This tomato watermelon feta salad is full of beneficial nutrients and antioxidants; it is a rich source of vitamins A and C and folic acid.–Anna Helm Baxter
Tomato Watermelon Feta Salad FAQs
Once you’ve picked a perfectly ripe watermelon and brought it home, you want to cut it to get as much of the juicy fruit as possible. To cube a watermelon, start by cutting it in half, then slicing off the ends of each half. Working around each half, use a sharp knife to remove the rind.
At this point, you should have two pink halves of watermelon flesh. Working with one half at a time, stand it on its largest flat side, and cut into even slices. Rotate 90° and cut through the slices to make sticks. From there, the watermelon sticks can be cut into even cubes.
A whole watermelon is going to give you a lot more watermelon than you need for this recipe, even if you’ve got it on repeat. Make use of any extra watermelon by adding to drinks, like this lemonade, blending into this refreshing sorbet, or use it to top bruschetta for an easy appetizer. Don’t forget about the rind, which makes an excellent pickle.
Tomato Watermelon Feta Salad
Ingredients
For the red wine vinaigrette
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the tomato watermelon feta salad
- 1/4 small (about 1 1/2 oz) red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 ounces any color cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (about 1/2 cup)
- 3 ounces seedless watermelon, cut into small chunks (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 ounce feta cheese
- 8 to 10 fresh basil leaves
- 8 to 10 fresh parsley sprigs, leaves only
Instructions
Make the red wine vinaigrette
- In a half-pint jar, combine all the ingredients, screw on the lid, and shake vigorously.
Make the tomato watermelon feta salad
- Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of red wine vinaigrette in the bottom of a pint jar.
- Assemble the rest of the salad, adding to the jar first the red onion, then the cherry tomatoes, followed by the watermelon, feta, basil, and parsley. Screw on the lid and stash it in the fridge.
- When ready to serve, shake the jar to thoroughly dress all of the salad layers. Dump it ito a bowl or grab a fork and nosh straight from the jar.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Yum! Fantastic salad with loads of flavor. This tomato watermelon feta salad has already been on repeat, and we’ve used up all the watermelon making it 3 nights in a row.
Lovely combination of fruit, vegetables, salty cheese, and then a tangy dressing to give it all a further burst of flavor. The Dijon and red wine vinegar paired nicely with the watermelon and gave a surprising tang to the sweet fruit and tomatoes.
I doubled the recipe and put it in a larger jar with 2 tbsp dressing. We shook the jar and then divided it between 2 plates. We had enough for 2 servings as a side with dinner.
There was lots of dressing left over. It made just over a cup of dressing but will go with any salad we make so will be easily used up.
Can’t wait to try it again and again later in summer.
This tomato watermelon feta salad is a great individual salad that works well for taking to work, picnics, or just shaking it up and serving it out in a nice bowl right away.
I love the simple list of ingredients—watermelon and tomato go well with feta. The addition of basil and parsley elevates it a little and the whole thing can be made as an assembly line the night before or just before dinner. The perfect size salad and the dressing takes only 5 minutes to make enough for several more or another salad altogether.
Even in winter, we can almost always find decent grape tomatoes and small seedless watermelons, but of course this would be glorious at the height of summer.
For maybe 20 minutes effort (including cutting up a tiny watermelon, reserving the rest for other meals) you have a cheerful and light salad that has good textures and flavors.
The basil and parsley are not too dominant, and by slicing the onion as thin as possible and putting it in with the dressing early on, it starts to mellow. A shallot or white onion work well if you don’t have red onion on hand. I will use a mandoline next time to make it even thinner.
I found a wide canning jar-funnel helped keep the filling neat as I added the layers and I pressed it all down a bit after each addition, so it filled the pint nicely before putting the lid on, shook it lightly like a cocktail and presto. Salad is ready and dressed. Yummy.
