Cool Watermelon Salad

Cool Watermelon Salad is my latest funky salad addiction.

We’ve been down this funky salad road together before with Strawberry Rhubarb Salad, Marinated Cactus Salad, Crunchy Celery Salad, and more, so you know that when I jump on a new salad bandwagon, I jump in a big way. 

Cool Watermelon Salad is actually even cooler than it looks thanks to strawberries and basil.

Basil! With watermelon. And strawberries. Yes, yes, and yes!

I had a watermelon salad recently at Whole Foods but it was full of all sorts of other things like feta and onions. I kept picking out the watermelon so I decided to go very basic with this one.

Here’s what you need:

Watermelon, Strawberries, Basil, Lime, Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper

Click here for a Cool Watermelon Salad Shopping List

Cut about 4 cups of watermelon into cubes and place them in a bowl.

I’m sure I had a little more than 4 cups – I used 1/2 of a big wedge of watermelon.

Remove the stems from 1 pint of strawberries, cut them into pieces, and add them to the bowl.

Remove about 10 leaves from the stalks of some lovely, fragrant fresh basil. Stack them up together and roll them into a little basil cigar.

Slice across the top of the basil cigar (watch your fingers!) with a sharp knife and you will create little basil strips or to use the fancy cooking term, chiffonade.

If your basil leaves are fairly large, you might want to make one cut down the middle (the other direction) to cut your strips into smaller pieces.

Add the basil to the bowl of fruit. You want about 2 Tablespoons of basil.

For the dressing, juice 1/2 a lime or about 1 Tablespoon. Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil,

1/2 teaspoon salt, and several grindings of black pepper. Yes, pepper!

Pepper is the weird, unexpected ingredient that puts this salad over the top and right into the funky category.

The funky category is a great place to be if you ask me.

Give the dressing a quick whisk and pour it over the salad.

Toss very gently to coat, give it a taste, and if you’re feeling bold, add just a bit more black pepper over the top!

THIS. IS. SO. GOOD!

Please promise me that you’ll give this Cool Watermelon Salad a try.

It’s especially refreshing if you’re melting in your house in Florida without a working air conditioner. Yup.

I pretty much ate that entire bowl by myself last night for dinner. This recipe makes 4 servings and is best eaten right away. I had a little bit leftover today and it was okay, but not as crisp and crunchy as on day one.

Here’s the recipe:

Cool Watermelon Salad