Easy Burrata Salad

This burrata salad with juicy tomatoes and peppery arugula comes together in 5 minutes! It’s the perfect easy appetizer for any meal.

Arugula and Tomato Burrata Salad | A Couple Cooks

Burrata is the most sensational treat: a pouch of mozzarella filled with cream and fresh cheese. Cheese filled with creamy cheese? It’s just as epic as it sounds. When I traveled to the Amalfi Coast a few years ago, I stayed with Alex in a little B&B in a town up in the cliffs called Montepertuso (near Positano).

On our last night we went to a small, family-owned white table cloth restaurant. The food was pretty good, but I remember only one thing: the burrata salad. Here’s a burrata salad just like the one we ordered!

What Is Burrata Cheese?

Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese that is made by wrapping a thin shell of mozzarella around a filling of stracciatella, which is torn curds and fresh cream. The moment you cut into it, the cream floods the plate (and in this case, becomes part of the dressing for the salad).

The entire portion of the burrata is edible, including the skin or shell and the creamy insides. Burrata costs more than mozzarella because it’s labor-intensive. For a five-minute appetizer that tastes like a restaurant plate, I think it’s worth it.

Ingredients You Need

This burrata salad with tomatoes and arugula is all about the simplicity of fresh, incredible ingredients. After cutting into the cheese, the cream floods the plate as a sort of dressing for the tomatoes and peppery arugula beneath it. This arugula and tomato burrata salad would go well as an appetizer with our other Italian-inspired recipes, or any summer meal. Here’s what you need:

Burrata cheese: You can find burrata cheese more easily these days in grocery stores in the US. Alex and I can even find it locally made at our farmers market.
Arugula: I recommend using baby arugula here: I prefer it for its feathery texture and milder flavor.
Ripe tomatoes: Don’t even think about using out of season tomatoes here! They need to be perfectly ripe and juicy for this salad to taste incredible.
Olive oil and vinegar: All you’ll do is sprinkle a little olive oil and white wine vinegar over the salad, and it’s complete! It’s so easy, it’s barely even a recipe (more of a concept).

How To Make Burrata Salad

Because the burrata cheese is creamy inside, it makes serving a little more challenging! Here’s what what to do:

Arrange the greens and burrata. Spread a bed of baby arugula on a large platter and set the whole ball of burrata right in the center.
Top with tomatoes, oil, and vinegar: Scatter the tomatoes around the cheese, drizzle generously with extra-virgin olive oil, and add a splash of white wine vinegar. Finish with a sprinkling of kosher salt and cracked pepper.
Cut the burrata at the table. It then spills out to dress the salad even more.

Serving Burrata Salad

This works as an appetizer for 4 on a large platter, or as a side salad for 2 — which is how Alex and I had it, shared at that small restaurant in the hills on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Other ways you can serve it:

As a starter for pasta night, especially before pasta puttanesca or vegetarian lasagna.
On a pizza night spread, along with a homemade margherita pizza or Italian calzones!
As part of an appetizer table, with my other Italian appetizers or with an antipasto platter.
For a summer cookout, with anything off the grill.

Flavor Variations To Try

Peach burrata salad: Swap half the tomatoes for ripe peach slices: see my Peach Burrata Salad (my favorite!).

Panzanella-style: Add torn day-old bread to soak up the juices, similar to panzanella.

With balsamic: A drizzle of balsamic glaze adds a hint of sweetness.

Storage And Make-Ahead Notes

This burrata salad is meant to be eaten immediately: the cheese does not last once it is cut. To make it ahead, you can slice the tomatoes and store them in the fridge, then assemble everything right before serving.

Keep unopened burrata in its brine in the refrigerator and use it within its use-by date. Leftover burrata is great in scrambled eggs, in a sandwich, or on pizza!

Dietary Notes

This burrata salad recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.