We love to cook all kinds of food. Sometimes, we want something simple and quick that can be eaten as a quick dinner or even a lunch between work meetings or projects, like this Caprese Salad Salad.

This salad came together on one such lunch break, but every part of this salad can be made before, thrown in a jar or Tupperware containers, and then assembled right before you’re ready to eat. It’s simple, fresh, and totally tasty.

When we first made this salad, we had some leftover mozzarella and a bunch of lettuce in the fridge (as we almost always do) that we knew we needed to eat soon. We love a good caprese salad, which is usually fresh mozzarella, herby basil, ripe tomatoes, and olive oil. It’s a great appetizer or side dish and really excellent as it is. We also love a good leafy salad, and we had that extra lettuce, so we thought, why not combine them?

We present our Caprese Salad Salad, which is such a good salad that we had to say “salad” twice. In this vegetarian dish, we mixed the typical caprese salad ingredients with fresh green leaf lettuce and a simple balsamic vinaigrette to make something that has a little more body and add even more nutrients and flavor than a regular caprese salad. The result is a healthy, tasty, shareable salad that will satisfy your cravings for caprese salad and leafy greens.

This salad makes 2 large servings, if you’re making it for a main dish, or 4 smaller, side dish servings.

Ingredients in the Balsamic Vinaigrette

The key to making this a delicious, classic caprese salad (salad) is the balsamic vinaigrette. Here is everything you need to know in order to make ours:

Olive oil – use a good quality, extra virgin olive oil, one that tastes good to you.
Balsamic vinegar – this will add a rich tanginess to the dressing. If you don’t have balsamic, you can use red wine vinegar, but you may need to adjust the maple syrup and mustard a bit.
Spicy brown mustard – we add this to most of our vinaigrettes. It helps emulsify dressings and make them a bit thicker, which helps them to stick to the salad ingredients.
Maple syrup – this little bit of maple syrup balances out the tartness of the vinegar and mustard without making everything too sweet.
Salt and pepper – as with everything, season the dressing with your desired amount of salt and pepper.

Ingredients in the Caprese Salad Salad

Now that you’ve made the dressing, the next steps are even simpler! It’s time to prepare and assemble your salad, using fresh and flavorful ingredients. Here is what you’ll need to make it and instructions on how to do so:

Green leaf lettuce – you can use romaine, if you prefer, but we like the texture of green leaf lettuce with this salad. It’s soft and just slightly crunchy, so it doesn’t overwhelm the other ingredients.
Fresh mozzarella – you can use small mozzarella balls instead (ciliegine), if you prefer.
Basil leaves – basil is an essential ingredient in caprese salad.
Tomatoes – we used heirloom, but you can use Roma. Anything that isn’t too juicy will work well.
Balsamic Vinaigrette

How to Make the Caprese Salad Salad

To make the vinaigrette, mix the ingredients in a jar, cover it, and shake to combine. You can also use a bowl and whisk instead.

To make the salad, place all of the ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with the dressing, and gently toss to combine. Easy peasy!