These fresh, fun Caprese salad skewers are perfect for parties or warm summer evenings. And they might just be the easiest appetizer you'll ever make.
🌿 Ingredients
Pro tip: Make sure to look for balsamic glaze (rather than balsamic vinegar) for this recipe. It'll make the drizzling much easier and prettier for the final dish.
And if you'd like to make this recipe just as colorful as the version here, get two different colors of cherry tomatoes instead of one. You'll have some left over for another use, but it's totally worth the effort to alternate the colors. 🙂
See recipe card below for exact quantities.
📝 Instructions
Start by washing and patting dry the tomatoes and basil, and draining the mozzarella. Break the basil into separate leaves, and you can break any larger leaves into two pieces.
To assemble, I like to start with a tomato threaded onto the skewer, followed by a piece of basil and a mozzarella ball in that order. I repeat the pattern twice more and then end with one more tomato on each skewer to hold everything together nicely.
If you'd like to make it look like the photo below, simply alternate the tomato colors within each skewer, and also alternate the color that you start each skewer with.
Just before you serve them, drizzle some olive oil and balsamic glaze, and a little salt and pepper if you'd like.
📖 Variations
Love a good Caprese salad as much as I do? First, we should be friends, and second, I have more where this came from.
This Caprese chopped salad is perfect when you want to turn things into more of a light meal. (You can even add some flaked canned tuna on top and call it a night = delicious!) And if you want to stick with the appetizer theme but don't have any skewers on hand, try this basic cherry tomato Caprese that you can just serve in a bowl, or this vegan Caprese salad with avocado for a fresh twist.
💭 FAQ
The best variety of mozzarella for Caprese skewers is ciliegine, or baby mozzarella. While you could use a slightly larger variety like bocconcini, ciliegine works well since it's roughly the same size as cherry tomatoes.
Yes; grape tomatoes are a good substitute if you can't find cherry tomatoes, but keep in mind that they are generally not as sweet as cherry tomatoes (you can add a little extra balsamic glaze to make up for the sweetness though.)
In a pinch, you can use regular balsamic vinegar for Caprese skewers, but balsamic glaze will work best and will have the nicest appearance since it's easier to drizzle and better able to "stick" to the tomatoes and mozzarella.
Yes; you can assemble your Caprese skewers up to 24 hours in advance of your meal or event and then drizzle the oil and vinegar on just before your serve them to guests.
🍳 Recipe
Caprese Skewers
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Prep: Wash and dry the basil and cherry tomatoes, and break the basil into single leaves or halves of leaves if they are large. Drain and discard the water from the mozzarella balls.1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1 large bunch fresh basil, 8 ounces baby mozzarella balls
- Assemble: One skewer at a time, thread one tomato followed by a basil leaf and a mozzarella ball, repeat that sequence two more times, and then end with another cherry tomato. If you're using different colored tomatoes, you can also alternate the colors if you'd like. Assemble the rest of the skewers the same way.
- Drizzle: Line up the skewers alongside each other and drizzle them with olive oil and balsamic glaze, and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic glaze, freshly ground black pepper, sea salt
- Enjoy: Serve immediately, and enjoy!
Leave a Reply