This is the best tomato salad recipe for using up the harvest from your garden! Made with heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes, red onion, garlic, and basil, it’s perfect served with crusty bread for soaking up every last bit.
Fresh Tomato Salad Recipe
Supermarket tomatoes will never compare to the fresh garden tomatoes that you wait all summer for. But the problem is that after you’ve waited all summer, sometimes you have more tomatoes than you know what to do with! This summer tomato salad is my family’s favorite way to use a lot of tomatoes all at once. The ingredients are simple: tomatoes, basil, red onion, garlic, and a good quality extra virgin olive oil. Serve it as a side dish with anything you’re grilling (we especially love it with grilled chicken breast), or make a meal out of it with some crusty sourdough bread!
Why This Tomato Salad Is Our Summer Tradition
This is my husband Tommy’s favorite summer meal, especially on those nights when it’s too hot to cook. We get a loaf of crusty bread or sourdough; sometimes we toast it or grill it and rub a raw garlic clove on the bread. Then we eat the tomato salad and let the bread sop up all those delicious juices at the bottom (so good you’ll want to drink it!).
- The best of summer: This salad is truly the best way to enjoy ripe heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes from your garden or the farmers’ market.
- Easy dinner for hot days: You only need a few minutes to put it all together, and you don’t even need to turn on the oven or use the stovetop.
- Perfect for pairing: This is a recipe that goes with so many different dishes, from cottage cheese cacio e pepe to grilled pork chops and turkey burgers.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Below are the ingredients for this summer tomato salad. See the recipe card for exact measurements.
- Heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes: This is the perfect recipe for using the rainbow of heirloom tomatoes available at the farmers’ market!
- Red onion adds a crisp texture and sharp flavor.
- Fresh basil is a classic pairing with summer tomatoes.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: This is a recipe where it’s worth using a high-quality EVOO. You’ll notice its flavor here.
- Garlic: The flavor mellows a little thanks to the acidity of the tomatoes, so you get the savory garlic flavor without the bite.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper: Seasoning generously is key to bringing out the best in tomatoes!
- Crusty bread (optional): I always love pairing this salad with bread, but it’s also delicious on its own.
How to Make Fresh Tomato Salad
This tomato salad comes together with just a few simple steps.
- Combine the ingredients: Add the tomatoes, red onion, basil, olive oil, and garlic to a large bowl. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Let it rest: Leave the salad at room temperature for about 20 minutes so the tomatoes release their juices and the flavors have time to meld.
- Toss and serve: Give everything one final toss, then divide among bowls. Serve with crusty bread if desired.
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 5 large or 8 cups medium ripe red heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
- 8 – 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- good crusty bread, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the tomatoes, red onion, basil, olive oil, garlic and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Let the tomato mixture sit room temperature for about 20 minutes to let the flavors blend (the juices from the tomatoes will release and create a kind of dressing). Toss well.
- When ready to serve, toss the tomato mixture and divide in 4 bowls. Eat with crusty bread if desired.
Last Step:
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Tips from Gina’s Test Kitchen
- Use the best tomatoes you can find: While you can make this salad year-round with grocery store tomatoes, it’s really best with ripe, juicy summer tomatoes. Tomatoes at the supermarket are grown to withstand being transported across the country, not necessarily for the best flavor.
- Don’t refrigerate before serving: Refrigerating tomatoes makes them mealy and dulls their flavor.
- Season generously: Not only does the salt make the tomato flavor pop, it also draws out the juices of the tomatoes. They combine with the olive oil for the perfect bread dip!
Variations
- Add fresh mozzarella for a Caprese-inspired salad.
- Toss in sliced cucumbers from the garden.
- Drizzle with a syrupy balsamic vinegar or glaze.
- Add avocado for a little creaminess.
What to Serve With This Tomato Salad
Storage
This tomato salad is best enjoyed fresh, but you can store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days. I like to let the salad come to room temperature before serving.
Loved this salad even though we didn’t have any fresh basil. It would have been better with it but was still very good. I think this salad depends on the tomatoes being fresh and delicious.
This salad is so refreshing and delicious!!! I have made it several times with either grape tomatoes or whole tomatoes – both are great!!
I grow only grape and cherry toms in assorted colors so this makes a very colorful salad option. We love it and I add a mix of whatever fresh herbs are growing in the garden, usually oregano, basil and lemon thyme.
