Spring and summer demand colorful, light, refreshing salads. So here it is our Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad, but with major flavor bender… delicious basil pesto dressing.
This one is there for you to brighten up any meal of the day. Dig into it with your scrambled eggs and toast first thing in the morning, or along with your favorite sandwich for lunch, or use it as a topping for your taco night.
Its buttery delicious flavors, thanks to avo and mozz, are surely going to be your favorite this coming summer…
My favorite kind of salad involves lots and lots of avocado. There is something so delicious when you bite into that buttery goodness. Now just amp up the flavors with those delicious super buttery small mozzarella pearl like balls. You are in for a real treat.
Mix in the regular salad fixings like cucumber, red onion and tomatoes. Go for prettier looking cherry tomatoes, they are born to be in salads. Find multi colored cherry tomatoes for a more colorful salad.
Instead of regular salad dressing, go for tons of flavor with our basil pesto dressing with a little lemon juice. Freshly made basil pesto is absolutely great, and this is the salad to make if you have homemade pesto lurking in your refrigerator.
Our basil pesto is something we make all the time when we come across big bunches of basil in the grocery store. In its absence, store bought pesto would work too.
Ingredients for this Summer Salad
- Cherry or grape tomatoes – multi colored if you find them
- Avocados
- Cucumber
- Red onion
- Small fresh mozzarella balls
- For Salad Dressing – Basil pesto, lemon juice, salt and pepper
How to Make Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad
It’s as easy and quick as cutting your veggies. Simply dice the cucumber, tomatoes and avocado to your desired bite size. Halve the mozzarella balls, or keep them intact.
Mix basil pesto with lemon juice and salt and pepper, then toss the dressing with all the diced up veggies and mozzarella… DONE!
Variations and Super Simple Ideas to Bulk Up the Salad
- Add in corn and/or black beans to give it a Mexican twist.
- Try other salad fixings of your choice like bell peppers, olives or even chickpeas.
- How about supplementing it with protein? Add in leftover rotisserie or grilled chicken, cooked shrimp, boiled eggs. It’s very filling and satisfying.
- For a tropical twist, some diced fresh mangoes would be so delish.
- Don’t have Pesto? No worries… Stick to the regular salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper with dash of honey.
Tips for Buying Good Avocados
Buying a good ripe avocado always seems like a challenge. You want that perfectly ripe avo, as they are the star of this salad. Ripe avocados are typically dark, almost black in color.
Stay away from green skinned avocados, as they are most likely under ripe. A ripe avocado should yield to gentle pressure, but it shouldn’t be overly soft. Your avocados should be on the firmer side.
You can also check your avocados for ripeness by peeling back the small stem on top. If the avocado is green under the stem, it’s ripe.
How Do You Keep Avocado From Turning Brown?
The best way to keep the avocado in this salad from turning brown is to coat it in dressing as soon as it’s cut. The dressing contains lime juice, and the acid in the lime juice will help to preserve the green color of the avocado.
That being said, eventually the avocado may still show some discoloration, so it’s best to eat this salad soon after it’s prepared. If you’re prepping the salad well in advance, we suggest make the salad without adding the avocado and store it in the refrigerator covered with cling wrap. When ready to serve, mix in the freshly cut avocado and give it all a toss.
So next time you happen to have some great looking avocado, make this super simple avocado salad with cucumber and tomatoes. This one is a perfect contender to add to your next cookout spread, and watch it disappear faster than the time it took to make it!
Take a bite and marvel at all the good summer things in your life. Have fun… Spring is just round the corner!
Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad with Pesto, on our Gypsy Plate… enjoy!
More fresh and healthy salads:
Spanish Piprrana
Balela Salad
Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Zucchini Carrot Salad
Rainbow Pasta Salad
Thanksgiving Kale Salad
Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad with Pesto
Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad with Pesto is a light and refreshing side dish bursting with great flavors!
Ingredients
Salad
- 1lb cherry or grape tomatoes (multi colored), halved
- 2 avocados, diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1/4- 1/3 cup red onion, sliced
- 8oz small fresh mozzarella balls
Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup basil pesto
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine cherry or grape tomatoes halves, diced avocado, diced cucumber, diced red onion, mozzarella cheese balls.
- Mix all the salad dressing ingredients in a bowl, then toss it with the salad. You can serve this at room temperature or refrigerated. (In case you are making it ahead of time, add in avocado to the salad just before serving to preserve the fresh green color)
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 306Total Fat 22gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 27mgSodium 348mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 7gSugar 11gProtein 10g
Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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