Tomato Artichoke Salad

Name: Tomato Artichoke Salad
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 500 g tomatoes (mixed); 5 marinated artichoke hearts; ¼ red onion; ½ cup red sorrel leaves; 50 g capers; ½ bunch basil; ½ bunch mint; 4 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 lemon (zest and juice); salt (to taste); pepper (to taste)

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Simple, fresh ingredients combined for a quick and easy tomato artichoke salad with a homemade basil mint salad dressing that is full of punchy summer flavours. This is a vegan and gluten free salad perfect for barbecues, picnics and potluck gatherings.

a black plate of tomato artichoke salad with a black fork

Jump to:

Why You’ll Love Our Tomato Artichoke Salad
What Are Marinated Artichoke Hearts?
How To Use Marinated Artichoke Hearts?
Recipe Overview
Ingredients
Variations and Substitutions
Instructions
How to Make This Salad Perfectly (Expert Tips)
Great Mains for This Salad
Frequently Asked Questions
Recipe

Why You’ll Love Our Tomato Artichoke Salad

Fast and Furious. Ha, no, we are not talking about cars. I love how this is a super quick artichoke tomato salad that I can prepare in less than 20 minutes and is packed with furious flavour.

The combination of sweet tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts with fresh basil and mint dressing shouts everything that is summer with a nod to classic Tuscan flavours.

It’s a great easy no cook salad recipe to have up your sleeve as it only requires a few simple ingredients that you most likely have in your kitchen or simply purchased at your local supermarket.

And just like our Tomato panzanella recipe, this is an easy tomato recipe to whip up for vegan friends.

This artichoke tomato salad recipe is a simple and flavourful side dish that’s great to transport for picnics, barbecues and potluck gatherings.

What Are Marinated Artichoke Hearts?

As a lover of antipasto, my pantry and fridge are often stocked with marinated goodies. Whether it be olives, anchovies, baby cornichons, octopus or a jar of marinated artichoke hearts.

You never know when friends will pop over for a casual catch up or when a glass of red wine is needed. Having these antipasto staples in the kitchen makes life so much easier.

Marinated artichokes are usually made with artichoke hearts preserved in extra virgin oil and vinegar, plus added herbs and spices such as oregano, garlic and chilli pepper.

You can, of course, make your own marinated artichokes, but I prefer to buy mine marinated in a jar as the prep work in going into cutting and cooking artichoke hearts is a bit much for me.

Having a jar of marinated artichoke hearts can really be a lifesaver as there are so many uses for them.

4 pieces of marinated artichoke hearts on a light grey plate with white background

How To Use Marinated Artichoke Hearts?

Other than a delicious antipasto platter, have you considered other marinated artichoke recipes?

Here are five great ideas to use marinated artichoke hearts:

Toss with pan fried potato to make a delicious and hearty potato salad.
Add as pizza or bruschetta toppings.
Mix into a light pasta recipe with capers, arugula and parmesan cheese.
Thinly slice them and, together with mushrooms, add them in an omelette for lunch.
Blitz together with spinach and ricotta for a delicious dip.

Marinated artichoke hearts are a versatile ingredient that I think no pantry should do without.

Recipe Overview

Flavour/Texture: This salad is quite simple with only a few ingredients. I love the freshness of how everything comes together.

Sweet tomatoes with tangy marinated artichoke hearts, tiny pops of salty capers, and red onion mixed with zippy basil mint salad dressing deliver a fresh, tangy, and herbaceous flavour.

Ease: This is a super easy salad to make as there is not much work other than slicing a few ingredients and blitzing the salad dressing. No cooking involved.

Time: Depending on how quickly you can slice and blitz. You need approximately 20 minutes.

Ingredients

These are the main ingredients you need for Tomato Artichoke Salad:

mix of different varieties of tomatoes in a white bowl

Tomatoes: I chose a couple of larger beefsteak tomatoes, smaller sweet golden grape and red cherry plus medium sized truss tomatoes. They were chosen for the varying sizes, colours and flavours. It definitely creates more interest in the salad than in having one tomato variety.

There is no need to choose the same varieties as I have, just use what you like and can find.

Marinated artichoke hearts: I buy my pre-marinated artichoke hearts in a jar at a local supermarket. You can also buy canned artichoke hearts but I don’t find them as flavourful.

Red onion: For extra colour and punchy flavours, I added thin slices of red onion for balance.

Micro red sorrel: I found a punnet of micro red sorrel leaves at my green grocer and loved the colours for this artichoke salad recipe.

Red sorrel has a lemony and slightly piquant flavour which is a great counterpoint to the other flavours of the salad.

Capers: I love pops of salty capers in salads. Use any leftovers for this delicious caper vinaigrette.

Basil / Mint: Beautiful, aromatic and refreshing, both basil and mint create a wonderful base for this salad dressing. They are perfect companions for tomatoes as well.

