Vegan Caprese Salad with Fresh Tomatoes & Basil

QUICK SUMMARY

This Vegan Caprese Salad is Mama Z's dairy-free take on the classic Italian combination of ripe tomatoes, basil, cheese, olive oil, and seasoning. It is fresh, colorful, simple to assemble, and perfect for summer meals, cookouts, or serving alongside gluten-free pizza.

Use any ripe tomato you love, but heirloom tomatoes are especially beautiful and flavorful when they are in season. Fresh herbs, extra-virgin olive oil, vinegar, sea salt, and white pepper bring everything together, while the vegan mozzarella variation keeps the caprese experience dairy-free.

The complete recipe is first below. Afterward, you'll find Mama Z's ingredient tips and a concise look at what current research actually says about tomatoes, lycopene, olive oil, herbs, and vinegar.

This Vegan Caprese Salad is one of my favorite ways to enjoy fresh tomatoes when they are at their best. It gives you the bright, garden-fresh flavor of a traditional caprese-style salad while keeping it completely dairy-free.

We enjoy it alongside gluten-free pizza, especially when tomatoes are in season. It works beautifully as a side dish, appetizer, or light snack, and the finger-friendly skewer variation is perfect for parties and cookouts.

This recipe is versatile. You can use any tomato you wish. I'm partial to heirloom tomatoes, though, as they're colorful and so sweet!

Make My Vegan Caprese Salad

This recipe is easy to prepare and comes together in minutes. Plus, you get to let your creative side shine through arranging the platter! You should note that this salad needs 15-30 minutes of resting time. This allows the olive oil and vinegar to soak into the tomatoes.

Deluxe Fresh Tomato Salad (Vegan)

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Author Mama Z

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Servings

2x4x6x

Ingredients

• 3 organic tomatoes, hulled AND sliced thinly
• Pink Himalayan salt OR sea salt, ground AND organic white pepper, ground
• 8 ounces vegan mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly*
• Fresh organic thyme, chopped
• Fresh organic chives, chopped
• Fresh organic basil, chopped
• Fresh organic parsley, chopped
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar, organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar, or herbal vinegar

Supplies

• Kitchen knives
• Large platter

Instructions

 

• Hull the center of the tomato, then thinly slice the tomatoes and vegan cheese and arrange them on a large platter.
• Sprinkle the tomato slices with sea salt, white pepper, and thyme. Then, generously cover them with freshly chopped chives, basil, and parsley.
• Drizzle the tomatoes and herbs with extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar. Let the salad stand for 15-30 minutes.

Notes

*We love using Miyokos mozzarella cheese.

Finger-Friendly Tomato Salad Skewers Variation

This variation is great for parties or cookouts! Use small skewers or toothpicks to make this salad easy to hold. Add halved cherry tomatoes (or heirloom cherry tomatoes), a square of vegan mozzarella cheese, and 1 small basil leaf. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing for an unforgettable appetizer!

Step One: Slice the Tomatoes

Hull the center of the tomato, then thinly slice and arrange them on a large platter.

Step Two: Add Spices and Herbs

Cover generously with freshly chopped chives, basil, and parsley. Sprinkle the tomato slices with sea salt, white pepper, and a little thyme.

Multiple variations of the same herb create a robust flavor profile. Adjust the amount of herbs to fit your personal taste. To prepare the thyme, strip it of the leaves and place it over the salad. To prepare parsley, harvest just the top pieces. Too much of the stem gets thick, and you end up with a mouthful! Break the parsley a little and place it over the platter. When prepping basil, use just the leaves.

Step Three: Drizzle With Olive Oil and Vinegar

Drizzle the tomatoes and herbs with extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar. Let the salad stand for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

If you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge and eat them the next day. They taste just as good, if not better! The liquid at the bottom of the platter is wonderful to use as a salad dressing or on roasted veggies.

Finger-Friendly Tomato Salad Skewers

This variation is great for parties or cookouts! Use small skewers or toothpicks to make this salad easy to hold. Add halved organic cherry tomatoes (or heirloom cherry tomatoes), a square of vegan mozzarella cheese, and 1 small organic basil leaf. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for an unforgettable appetizer!

Healthy Salad Ingredients 101

This recipe requires less than ten ingredients, and you can find all of these components at your local grocery store. Win-win! Here's what you need to add to your shopping list.

Organic Tomatoes: The best tomato salads are made of funny-looking tomatoes. It's true! Heirloom tomatoes often come in odd shapes and colors, but they are the sweetest of any tomato out there.

Try a bite, and you'll understand why tomatoes are classified as fruits! Farmer's markets often have an incredible variety of heirloom tomatoes.

Pink Himalayan Salt or Sea Salt and Organic White Pepper: We recommend using Colima sea salt because it's hand-harvested and we love the flavor. You can also use pink Himalayan salt.

