This melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe makes a salad for lovers of the classic Italian appetiser of prosciutto and melon and quintessential Italian ingredients such as buffalo mozzarella and fresh fragrant basil. Pickled red onions add zing, while pine nuts give crunch. It’s a fab alternative to prosciutto wrapped melon wedges for a more impressive or substantial salad or side to fish, roast chicken or grilled meats.
If the traditional Italian appetiser, prosciutto e melone – thin slices of Italy‘s melt-in-the-mouth cured ham wrapped around melon wedges – is too simple for you, or you’re looking for a more impressive or more substantial version of that classic antipasto or aperitivo snack, try this Italian melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe. It’s well and truly Italy on a plate!
I’ve been making variations of this Italian melon mozzarella prosciutto salad all summer long. I serve it as a filling lunch or light dinner for mum and myself. As much as we love prosciutto and melon – especially alongside that other genius Italian pairing of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes that is the classic Caprese salad – this salad makes for a more satisfying meal.
While summer has just ended here – although it doesn’t feel like it with temperatures soaring to 34°C every day this week; that’s 93°F for our American readers – I’m going to keep making this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad as long as I can source fragrant, sweet, juicy rockmelons – or cantaloupes, as they’re called in much of the world.
This salad recipe is the first in a series of recipes for fancy filling salads I’ve been making this year that includes this Mediterranean style fig, prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, and chicken salad, a chicken salad with spring vegetables and a garlicky lemony Middle Eastern dressing, and this persimmon salad with bocconcini, pepitas and cranberries. Easily assembled, they’re perfect for a meal for two, but can be easily scaled up to feed four, six, eight or more people.
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And if you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, we have many hundreds of recipes from around the world in our archives from places we’ve lived, worked and travelled. Note that you can save your favourites by clicking on the heart on the right of any post to create your own private account. Now let me tell you more about this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe.
Melon Mozzarella Prosciutto Salad Recipe
This easy melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe will make you a fantastic filling salad that has that wonderful combination of flavours and textures that really distinguish great Italian salads and support the Italian premise that simple is best and less is more if you have quality produce – even though we’ve probably got a few too many ingredients for an Italian nonna!
Unlike those prosciutto-wrapped melon wedges, which we usually serve as a starter before pasta dishes or main courses – such as this succulent Italian roast chicken with peppers, olives and capers, this luscious Italian-Australian chicken cacciatore of Terence’s Brisbane childhood, or this crunchy chicken parmigiana, an Aussie pub favourite – this is a meal in itself.
I normally serve this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad with thick slices of crusty baguettes toasted to create Italian crostini, which I rub with garlic cloves and brush with extra virgin olive oil, or the wonderful sesame sprinkled Turkish bread that I’ve been buying from Aldi since I returned to Australia, which my mother absolutely adores. I toast that lightly just to warm it.
I want to point out that this Italian melon mozzarella prosciutto salad isn’t new and wasn’t created by a food blogger who thought she was a genius by combining the classic prosciutto and melon with a Caprese salad, despite there being no tomato in this salad. Nor was it invented by a recipe developer of a major food site, which is another claim I’ve spotted.
We first tried variations of this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad in restaurants in Milan more than twenty years ago when we were researching and writing a first edition Best of Milan guide for Lonely Planet. Although it was served as antipasto rather than salad, and it has to be said that it consisted of melon wedges, slices of creamy buffalo mozzarella, coils of prosciutto, fresh fragrant Genoese basil leaves, and drizzles of great quality extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It didn’t need anything more than that.
That’s how I made this salad until I spotted a very prettily plated melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe last year while sorting through stacks of magazines at my mother’s home. Mum never buys food magazines, so she must have picked it up in a doctor’s waiting room. I very reluctantly ripped out the page (I loathe doing that), as I had to throw the magazine out, as I’ve been preparing Mum to move house.
But I want to give credit where credit’s due. A few additional ingredients to the classic Italian combination come courtesy of that gorgeous New Zealand food magazine called Dish, and they’re the thin slices of snow peas, red onion slices and pine nuts. In the Dish recipe, the snow peas are blanched, which I don’t think is necessary (I prefer them fresh and crunchy) and the red onion slices are fresh (which are too sharp), so I like to quick pickle the red onions.
But I’m sorry to say that I didn’t love their dressing, which was all at once too sweet and too salty for me; it featured honey and a whole teaspoon of sea salt. So instead I dress this salad in a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, Italian white wine vinegar and a tablespoon of basil pesto, which I think is a better companion to the fresh basil leaves and toasted pine nuts.
