Mmm. Yes. Caprese love!! Ever since our 9 days in Italy filled with so much basil, tomatoes so fresh you wondered what you’d been eating up until that point, and mozzarella so salty and ooey gooey, I had been dreaming up ways to bring these ingredients back into our life.

Caprese SaladCaprese Salad  Caprese Salad Caprese Salad

I’ve been struggling to feel like cooking this summer. When you don’t have air conditioning or access to a grill and it’s 93 degrees outside with 97% humidity, firing up the oven or even the stovetop sounds like a terrible idea. Enter lots of salads and smoothies!! My body has been very thankful for the extra measures of fruits and veggies lately I’m sure, and so many impromptu yummy salads have been born because of it!

Caprese Salad Caprese Salad

This salad is so incredibly delicious and transports me right back to the patio in Rome that served us the most delicious classic Caprese salad. Of course it didn’t have the bacon, the greens, or croutons, but I needed some more oomph to create a meal out of it this time around! My husband literally never complains about what I set in front of him for food, but I always feel like he needs some meat (even the tiniest bit of bacon) to sustain him for a few hours.

Caprese Salad

For me, this salad is everything I need. It’s good enough to eat on a sweltering Saturday afternoon, good enough to take in a large batch to a family bbq, more than good enough to eat all 4 servings on your own, and good enough to add to your weekly meal plan. I wouldn’t even be mad if you added some grilled chicken or some shrimp into the mix! Let me know if you do though, cause I just wanna know these things…

Dear reader,

Please make me.

Love,

The best salad ever.

Caprese Salad

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Caprese Salad


  • Author: Kitschen Cat
  • Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • ½ pound bacon, chopped
  • 2 buns (I prefer Hawaiian rolls)
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 4 cups mixed greens
  • 5 large basil leaves, ribboned
  • ¾ cup mozzarella, cubed
  • 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (affiliate)
  • freshly ground salt and pepper **to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. In large skillet over medium high heat, fry chopped bacon bites until brown and crispy. Remove bacon onto paper towel.
  3. Chop buns into crouton cubes, and add to bacon grease in skillet. Stir until all grease has soaked into the bread.
  4. Spread croutons onto large baking sheet and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Bake until croutons are golden brown and crunchy.
  5. In large bowl, assemble mixed greens, ribboned basil leaves, mozzarella, bacon, and croutons. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with freshly ground salt and pepper to your taste liking.

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