Low Carb Caprese Salad

This low carb Caprese salad is amazingly fresh and incredibly delicious! It’s a classic, elegant, and beautiful dish!

When you want a real show stopper, this low carb Caprese salad is an awesome choice! We use just a few simple ingredients, but they combine to result in a salad that is sure to get rave reviews every time you serve it. You can serve this as a salad, a side dish, or as an appetizer.

Let’s talk about Caprese salads!

A Caprese salad is a classic Italian dish. You’ll also see it called Insalata Caprese. Isn’t that an awesome name for a dish? This delicious salad is named after the Island of Capri, an island off the southern coast of Italy; and it’s possible that’s where it originated. Although you’ll see variations to the salad, the classic dish is made using perfectly ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh sliced mozzarella, and olive oil. The salad is then simply seasoned with salt and pepper. Although not traditional, you’ll often see Caprese salads served with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or a balsamic glaze. Some other variations you may see include using cherry or grape tomatoes and using small mozzarella balls. You may also see chopped Caprese salads which often include cherry tomatoes and either smaller mozzarella balls or chopped fresh mozzarella.

What ingredients did you use to make this low carb Caprese salad?

For my tomatoes, I used some juicy ripe Roma tomatoes. Alternately, vine ripened or heirloom tomatoes would be excellent choices as well. You’ll just want to make sure your tomatoes are perfectly ripe but not overly ripe. I found some basil that had fairly large leaves, so I used one leaf for each slice of tomato. If your leaves are smaller, you can use two or three for each slice of tomato. I recommend not cutting or tearing your basil so the leaves will retain all their flavorful oils. For the cheese, you’ll just want to make sure you’re using fresh mozzarella. I used extra virgin olive oil, which is my go-to for olive oil, for this salad. Then for seasoning, a simple sprinkle of salt and pepper is all that’s needed. Although balsamic isn’t included in a classic Caprese, I like to drizzle a little over my salad.

How can I serve this low carb Caprese salad?

You can serve this salad as an appetizer, as a dinner salad, as a side salad, or even as an awesome snack. As written, one serving comes out to be two slices of tomatoes, each topped with a basil leaf and then topped with a slice of mozzarella. If you’d like, you can increase the portion size and serve this as a main dish salad. For presentation, you can layer the slices of tomato, basil, and mozzarella in any number of ways. I like to layer them so there are some visible tomatoes and basil leaves after topping with the mozzarella. You can pretty much layer your tomatoes, basil, and cheese any way you’d like. For an appetizer, I like to use a large platter to plate this salad. But for serving as a side, it’s fun to creatively layer the ingredients on a pretty plate.

Need some more delicious keto salad dishes? Here are a few of our favorites!

Creamy Ranch Cucumber Zucchini Salad

Keto Broccoli Bacon Salad

Marinated Keto Cucumber, Tomato, and Onion Salad

Traditional Greek Salad

Helpful Hints:

*For best results, you’ll want to use juicy and perfectly ripe tomatoes.

*I used about ¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper, but you can season to taste for your salad.

Main Kitchen Equipment and Utensils:

• Cutting board
• Kitchen knife
• Measuring spoons

Splash of Encouragement:

***The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Proverbs 18:15***