Our easy Caprese pasta salad recipe is inspired by the classic Italian Caprese salad from the idyllic island of Capri of sweet juicy tomatoes, creamy buffalo mozzarella and fragrant basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and optional balsamic vinegar. Just as deliciously simple, it’s made with cherry tomatoes, bocconcini, and cooled, cooked, dried orecchiette, doused in extra virgin olive oil, drizzled with balsamic glaze, and showered with fresh basil.
This Caprese pasta salad recipe makes the sublime Caprese salad from the captivating Mediterranean island of Capri in the form of a pasta salad. You can follow my recipe and make this quick and easy pasta salad from scratch. Or combine leftover Caprese salad you might have with cooled, cooked dried orecchiette or another favourite pasta. If you enjoy this, also try this quick, easy, creamy Caprese-inspired pasta recipe.
My Caprese pasta salad recipe might not be one of those recipes that make even better leftovers, because it’s pretty hard to beat a great Caprese salad. Tomato and buffalo mozzarella are one of those great flavour combinations, like prosciutto and melon. But this is a fantastic use of Caprese salad leftovers to make a speedy pasta salad that’s as deliciously simple as the original classic Italian salad.
And the key is simplicity – the best lesson to learn from Italian cooking – great quality ingredients with a simple dressing of the best quality extra virgin olive oil and best quality balsamic vinegar you can afford. There’s no need for honey or maple syrup (!), raw garlic or shallots, herbs such as dried oregano or thyme. Just do as the Italians do and keep things simple.
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Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe Inspired by the Classic Salad from Capri
I’ve had this quick and easy Caprese pasta salad recipe on repeat over the last year. As regular readers know, I’ve been in Australia caring and cooking for my mother, who is addicted to pasta and cheese. Mum also adores the traditional Caprese salad, which I introduced her to when we spent time on Capri in Italy years ago. We were on a European trip that was part grieving-part healing following dad’s death.
It was a bittersweet adventure, intended to enable us to grieve together, as well as ‘get over’ dad’s death. But as I now know all these years later, you never stop grieving and never ‘get over’ the death of someone you loved. There were many good times, many memories I’ll treasure, but they always ended with sighs and a “dad would have loved this…”.
The best times always involved great food – often savoured with glasses of vino in hand, and glorious water vistas before us. Perhaps because dad was raised on a farm, he loved the beach, ocean and lakes. So many times it felt like dad was there with us – particularly during those divine meals with a view. Dad loved his food – especially washed down with wine!
And I know he would have loved this delicious Caprese pasta salad, just as much as my mum does, just as he would have loved Italy and Capri.
I’ve spent a lot of time at the stove over the last year cooking for mum, sensing dad by my side or imagining him washing the dishes – which he bewilderingly loved to do. It continually amazes me how food has the power to transport us to places, and how memories of food and sharing meals with loved-ones can help channel those no longer with us.
But I’ve taken a detour, so let me get back on track: this quick and easy Caprese pasta salad recipe doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and I know there are loads of other recipes for Caprese salad pastas ‘out there’. But some recipes I’ve come across are unnecessarily complicated or call for ingredients that don’t need to be there or have no place in a Caprese salad and should be called something else.
My speedy Caprese pasta salad recipe calls for the handful of ingredients that distinguish a classic Italian Caprese salad – sweet juicy tomatoes (in this case, cherry tomatoes), fresh mozzarella (in the form of the small mozzarella balls called bocconcini), fragrant basil leaves, good extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar (here I use balsamic glaze), and ground cracked black pepper – along with the pasta that makes it a pasta salad.
Buy the best quality ingredients you can afford and you really won’t need more than that. But if you’re serving this Caprese pasta salad to family or friends, serve it with more aromatic basil, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar (or glaze), pepper and salt, and let your guests customise it as they like. Don’t forget the crusty bread to soak up the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar at the end
Just a few tips to making this Caprese pasta salad recipe as it’s super easy to make and comes together quickly.
Tips to Making this Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe Inspired by the Classic Salad from Capri
I only have a few tips to making this Caprese pasta salad recipe, starting with the ingredients.
The Ingredients
Italian cooking is rooted in simplicity with very little done to fresh quality ingredients; just enough to let them shine.
Do buy the best quality produce you can afford when it comes to the bocconcini, fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. I find truss tomatoes or vine-ripened tomatoes are the sweetest and juiciest.