I only have a few tips to making this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe, as it’s a cinch to prepare and comes together quickly.
Tips to Making this Melon Mozzarella Prosciutto Salad Recipe
Just a few tips to making this melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe, beginning with the melon.
The Melon
This melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe calls for cantaloupe, just as the classic Italian prosciutto and melon recipe does, which we call rockmelon here in Australia. But I’ve also tried slices of honeydew melon in this salad, and not only is it delicious, the green melon slices are just as pretty if you’re out to impress guests.
I’ve been using small rockmelons here in Australia, as there are just two of us, but buy a large melon or two if you’re feeding a crowd. I simply cut the melon in half, scoop out the seeds, cut the halves in half again, then slice the quarters in halves. That gives you eight large wedges but you could cut those pieces in half again for 16 thin slices. Lastly, I slice the skin off each melon piece.
The Mozzarella
For an authentic Italian salad, you’ll want Italian buffalo mozzarella, and it’s heavenly and hard to beat. But we also have wonderful Australian buffalo mozzarella here. Fior di latte, a fresh mozzarella made from cow’s milk, is also delicious.
Bocconcini, which is another type of fresh mozzarella, made from a mix of buffalo milk and cow’s milk, which comes in the form of smaller balls that tend to be spongier in texture, is also fab with this salad.
The Prosciutto
If you’re not familiar with Italian prosciutto, you need to look for prosciutto crudo, which is raw cured ham, not prosciutto cotto, which is cooked ham. Do buy the best quality prosciutto that you can afford, because it really does make a difference.
Here in Australia ,I’ve been buying 160 g packs of Italian prosciutto. But if you have good Italian delicatessen in your neighbourhood, ask for the prosciutto to be sliced paper-thin so that it melts in the mouth. And, yes, Spanish cured jamon is also sublime.
Assemble the Salad
This melon mozzarella prosciutto salad comes together quickly. First make the dressing. I shake up the extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and basil pesto in a small lidded jar, then set it aside until needed. I love to use fresh basil pesto when I can but by all means use your favourite store-bought basil pesto.
Next, make the quick pickled red onion. If you can’t source red onions use the small purple shallots. Simply add the onion slices to a small lidded jar, pour in the vinegar and olive oil, squashing down the onion so they’re submerged; top up the jar with a little more vinegar and olive oil if they’re not. With the lid on, shake the jar and leave it to sit for at least 10 minutes.
Lay the melon wedges out evenly on a serving plate, roll the prosciutto slices into coils (or tear them into pieces if you’re feeding a crowd) and place the coils of between the melon wedges. Arrange the buffalo mozzarella slices on the melon and prosciutto, place the red onion slices on top, shower the lot with pine nuts, sprinkle on the finely sliced snow peas and fresh basil leaves, and drizzle with the dressing.
I love to serve the salad at the centre of the table with crusty bread, crostini or toasted Turkish bread. If I was home in Siem Reap with my husband, we’d be eating it with Terence’s home-baked sourdough, which I hope to be doing again very soon. Enjoy!
Melon Mozzarella Prosciutto Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp basil pesto
Salad
- 1 small red onion - or purple shallot, sliced
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 melon - rockmelon or canteloupe, deseeded, sliced into wedges, peeled
- 160 g prosciutto - thin slices, around 16 pieces
- 4 buffalo mozzarella balls - drained, sliced into quarters
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- 4 snow peas - blanched, finely sliced
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Make the dressing: transfer the extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and basil pesto to a small lidded jar, shake vigorously and set aside until needed.
- Quick pickle the red onion: add the onion slices to a small lidded jar, pour the vinegar and olive oil over the onion slices; squash them down so they’re immersed in the vinegar and oil, and if they’re not top up the jar with a little more of each. Put the lid on, shake so the jar so the onion is fully coated, and leave to sit for 10 minutes or until ready to assemble the salad.
- Assemble the salad: spread the melon wedges out evenly on a serving plate, poke the coils of the prosciutto in between the melon slices, arrange the buffalo mozzarella slices on top, shower with pine nuts, sprinkle on the red onion slices, snow pea slivers and fresh basil leaves, and drizzle on the dressing.
- Serve the salad at the centre of the table with crusty bread and more dressing for drizzling.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make this Italian melon mozzarella prosciutto salad recipe, as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