I made this today with tomatoes from my local farm stand and the Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri — delicious! There was nothing leftover and everyone loved it and wanted the recipes! I seeded the tomatoes but wondered if I should not have seeded them to create more juice?
I never seed them!
Letting the natural juices of the tomatoes be released makes this quite a refreshing salad.
My grandmother was making this salad which she brought from Italy in the early 1900s, so it must go back further than that in Italy. It is identical to how I make it now except I add diced sweet green peppers to it and don’t add the garlic but I will now. The crusty Italian bread is a must and soaking it in the juices is wonderful! I call it liquid pizza.
I always take it to our 4th of July family reunion which we have done since 1946 at the end of WW2. La famiglia LOVES it! Also, day old tomato salad broth is even better. YUM!
I appreciate all you put into your site and your recipes are really great. Thank you.
Rebecca
Thanks Rebecca!
This recipe is ridiculous. Ridiculously easy. Ridiculously good. Ridiculously versatile. This goes with so many things. I served it with burratta and it was out of this world.
Just yum. I want more recipes like this in my life: simple and flavorful.
Haven’t had this in a long time. Easy to make and goes good with lunch or dinner. Do you have Italian in you
some of your recipes are just like Mom used to make, liked the pics of your new kitchen keep up the fantastic work.
OMG! So perfect for a hot summer night! Going to have it again this week! Thank you!
Best tomato salad ever
Finished the growing season with this recipe Fabulous !!! I think the quality of the EVOO makes a difference to.
I love your recipes and weekly meal plans! They really help my family and I eat healthy with such a great variety. Please continue!
So enjoying this simple, delicious end-of-summer treat that takes advantage of Nature’s bounty! Have a hard time waiting til the 20 minutes is up! Love to let the bread chunks marinate for just a minute to soak up the flavorful juices. Plan to make a daily, single-serving version of this until my summer tomatoes are gone. Thanks for sharing!
Your husband’s name is Tommy? You are Tommy and Gina?! I love you even more now!!!
I am currently in Greece and make a similar sKD every day with tomatoes from the farmers market. I add an ounce of feta cheese and a sprinkle of oregano.
This salad looks refreshing and delicious. A definite try for a side dish soon.
Wonderful! Even with “vine-ripe” store-bought tomatoes!
I also make this with mint instead of basil. That’s the tomato salad I grew up with. So good!
Made it tonight with tomatoes and red onion from a local farmstand. Delicious!
Yummy!
This salad has been in my recipe collection since 1974. I learned to make it from my Italian boyfriend’s mother, Ida may she rest in peace.
All that’s missing from yours is fresh oregano. Also, the purple onions are best if thinly sliced. I always add the oil just before serving. The tomatoes produce the most juice if they are left to marinate before adding the oil.
I add sliced cucumbers as well.
I can’t believe we are not the only ones who will eat this for our dinner! I have a garden and while the tomatoes are coming in, this is our go to meal. It does not work with tomatoes bought in a store. The flavor is not the same. It tastes even better if you marinate for about 2 hours. I use oregano instead of basil, a little more EVOO ☺️ and a bit of water for even more juice. It is worth keeping a garden just for this salad. I am also Italian and we have always had this salad in the summer. My husband just drools for it.
Do you seed the tomatoes? This looks delicious!
It’s amazing how something so simple can taste so good. But, it’s important to use those fresh, garden tomatoes for the best flavor. The store bought ones lack the intense flavor you get from fresh home-grown ones.
This salad has been in my Italian family for at least three generations, maybe more. We add chopped green pepper and some Italian parsley and a pinch of oregano (my addition) to it. We serve it with a crusty Italian loaf to sop up the juices also. I call it liquid pizza! It’s so yummy. My English/German descended husband LOVES it! I can’t get one granddaughter interested in the tomatoes but she’ll come around eventually. It
just smells too good. If you want to spice it up, chop up a hot Hungarian green pepper.
I even try to make it in the middle of winter with the oval shaped tomatoes but, you’re right, there’s nothing like right out of the garden (which we don’t have thanks to the deer). It’s even better the next day!
I actually make something similar, but mix the oil with a white wine vinegar to make a vinaigrette. I then mix in some mozzarella pearls because i LOVE caprese salads!