Quick marinated cherry tomato salad is a perfect simple side dish to serve with grilled dishes in the summer. This is so flavorful, almost oil-free, colorful, juicy, herby, and ready in just 10 minutes.
Marinated cherry tomato taste just amazing and is a great summer salad. One of the best cherry tomatoes recipes.
The post contains helpful tips and tricks to make a successful recipe on your first attempt. Please use the link above to jump to the recipe card at the end if you want to skip.
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Why you will love this recipe
In summer you can enjoy fresh garden tomatoes in many ways, like Balsamic roasted tomatoes (oven & stovetop method), Shirazi salad, or top your pasta as I did in roasted poblano pesto pasta.
- Fresh & flavorful- In summer, cherry tomato salad brings freshness and flavors with meals especially anything grilled. Dressing with olive oil & herbs makes all the difference. If you are camping outside then definitely make it in advance and carry or just use any fresh tomatoes with pre-made Italian dressing. It will just enhance all your favorite grilled recipes while camping.
- Easy & quick- Just mix all ingredients and make it ready just before dinner. 10 minutes is all you need to make it. Marinating for longer helps in absorbing the marinade and makes the salad more tasteful. Always serve at room temperature as refrigeration makes oil solidify and dull the flavors.
- Make ahead & perfect for meal planning- The best point is you can make it in advance and add in meal planning as well. TVP curry, marinated tomato salad, & cilantro rice was my meal planning for a week when I started this blog. It is a vegan, vegetarian, low-calorie salad recipe.
Ingredients & notes
Please check the recipe card for the full ingredient list and measurements
- Tomatoes- After moving to the USA I am so in love with cherry tomato medley, grape tomato, and heirloom tomatoes. To make this easy marinated cherry tomato salad I use a mix of medley and grape tomatoes. But any variety, big or small will work in this recipe, just make sure they are blemish-free and ripe. Roma and vine tomatoes are just great with marination.
- Onion- My first preference is red onions again as I find they taste good while eating raw. They also add a bright contrast and color to salads.
- Garlic- Garlic adds an aroma and flavor to marination. Do not skip it.
- Herb- Cilantro is easy to access herb to me and so I use it in my most of the recipes. But feel free to experiment with a variety of herbs like mint, dill, parsley, or oregano. Prefer flay leaf parsley over curly one. Read if you looking for substitute for cilantro.
- Spices- You need salt, freshly grounded pepper, and red chili flakes for the recipe.
- Vinegar- My favorite vinegar is rice vinegar, but apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar will also work here. Though there will be a difference in taste profile, depending on the vinegar used.
I use rice vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, red chili flakes, and little oil to make dressing for this quick marinated cherry tomato salad. If you want it completely oil-free just eliminate oil. Oil works as an emulsifier so little quantity is needed.
You can peel the skin before marinating tomatoes, but this tomato salad tastes great with unpeeled cherry tomato as well.
Variations
- Cheese- Throw few mozzarella balls, feta cheese, or burrata to make this summer salad more delicious and nutritious.
- Other veggies- To make this cherry tomato salad more interesting add cucumber, radish, carrots, lettuce, and bell peppers.
- Make caprese- Add cucumber, basil leaves, & balsamic vinegar to make summer fresh cherry tomato Caprese salad.
- Capers add lots of flavors to this marinated tomato salad.
- Dressing- You can use pre-made Italian salad dressing as well. Instead of vinegar and oil just use the dressing. All other ingredients will remain the same.
- Spice blend- Italian spice mix will work well with tomatoes.
How To Make Marinated Cherry Tomato Salad
Wash & clean cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. You can cut them in four as well.
Toss all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and that's it (pic 1-2). Serve immediately or store in the fridge.
Your perfect fresh summer tomato salad is ready with cherry tomatoes.
Tips & FAQ's
- I prefer to make it in bulk, just prepare this cherry tomato salad and store it in the fridge. You can easily scale up the recipe.
- Always serve at room temperature. As refrigeration makes the flavors dull.
When tomatoes are seasonal then you can use them in a number of ways. Use your fresh cherry tomatoes to make a dip, side dish, or salad. Roasted cherry tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, Marinated cherry tomatoes, Pickled cherry tomatoes, Roasted cherry tomato pasta, Tomato cucumber salad, pico de gallo, and Caprese salad are a few vegetarian recipes made with cherry tomatoes. These recipes are the best way to preserve cherry tomatoes before they go bad.
Marinated tomatoes are very easy to make without investing much time. You can serve them instantly. However, it helps in absorbing the marination if left for a longer time. Leaving overnight, tomatoes will absorb the flavors and will taste so much better.
These marinated tomatoes are good to store for 5-6 days easily. The only difference is tomatoes start losing the crunch and become softer with each passing day.
If cherry tomatoes are not available you can easily replace them with grape tomatoes or any version of smaller tomatoes.
Cutting cherry tomatoes for salads is good for two reasons. 1. It is easy to bite them along with other salad ingredients. You can avoid biting a whole cherry tomato and spilling the juice by cutting them in half. 2. Cutting actually allows absorbing flavors from the dressing and other ingredients. Everything tastes so much better with cut cherry tomatoes as they all create a wonderful flavor profile. Just cutting them half is good enough, be it vertical or horizontal.
Serving & storing
Marinated cherry tomato salad makes a great side dish along with grilled protein and vegetables. Below are a few ways how to eat this quick cherry tomato salad.
- Marinated tomatoes make a great topping on avocado toast or bruschetta along with roasted vegetables.
- Serve as a salad or sides to grilled tofu, cauliflower, asparagus or salmon, fish, or chicken. You can check microwave asparagus to serve along with it.
- The best use is to add in pasta and make summer cherry tomato pasta salad. Add some mozzarella, basil and make a summer Caprese salad.
- You can also add it on top of any dip to go with pita chips like cannellini bean dip or refried beans.
You can keep it at room temperature for 4-6 hours, but any leftovers should be stored in the fridge in a container. It tastes great for 1-3 days, tomatoes get softer when marinated for a longer duration.
Since it is a quick marinated tomato salad, you can always just mix tomato, onion, herbs, rice vinegar with salt & pepper just before serving meals. It does not take much time.
Side Dishes With Cherry Tomatoes
If you like this quick marinated salad, do check a few more quick pickle recipes from the blog.
Check some summer salad recipes from the blog.
Check What goes well with tomatoes.
If you try this recipe, please consider leaving a comment and a star rating. Don't forget to tag #fitmealideas20 on Instagram or @fitmealideas on Pinterest!
Recipe
Quick Marinated Cherry Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cup cherry tomatoes I got almost 40 tomatoes depending on the size. Using a mix of tomatoes.
- ¼ cup red onion sliced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly grounded
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes optional
- 1 tablespoon cilantro use any of herbs like parsley, basil, mint
- 1 teaspoon oil
Instructions
- Wash & clean cherry tomatoes and cut them in half.2 cup cherry tomatoes
- Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and keep in the container.¼ cup red onion, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 3 tablespoon rice vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes, 1 tablespoon cilantro, 1 teaspoon oil
- Serve immediately or just store them in the fridge.
Notes
- If you want it completely oil-free just eliminate oil. Oil works as an emulsifier so little quantity is needed.
- To make this cherry tomato salad more interesting add cucumber, radish, carrots, and bell peppers.
- Capers add lots of flavors to this marinated tomato salad.
- Always serve at room temperature. As refrigeration makes the flavors dull.
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