One of those fantastic quick summer dishes when you really don’t want to cook much but have a colourful and healthy meal. This Grilled Peach Mozzarella Salad has the juicy sweetness from summer peaches at their best, grilled, for smokiness, reminding of barbecue. Served with aromatic cherry tomatoes, milky, fresh mozzarella, and savoury Serrano ham. All on a bed of fresh green leaves, topped with an herby balsamic vinaigrette. Summer doesn’t get much better than this.
The Inspiration
Seeing fresh peaches in my local supermarket, I can rarely resist getting a few. As long as they are in season that is, which is short. Usually, it falls together with tomato season and heat outside, so I’m not particularly inclined to stand in the kitchen for ages. But I do want to incorporate my greens and enjoy my dinner. This salad is one of my favourite quick fixes for just that. A plate full of summer basically. I’ve made many variations from the classic caprese to my much loved Strawberries with mozzarella, but right now, this is all I want.
The Ingredients
The list is short: Ripe peaches, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, Serrano ham (or prosciutto. I just prefer the flavour of the former), fresh basil and thyme, a good balsamico (I love this one, from the Italian shop in Cork) and olive oil, salt, pepper. That’s it.
Weight Loss
While losing weight I noticed that I really don’t enjoy much olive oil in my dressings. I know the classic ration is a very different one, but honestly, I just want a spoonful to unlock all the nutrients in the salad. Apart from that I’m more than happy with a good drizzle of balsamic, salt and pepper. I’m lifting the whole thing up here with fresh thyme from my garden and some very classic basil, but this salad really doesn’t need more to shine. Well…maybe some freshly grilled bread, while you have the pan out. Might as well. Rub it with garlic if you want it extra yummy.
How To Make it
I just halved the peaches here first, grilled them in my griddle cast iron pan, then quartered. I tried with smaller pieces before, but feel they get too soft and mushy.
For the dressing I chopped thyme and basil, then just mixed everything together with a bit of salt and pepper.
The rest is purely an assembly job: Lay the leaves out on a platter, top with all the other ingredients, drizzle with the vinaigrette and your Grilled Peach Mozzarella Salad is ready to enjoy.
That took what? 10 minutes?
Meal Prep
You can prepare this ahead of time, if you don’t assemble it. But honestly, it probably takes more time to put it all into containers and wash them later, than to throw it together. So this is one of the very few dishes I probably wouldn’t prepare ahead of time. Though you could pre-mix the dressing if you’d like to get ahead a little.
Apart from that: Enjoy this Grilled Peach Mozzarella Salad ideally outside, maybe with a glass of white whine.
Feel more like a substantial Dinner? Try my Black Garlic Roast Chicken Summer Salad.
How about Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie for dessert?
Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?
Grilled Peach Mozzarella Salad
Ingredients
- 3 Peaches halved
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 pack baby mozzarella I used buffalo
- Serrano ham
- Baby leaves
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- Basil
- Thyme
Instructions
- Preheat your griddle pan to medium-high heat.
- Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, chopped basil, chopped thyme, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Brush peach halves with olive oil to prevent sticking. Grill peaches cut side down for 2-3 minutes until grill marks appear and they slightly soften. Cut in quarters now if you like or leave as halves.
- Arrange baby leaves on a serving platter. Place grilled peaches on the leaves.
- Scatter baby mozzarella over the salad and sprinkle halved cherry tomatoes around the peaches and mozzarella.
- Tear or arrange Serrano ham over the salad.
- Whisk the vinaigrette again and drizzle it over the salad, coating everything evenly.
- Sprinkle fresh basil leaves and thyme leaves over the salad.
- Serve immediately as an appetizer or main dish.
Notes
Total Estimated Nutrition per Portion:
Calories: Approximately 180-200
Fat: Approximately 12-14 grams
Protein: Approximately 7-8 grams
Carbohydrates: Approximately 15-18 grams
Fiber: Approximately 2-3 grams
Sugar: Approximately 12-14 grams
Absolutely stunning and delicious! I could eat this every single day. So good!
Thank you 🙂
I can’t wait to get my first batch of Southern peaches to make this salad again One of our favorite summer dishes!
All the ingredients in this recipe call my name! 🙂
Perfect for those summer peaches already showing up at the grocery store. I only had basil, and it was just perfect. So tasty and refreshing!
This is such a wonderful salad! I love the combination of peaches, mozzarella, tomatoes and Serrano! So good!
Grilled peach is my favorite, I tried your idea of adding mozzarella too. Perfect summer salad.