep it feeling light and fresh, which is exactly the role that balsamic vinegar plays in a classic Caprese recipe. However, balsamic isn't just there to provide acidity — it also gives the salad a sticky sweetness that introduces an interesting savory-sweet combination of flavor profiles. However, if you want to cut the sweetness in your salad and focus on that bold acidity — while still lending the salad the complexity and depth of flavor it needs — you might want to swap out your balsamic vinegar for sherry vinegar instead.

What is sherry vinegar, you ask? Well, as its name suggests, it's made from sherry wine, and it has a texture more similar to other types of vinegar than the viscosity of balsamic vinegar. It's also missing that intense sweetness that balsamic is known for (and that turns some off of it). At the same time, it still offers a funky complexity that you're not going to find from basic distilled white vinegar. Give it a try the next time you want a lighter, fresher version of a Caprese salad.

Salt is an incredibly important aspect of basically any dish, but it's even more essential when you're working with something as simple as a Caprese salad. You really need that salt to bring out the complexities of the other flavors you're working with and add that pop of deliciousness that only salt can offer. Of course, any type of salt will do in a pinch, but we especially love working with flaky varieties when it comes to these types of simple salads because they add such an appealing crunch.

But why not make things even more interesting by using smoked salt instead of the plain stuff? That extra smokiness usually isn't too pronounced, but it's just present enough to make anyone eating the salad perk up and think, "What was that?" And since Caprese calls for so few ingredients, a small change like using smoked salt instead of regular can make a pretty significant difference in how the final product ends up tasting.

Whether you're a vegetarian or you just like to enjoy dishes without meat, a Caprese salad can be a great option. But if you do eat meat and you want to add more flavor, texture, and heartiness to an average Caprese salad, consider adding some crispy prosciutto to the mix. No, this is not a classic addition, but if you ask us, it's one that really works. Caprese salad is missing a crunchy element to it, which crispy prosciutto provides. Additionally, it'll give the salad an extra touch of saltiness, along with the rich fattiness that you can only get from a fatty cut of meat like prosciutto. Plus, it makes the salad a bit more substantial and transforms it from a light meal into one that'll keep you feeling full for hours to come.

Right before you're ready to serve your Caprese salad, toss some prosciutto onto a hot pan. Since it's so thin, it shouldn't take long to crisp up. Then, you have an ultra-tasty topping for your otherwise standard Caprese salad.