This is the BEST Summer Tomato Salad made with garden heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes, perfect served with bread for dipping!
Tomato Salad
This is my husband Tommy’s favorite summer meal, especially on those nights 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 eat the tomatoes and let the bread sop up all those delicious juices at the bottom (so good you’ll want to drink it!). Of course, the bread is totally optional here!
You just can’t buy juicy tomatoes like this in the supermarket, they will never compare to garden tomatoes that you wait all summer for. So if you have a ton of tomatoes in your garden, or see some at the farmer’s market, make this salad, you’ll thank me later!
The ingredients are for this tomato salad are simple; made with tomatoes, basil, red onion, garlic and a good quality extra virgin olive oil. Although Tommy eats this as a main dish, you can serve this as a side dish with anything you’re grilling such as chicken or fish.
What To Serve with Tomato Salad
In our house, we make a big bowl of this and serve it with bread for dipping into that glorious juice. If you want to serve this as a side dish, this would be great with:
- Grilled Chicken – Serve this right over grilled chicken.
- Grilled Flank Steak – I love grilling flank steaks and serving this right over the top after slicing. It’s next level good!
- Top your fish – steam, grill or broil some flaky white fish and top it with these tomatoes.
- Serve it along side any protein! Pork chops, turkey burgers, you can’t go wrong.
- Serve it with grains like farro or quinoa to make it a meatless main.
More summer salads I love:
- Italian Caprese Salad
- Summer Macaroni Salad with Tomatoes and Zucchini
- Chilled Lobster Salad with Sweet Summer Corn and Tomatoes
- Shrimp Summer Rolls with Peanut Hoisin Dipping Sauce
- Summer Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad with Creamy Buttermilk Dijon Dressing
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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Photo Credit: Jess Larson
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!