The same goes for the quality Italian extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or balsamic glaze if you’re using store-bought, and cracked black pepper and salt. Note that I haven’t included salt, as I don’t think it’s needed, but if you do it use it, use a pinch of quality salt.
Balsamic Glaze
I’ve been using a good balsamic glaze from Modena in Italy, home to the world’s best balsamic vinegar, which is very affordable. You don’t need to buy a fancy brand. Balsamic glaze is more syrupy in texture than balsamic vinegar, and it has loads of deep flavour, so I use it sparingly.
But if you can’t find store-bought balsamic glaze, it’s super easy to make. A balsamic glaze is also known as a balsamic reduction, as you’re essentially reducing the balsamic vinegar to a more concentrated form by simmering it on the stove with a sweetener such as sugar or honey.
How to Make Balsamic Glaze
Check the label of a good Italian balsamic glaze and the ingredients are little more than balsamic vinegar and cane sugar. Some balsamic glaze products don’t have any sugar, but can be a bit too tart for most people. Taste the balsamic vinegar on its own first, and if you enjoy it, you probably won’t need sugar.
To make balsamic glaze, heat one cup of balsamic vinegar and an optional sweetener (eg. 2 tablespoons or sugar or a quarter cup of honey) in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking continuously so it doesn’t burn. When it begins to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring frequently until it reduces by half, then remove from the heat to cool.
It will take around 15 minutes to make a balsamic glaze and you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate it in a sealed container for a couple of weeks.
The Pasta
I love using dried orecchiette pasta with this salad, which is nothing like the fresh homemade orecchiette that Terence learn to make in Alberobello in Puglia in Southern Italy.
Orecchiette translates to ‘little ears’ in Italian, but look more like shell pasta, while dried orecchiette pasta actually looks more like real ears – round ears! –and has a ridge that holds the extra virgin olive oil. Use any dried pasta you like.
The Process
This Caprese pasta salad recipe couldn’t be easier to make and is essentially a two-stage process.
Cook the Pasta
First you’ll cook the pasta until al dente according to the packet instructions, around 10 minutes for dried orecchiette. When the pasta is al dente, turn the heat off, let the pasta sit for one minute (no more), then drain it into a colander, and run cold water over the pasta to cool.
Prep the Salad
While the pasta is cooking, to a large mixing bowl or big salad bowl, add the halves of cherry tomatoes and bocconcini, one cup of fresh basil leaves, extra quality virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze, and ground cracked black pepper, and stir to combine well.
Assemble the Pasta Salad
When the pasta has cooled down, transfer it to the bowl of salad ingredients and toss, slide it onto a serving plate or into a salad bowl, drizzle with a little more extra quality virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze, grind on more cracked black pepper, and sprinkle on more fresh basil leaves.
To Serve
Serve the Caprese pasta salad immediately with crusty bread as a main dish for lunch or dinner or as a side to a roast chicken or barbecue meats. Enjoy!
Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe Inspired by the Classic Salad from Capri
Ingredients
- 250 g dried orecchiette pasta - or any pasta shape you like
- 250 g cherry tomatoes - cut in halves
- 200 g bocconcini - small fresh mozzarella balls
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves - divided
- 3 tbsp extra quality virgin olive oil - best you can afford
- 1 tbsp balsamic glaze - store-bought or homemade, see notes
- ¼ tsp ground cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: put a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. When it’s on a rolling boil, add the dried orecchiette and cook until al dente according to the packet instructions, around 10 minutes for dried orecchiette.
- When the pasta is al dente, turn the heat off, let the pasta sit for one minute (no more), then drain it into a colander, and run cold water over the pasta to cool.
- While the pasta is cooking: to a large mixing bowl or bi salad bowl, add the halves of cherry tomatoes and bocconcini, one cup of fresh basil leaves, extra quality virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze, and ground cracked black pepper, and stir to combine well.
- Assemble the pasta salad: when the pasta has cooled down, transfer it to the bowl of salad ingredients and toss, slide it onto a serving plate or into a salad bowl, drizzle with a little more extra quality virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze, grind on more cracked black pepper, and sprinkle on more fresh basil leaves.
- Serve immediately with crusty bread as a main dish for lunch or dinner or as a side to a roast chicken or barbecue meats.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make our easy Caprese pasta salad recipe as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
