Watermelon Caprese Salad with Balsamic Glaze

Well howdy partners!

I am traveling to Miami today for a fun blogging conference and plan on eating my way through the city! I’ve never been there before so am not really sure what to expect but am super psyched to find out! {Please tell me all the hot spots I need to hit up!}

THEN!! After my food conference, my husband is showing up and we’re going to have a 4 day sun-filled Miami vacation!!

I’m so excited. Like, SO EXCITED. We never got a honeymoon because we ended up getting hitched in the middle of a semester at college, soooooo that was cool. Not. Fast forward 6 1/2 years and voila! We’ve finally made it to a legitimate vacation that we can actually pay for ourselves! High fives all around for not being poor college students anymore.

If you need me I’ll be by the pool. Slash ocean–>!!!!!!!

Anyways, in honor of having fun in the sun, I decided to post a perfect light and summery recipe for you all today. We all know and love the traditional Caprese salad, yes? Well, this is like the tomato-hater version made with {say it with me}….

WATERMELON!

Does this seems like a weird combo?

You’re right. It is.

However, this one in particular is downright delectable.

Trust the Lauren.

Cold, juicy and sweet watermelon paired with the creamy fresh mozzarella, the herby fresh basil and that balsamic glaze? Puh-lease. I’m a goner.

Don’t let the sweet watermelon idea throw  you off! It’s a similar taste to the fresh tomatoes, but better…and prettier because you can make cute little spheres!

Making this is pretty straight forward. Scoop a bunch of watermelon into a bowl….about 2 cups or so?! As much as you want, basically.

Then just stack it together with some fresh mozzarella slices and basil.

To finish the salad, I made a balsamic glaze–basically sugar and balsamic vinegar melted together and cooked down to form a syrup. {Original idea for balsamic syrup taken from this recipe}.

Drizzle that glaze over the entire thing and add a little cracked black pepper and that’s it. Makes a lovely lunch or side dish to go with dinner. Really a light and lovely salad that anyone will love.

Give this recipe a whirl and let me know how you like it 🙂 Happy Wednesday!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be reading a book with a fruity beverage by the pool.

Printable right here:

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Watermelon Caprese Salad

Prep Time 13 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 oz. fresh mozzarella cut into slices
• 6-8 large fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups watermelon balls
• cracked black pepper if desired
• for the balsamic glaze-
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Line serving platter with slices of mozzarella. Top with basil leaves, watermelon and black pepper.
2. To make the glaze- gently stir sugar and vinegar together in a small skillet. Simmer over medium heat to melt sugar. After about one minute, it should thicken. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3. Drizzle overtop of salad and serve.