Tomato and ricotta salad is a bright fresh salad loaded with great flavor and texture. The fresh ricotta is a perfect pair with fresh tomatoes and the pistachios, sunflower seeds and olive oil dressing really bring it all together! If you love easy no cook meals, you are going to love this ricotta salad.
When looking at these colors, if this isn't the face of beautiful food I do not know what is. This ricotta and tomato salad was inspired by a trip to a local restaurant here in Austin which is now closed.
I loved ordering this salad and I decided to re-create it at home.
This dish is best made when tomatoes are ripe and in season but I do make it all throughout the year. I also love this dish because if you are like me and use ricotta in recipes, I never seem to use up all of that ricotta and always have some leftover.
This dish is perfect for that leftover ricotta from another recipe. So if you are in need of more ricotta recipes, this is a great option!
On the weekend, I will make my ricotta pancakes for breakfast or my ricotta cake, on a Saturday and then make this light meal as a lunch on Sunday. It makes for a great weekend of meals this way.
We love eating this al fresco in the warmer weather with a side of garlic crostini. If you would like to add a sweet twist to this ricotta salad, you can drizzle a simple balsamic reduction over the top when serving.
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this tomato and ricotta salad:
This Italian tomato salad is super easy to make, tasty and really takes advantage of the great fresh and healthy flavors of summer.
- Fresh tomatoes (you can use large tomatoes and quarter them or cherry tomatoes cut in half).
- Fresh whole milk ricotta. I strongly suggest a good quality whole milk ricotta because it is sweet and creamy and really makes this dish!
- Roasted and salted pistachios.
- Sunflower seeds.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Lemon.
- Honey
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Good crusty garlic bread (optional but highly recommended to go with this.
The ingredients are fairly simple with this dish. The only non usual suspects are the pistachios and sunflower seeds which really add the extra flavor and texture to this meal and makes it amazing.
I mentioned good crusty garlic bread in the ingredients list because this is what I love to serve alongside this salad. You can eat this ricotta salad just as is though. I like to alternate between a bite of crusty bread and a bite of salad 🙂
How to serve
My family really loves spreading this tomato and ricotta salad over crusty bread. There is no wrong way to enjoy this dish!
This tomato salad recipe is really all about assembling. There is no cooking for the salad portion of the meal. The only cooking involved is for the garlic bread and that takes jus a few minutes.
This tomato and ricotta salad makes a great light meal on hot days or a light meal anytime of year when you are looking for something fresh to eat.
Easy Tomato and Ricotta Salad
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Ingredients
- 3 Fresh Heirloom tomatoes or 1 pint of cherry tomatoes (or halved if cherry tomatoes, quartered if using large tomatoes)
- ¼ cup Pistachios roasted and lightly salted
- Sunflower seeds roasted small sprinkling
- 1 cup fresh ricotta ½ cup
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil 2 tbsp
- 1 Lemon squeezed fresh
- a little drizzle of honey
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the olive oil, lemon juice, honey and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and whisk well.
- Throw in your quartered tomatoes, roasted pistachios and sunflower seeds and toss to combine in the vinaigrette.
- Now add small spoonfuls of the ricotta to the 2 plates making sure it is evenly distributed on the plates. (You can also just add all of it to one plate and let people serve themselves.)
- Evenly plate the tomatoes mixture on to two plates.
- Serve as is or with garlic crostini.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer here
Bethany says
Such a light and fresh salad. It was lovely.