This marinated tomato and onion salad is just perfect for a summer salad or versatile side dish! Just imaging ripe, juicy tomatoes, red onion, and fresh herbs in a delicious vinaigrette dressing. Amazing!
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Garden Fresh Big & Juicy Tomatoes
At our house, we look forward to the fresh summer bounty that comes straight from the garden. One of our favorite things is the big and juice tomatoes. Good thing we love them.
This recipe highlights the delicious flavor using just a few ingredients.
As you can see, this salad consists of tomatoes, basil, and red onions. Marry this with the simple vinaigrette and if you can, let it sit and marinate about an hour. so scrumptious!
Rinse The Onions
When making this recipe, I want to tomato to shine through. The onion can provide a lovely crunch. However, without rinsing the onions, they can be quite pungent and take over this recipe. Therefore, I recommend that the onions are rinsed after chopping.
I place my chopped onions in a colander and rinse them. While they are dripping the water off of them, I chop my tomatoes and dice the fresh basil.
Rinsing the onions is a trick that I learned years ago.
However, if you would like to know a bit more about this, in their article, Making Salsa? Rinse Your Onions, bon appetit has a wonderful article explaining why rinsing the onions is so important. They stress that “Onions to be used in any raw preparation should be calmed by a cool rinse and patted dry before using.”
Marinated Tomatoes are effortless to throw together. Using a handful of simple ingredients enhanced by the vinegar, aromatics, and herbs.
Additionally, this recipe can be customized. While I used large beefsteak tomatoes today, this would be lovely with Roma, Cherry, or Grape tomatoes.
Make sure to slice, quarter, or half the tomatoes to allow them to soak up the vinaigrette dressing.
I used red onion today; however, I have made this with yellow onion and Sweet Vidalia onion too. so delicious.
I used Rice Vinegar for this recipe today. However, I have swapped out the Rice Vinegar for Red Wine, Balsamic, Apple Cider Vinegar, or White Wine Vinegar. Sometimes, it is a matter of what I have in my pantry, other times, it is how much zip I want in my salad.
Do some experimenting with vinegar to find the one that excites your taste buds.
Marinating the Tomato and Onion Salad
I generally marinate the salad for one to two hours.
Our family has a very hard time not eating this right after it is made!
However, there are many recipes that recommend marinating the salad for 12 to 24 hours in the refrigerator for maximizing the flavor profiles.
Fresh Versus Dried Herbs
This recipe calls for fresh basil; however, you can also add fresh parsley too. Customize the herbs to your liking.
If you do not have fresh herbs on hand, no worries. You can add dried herbs. Just remember that dried herbs are more concentrated in flavor; therefore, you will only need about 1/3 of the amount of fresh herbs.
Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes
Even if you don’t have a garden or neighbors with homegrown tomatoes. The grocery store has many great options for great-tasting tomatoes that will work for this recipe. The summer seems to have more options too. Take advantage of the summer bounty and enjoy a fresh Marinated Tomato and Onion Salad.
Simple food with delicious fresh taste. Enjoy eating healthy and scrumptious food.
Marinated Tomato and Onion Salad
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Kitchen Essentials
Ingredients
- 3 Large Beefsteak Tomatoes or any tomato you have available – sliced or diced
- 1 Medium Red onion Sliced or diced
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Basil Chopped
Vinaigrette
- 2 Tbl. Olive Oil
- 4 Tbl. Rice Vinegar Can be another type of vinegar too
- 4 Tbl. Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Tsp. Fresh Cracked Pepper
- 1/2 Tsp. Salt
Instructions
- Dice or Slice the onions. Rinse in a colander.
- Slice or Chop the tomatoes in bite-sized pieces. Place in a mixing bowl.
- Chop the fresh basil, add to the tomatoes.
- Add the rinse and drained onions to the bowl.
Vinaigrette
- In a small mixing bowl, add the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Mix.
- Pour over Tomato, Onions, and Basil.
- Mix to incorporate.
- Marinate 2-24 hours in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
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I hope that you liked this recipe. If you are looking for more ideas on what to make, here are a few other recipes that you may enjoy.
You can find Victoria crocheting, quilting, and creating recipes. She has cooked in restaurants for over 20 years, including many larger parties. She learned to crochet when she was just 11 years old and has been crocheting ever since; over 50 years now. Over 40 years ago, she loved her first class in sewing and continues to hone her skills in quilting. Many have enjoyed the handmade gifts over the years. In her professional career, she has worked in management in a wide variety of businesses including higher education as a dean of a division. All the while attending college part-time to achieve her doctorate in higher education with an emphasis in e-learning.