Easy Fresh Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe (2024)

This Caprese pasta salad is a quick, fresh, light, and delicious lunch you can make in minutes. This recipe is made with the traditional Caprese salad, exactly how it is made on the Island of Capri of the Gulf of Naples. Fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil and salt. A perfect light lunch for a hot Summer day.

Although, if you want to add even just a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, you may as well look for another recipe, as this combination of flavors is certainly not from Capri.

Capri is an island off the coast of Naples, and the classic Caprese salad was created after the war to reflect the color of the Italian flag.

Red the tomato

White the mozzarella

Green the basil

So where the balsamic vinegar is coming from? I don't know!

Balsamic vinegar is from the North of Italy, not an ingredient traditionally used in Capri

You don't need to add anything else to a good Caprese salad if you have Naples's classic mozzarella and fresh tomatoes.

The colorful Caprese pasta salad is made with fresh produce and minimal ingredients

More authentic recipes from Naples you can find: Caprese cake, Lasagne di Carnevale, pizza Napoletana, fried pizza Montanara

For more Fake Italian Recipes on the web, check out my Web Story: This Is Why You Should NEVER trust Italian recipes online

Type of mozzarella

If you go to an Italian Pizzicagnolo (cheesemonger), you will be amazed to find such a wide variety of Mozzarella.

There are four main types of fresh mozzarella:

• Regular cow milk mozzarella also called Fior di Latte
• Buffalo mozzarella made with Italian buffalo's milk
• Burrata which has a buttery creamy hearth
• Smoked mozzarella also called Provola in Naples

The classic Caprese salad is made with Fior di Latte, but you can also use the Buffalo mozzarella.

There are also solid mozzarella blocks that are not stored in water, which are used for cooking for example pizza.

They cannot be used for Caprese salad as they are not juicy enough.

Fresh mozzarella can also have different shapes:

• Regular: fresh mozzarella balls
• Bocconcini: fresh mozzarella pearls, smaller in size
• Treccia: large braid shape
• Zizzona: gigantic shape

What Zizzona means

Yes, you see it right. It looks like a big breast; in the Neapolitan dialect, Zizzona means big breast.

Even if you may think it is a sexual reference, I see it more as a maternal allusion.

More than Sofia Loren, those mozzarellas remind me of the big ladies you find at the markets with such prominent breasts that if they need to put their hands on their chest (typical Italian hand movement to indicate themselves), their hand will have to be horizontally over the breast as there is no vertical space left on the cleavage.

..but then again, men might have other ideas!

Which Tomatoes

You can use summer tomatoes like Bull Heart or Fiascone from Capri.

You can also use sweet Cherry tomatoes or Pachino, but if you do that, you need to use the bocconcini mozzarella.

A simple rule is that the tomatoes should be the same size as the mozzarella.

Whatever you choose should be fresh, firm, crunchy, and juicy tomatoes but not watery.

If you are in Italy, I recommend looking for the Melinda or Zerbini tomatoes.

They are as crunchy as an apple and sweet. Perfect for a nice Caprese.

Although, if you grow your garden tomatoes, they would be your best choice.

The rest of the ingredients

• Pasta corta: meaning short pasta. It should be of the same size as the tomato and mozzarella bites
• Fresh basil leaves
• A simple dressing made of good quality extra virgin olive oil, salt and freshly grated black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, and add the pasta. If you want al dente pasta cook it for 1 minute less than indicated on the package directions
2. In the meantime, cut the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil leaves in a large bowl. Add salt and extra virgin olive oil for seasoning. Stir them all together.
3. Once the pasta is ready drain it, add it to the tomatoes and mozzarella salad immediately and stir well. The mozzarella will slightly melt with the heat from the pasta.
4. Serve warm or at room temperature

If you want to cook pasta like an Italian, read the article: 38 tips to cook pasta like an Italian

How to serve it

This easy Caprese pasta salad recipe is perfect for a hot Summer day. It can be served as a primo piatto, a light main dish, or a side dish on a buffet table for a barbecue.

Traditionally in Italy, we do not serve pasta with chicken as the pasta was considered a peasant meal and chicken was too fine meat to combine it with.

This tradition still stands in Italy.

We wouldn't combine the classic caprese flavors with seafood, either.

If you are serving a simple Caprese salad, you can serve it with some fresh crunchy bread.

...and the gigantic Zizzona? Well, you will not find tomatoes of the same size, so you serve it in a large plate surrounded by tomatoes and basil.

What a feast!

Top tips

Here are a few more things about Caprese salad:

1. The mozzarella should be at room temperature
2. The water from the mozzarella should be drained completely
3. Use the best extra virgin olive oil you can find
4. The size of the mozzarella bites/chunks should match the size of the tomatoes and the pasta shape.

No Balsamic on Caprese

You can add balsamic vinegar, but if you do, it should not be called Caprese because Balsamic Vinegar is not a traditional ingredient from Capri.

Balsamic vinegar is originated from Modena in the North of Italy.

Italian cuisine is traditional, very regional, and uses only local ingredients. If you want to know more about Italian cuisine's historical background, you can read the article: Italian Ingredients

Tomatoes in the South of Italy already have a sweet flavor built naturally from the sun and the fertile volcanic soil. Adding a sweet dressing doesn't make sense for me ... and many others.

Balsamic Vinegar and Peaches on Caprese

For the majority of the Italian population, mozzarella and balsamic vinegar do not belong together, and neither do peaches.

Like pineapple does not go on pizza, same concept!

So please, feel free to add these ingredients if you like, but don't call it Caprese.

Caprese's colors represent our National Flag, and there is no purple or yellow in it!

Recipes you might also like

If you are looking for more pasta with vegetable recipes, you can check the category: Pasta

Also check the recipes below:

If you are making the Caprese pasta salad, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.