Variations and Substitutions

Marinated vs canned artichoke hearts: In general, marinated artichoke hearts in jars are preserved in oil and have extra seasonings such as spices and herbs. Whilst canned artichoke hearts are preserved in brine.

You can use canned artichoke hearts for this recipe, but I would toss the canned artichoke hearts in extra virgin olive oil and dried oregano before adding them to the salad.

Red sorrel substitute: If you cannot find red sorrel, fresh basil leaves are a fantastic substitute to create a more classic Tuscan-inspired tomato artichoke salad combination.

Other ingredients: You can add other ingredients to create your own variation for tomato artichoke salad, including:

chickpeas
olives
marinated peppers
feta cheese
arugula or leafy greens
chives

Alternative salad dressing: If you don’t have basil and mint on hand, you can switch the basil mint salad dressing with an easy oregano vinaigrette or classic Italian dressing.

Instructions

Step by step instructions for how to make tomato artichoke salad:

How to Make The Salad

For the larger tomatoes like beefsteak, we want to cut them crossways. Place the tomato sideways and slice the tomato into ½ cm thick slices.

For the smaller tomatoes, cut them in half from top to bottom. If you have very small cherry tomatoes, you can leave some of them whole too.

Cut marinated artichoke hearts into quarters.

Peel and slice red onion into half moons.

How To Make Basil and Mint Dressing

I used my food processor for this salad dressing as it was the quickest way to combine the ingredients. You can finely chop everything if no food processor is available.

Place basil and mint into a food processor and blitz until well blended. Add lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and olive oil and blend until combined.

Finally, add lemon zest and stir together.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

How to Assemble the Salad

On a large serving plate, place larger tomato slices first around the plate. Then layer the smaller tomatoes around the slices. Mix them around so you can have a variety of colours and flavours.

Layer cut artichoke hearts on top of tomatoes.

Pick micro red sorrel leaves and scatter over salad.

Scatter sliced red onions and capers.

Drizzle fresh mint dressing over salad. Serve immediately.

a black spoon scooping basil mint dressing over a plate of tomato artichoke salad

How to Make This Salad Perfectly (Expert Tips)

Buy fresh tomatoes: There is no hiding for this tomato artichoke salad recipe. Therefore it is important to use fresh, ripe tomatoes that are in season.

Drain marinated artichoke hearts well: If you are using jarred marinated artichokes, be sure to drain the excess oil. As we are using a dressing, you don’t want the salad to drown in oil. And if you are using canned artichoke hearts, be sure to drain all the water/brine properly.

Great Mains for This Salad

What to serve with Tomato Artichoke Salad? Try these delicious main dish recipes:

These homemade chicken doner kebabs are made with succulent chicken thighs and would be perfectly married up with our tomato artichoke salad.

For those pescatarian days, this grilled salmon with lemon and herbs is super simple yet flavoursome while you can’t go wrong with a classic moussaka recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I prepare this salad ahead of time?

You can cut the salad ingredients in advance and then assemble when ready to serve.

Uses for leftover basil and mint dressing?

Great zippy basil mint dressing that would work well not only for leafy green salads but with boiled potatoes, roast lamb or steamed greens.

Which tomatoes to use for tomato salad?

I lovetomatoes. I’m quite happy to pop cherry tomatoes as a snack. I also get very excited when I see the huge variety of tomatoes we can get when they are in season.

With more than 3000 tomato varieties cultivated across the globe, there are plenty of options to choose from. Depending on the variety, tomatoes can be sweet, tart or tangy.

Larger varieties like beefsteak can be less sweet compared to smaller varieties. I love using them in classic Caprese salad or Burrata tomato salad.

Smaller cherry tomatoes or sweet tiny tomberry tomatoes are perfect in tossed salads like
Tomberry and Pomegranate salad or Fattoush salad.

Get inspired with all the tomatoes available for salads in our must-try tomato salad collection.

What is red sorrel?

Red sorrel is a leafy herb with a distinct lemony flavour and slightly acidic bite. I had never tried it before and couldn’t resist the beautiful colours when I saw them at the local green grocer, so I had to buy a pot of micro red sorrel and give it a go.

I learnt through searching what red sorrel pairs well with that it is a detoxifying herb. Mature leaves are often used to prepare juice or steeped in hot water as a tea to help cleanse and reduce inflammation.

However, due to the oxalic acid in the leaves, overconsumption can cause irritation in the tummy, so best to use sparingly.

Young red sorrel leaves are great in salads but more mature leaves can be cooked like spinach which is perfect in soups, sauces or tarts.

Easy. Fresh. Delicious. I love how simple ingredients can come together with minimal effort and create a super tasty tomato artichoke salad. This recipe can be easily prepared in under 20 minutes and is a fantastic side dish recipe for barbecues, fish or vegetarian tart.

Our tomato artichoke salad with basil mint dressing is worth adding to your weekly menu.

That’s all!

More Summer Salad Recipes

a black plate of tomato artichoke salad on a wooden board with slices of bread and a small bowl of dressing on the top

Recipe

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