Specialty salts do contain trace minerals, but they are still primarily sodium chloride, so I use them for flavor and ingredient preference rather than as a major source of minerals.

You can't have salt without pepper! I love using white pepper in my recipes. It has a milder taste than black pepper, and it adds a gourmet flair to every recipe. I recommend purchasing peppercorns and freshly grinding your pepper. It improves the flavor and doesn't require a lot of extra effort!

Organic Fresh Herbs: This ingredient is the secret sauce! Don't skimp on the herbs. After experimenting with a few combinations, I landed on a winner. Organic basil, chives, parsley, and thyme are a wonderful blend that pairs well with tomatoes.

• Thyme: Thyme is wonderfully earthy. The research originally cited here tested thyme essential oil against food-related bacteria and fungi in the laboratory. That supports antimicrobial activity of the concentrated essential oil, but it does not mean a sprinkle of culinary thyme acts as a preservative or immune treatment in this salad. (8)
• Chives: Chives are part of the allium family and make a beautiful garnish. An older observational study associated higher intake of certain allium vegetables, including Chinese chives, onions, and garlic stalks, with lower stomach-cancer risk in some populations. That kind of research can identify associations, but it does not prove that chives prevent cancer. (9)
• Parsley: Parsley contributes vitamin K, a nutrient involved in normal bone metabolism. Research has also explored vitamin K status and cognition in older adults, but the study cited here was observational and cannot establish that parsley itself keeps the brain sharp. (10, 11)
• Basil: Basil is an amazing herb that I use in many of my tomato recipes, including my homemade spaghetti sauce! Laboratory studies have found antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in sweet basil extracts and essential-oil fractions, but those preparations are much more concentrated than the fresh leaves in this salad. Here, basil's biggest contribution is its incredible fresh flavor. (12)

I recommend using fresh herbs, chopped finely, but you can always use dried.

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Extra-virgin olive oil adds richness and helps carry the flavor of the herbs across every tomato slice. Olive oil can contain phenolic compounds such as hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, but their concentration varies significantly among oils. (13)

This is one ingredient where you get what you pay for. When choosing olive oil, always go for extra-virgin varieties and purchase the best oil you can. It's worth it.

Vinegar: This ingredient adds a sweet tang to our salad. Human research supports a real, but context-dependent, effect of vinegar on post-meal glucose and insulin responses. The original study cited here involved only eight adults with impaired glucose tolerance, while newer meta-analyses pool results from many more trials. (14, 17)

That does not turn a splash of vinegar into a blood-sugar treatment. I use it here because the acidity wakes up the tomatoes and balances the olive oil. There are many kinds of vinegar, but I recommend using basil herbal vinegar for this recipe.

This herb-infused vinegar adds extra flavor, and it's slightly sweet, which pairs well with tomatoes.

Benefits of Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a must-have in any kitchen. They're versatile and can be used in Mexican, American, and Italian dishes. I grow tomatoes in my garden, and my return on investment is high every year!

Tomatoes bring much more than flavor. They provide vitamin C, potassium, carotenoids, and other plant compounds, with lycopene getting the most attention in modern research.

Tomatoes and Cardiovascular Health

Red tomatoes are one of our best-known food sources of lycopene. Earlier observational research found that men with lower serum lycopene had a higher risk of acute myocardial infarction, but observational studies cannot prove that lycopene alone caused the difference. (1)

Human intervention research has been mixed. A 2026 umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses found that tomato-derived lycopene improved blood pressure with relatively strong evidence, while effects on blood lipids were inconsistent. (15) Earlier controlled research also found modest changes in inflammatory signaling after a tomato-based drink. (2)

Heart disease remains a major public-health concern, and I love that a food as simple as a ripe tomato can be part of an overall heart-healthy eating pattern. (3) For more practical strategies, see our guide to heart-healthy lifestyle changes.

Tomatoes Support Normal Vision Nutrients

Vitamin A is essential to the visual cycle in the retina. Tomatoes are not a concentrated source of preformed vitamin A, but they do provide carotenoids such as beta-carotene that the body can convert to vitamin A. (4)

Lycopene has also been studied in eye-health research, but the study originally cited here involved laboratory models and rats with experimentally induced cataracts. It is interesting preclinical evidence, not proof that eating tomatoes prevents eye disease in people. (5)

Tomatoes and Skin Photoprotection Research

This is one of the more interesting areas of human tomato research. In a randomized controlled trial, 20 healthy women consumed tomato paste providing 16 mg of lycopene in olive oil or olive oil alone for 12 weeks. The tomato-paste group showed less UV-related skin damage in several measures, including changes involving procollagen and mitochondrial DNA. (6)

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention trials also found evidence that tomato and lycopene interventions can improve some markers of UV-related skin response. (16) Lycopene has also been measured in human skin after dietary supplementation. (7)

That does not make tomatoes a replacement for sensible sun protection. It does make them one more delicious bioactive food to enjoy regularly.

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