caprese salad with homemade croutons

I thought I couldn’t love anything more than a caprese salad but I was wrong. A caprese salad with homemade croutons adds such texture. It’s like bruschetta in a bowl.

This caprese salad was a recipe I adapted from an online cooking course: https://rouxbe.com/. I immediately fell in love with the flavors and textures.

This salad begins with a torn, crusty loaf of bread. I like to rip the bread into bite size pieces to add to the salad’s rustic feel.

Typically, I keep my bread intake to a minimum. However, I’m making the croutons so I can pick up a healthier, multigrain loaf (throw in some flax seeds for extra “healthy”). Then I doctor it up with olive oil, herbs and sea salt. Homemade croutons are so easy to make and you can throw them on top of soups and salads for a little crunch!

I practically have to hide the croutons from the kids straight from the oven or they’ll never make the salad!

Prepare the salad once croutons are cooled and it’s close to the time you’ll serve. Don’t assemble the salad too early or your croutons will get soggy.

Assembling the salad

First, add the perfectly crisp croutons to a serving bowl. You’ll want to pop in your mouth more than add to the salad. One for the salad, one for me…

Next, add the sweet tomatoes and soft, mild, fresh mozzarella. Any tomatoes would work – I love the multi-colored cherry tomato packs because it’s a mix of flavors plus they’re so pretty.

Lastly, add the torn basil and sprinkle the red wine vinaigrette. This adds a subtle pucker against the savory olive oil. Repeat the layer.

The complimentary colors and textures cause an explosion in each bite! You get the soft cheese against the crispy croutons, the red and purple colors of the tomato next to the sprinkling of green basil and the rich olive oil coupled with the tangy vinegar! All of this equals a good time!