Add Cucumbers For A Bright Crunch In Caprese Salad

The Caprese salad is easily a fan favorite for salad enthusiasts. Consisting of just a handful of ingredients — tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, as well as a balsamic and olive oil glaze and topped with salt and pepper — it's as easy to make as it is tasty. However, there is one thing that is missing when it comes to texture: crunch. Between the creamy mozzarella and the ripe tomatoes, the main ingredients have a soft, albeit delicious, bite. Luckily, there's an easy fix for this: Add cucumber into the mix.

Cucumbers are light and refreshing, with a mild taste so they won't impact the overall flavor of the Caprese. But most importantly, the addition of cucumber will give the salad the crunch that it's missing, making it even more refreshing and perfect for a summertime lunch.

To include cucumbers in your Caprese salad, simply slice the cucumbers and integrate them evenly into the salad, amongst the tomatoes and mozzarella. You could opt to make a chopped Caprese salad to make it even easier to infuse an extra ingredient.

Now that you know that adding cucumber can take your Caprese salad to the next level, you may be wondering if there are other ingredients you can add to upgrade the classic dish. If you're looking for that crunch, but aren't a huge fan of cucumber, then you may want to consider adding watermelon. Watermelon will give a bit of texture, as well as some extra juiciness. Plus, like cucumber, it has a somewhat mild flavor, so it won't overpower the other ingredients.

If you're not worried about the extra crunch but want to make the salad more filling, you could opt for some added avocado slices — this will make the meal a bit more hearty and keep it vegetarian. Additionally, you could add tortellini pasta to take your Caprese salad to the next level and make it into a more unique dish.

Or, if you're not worried about keeping it vegetarian, you can add grilled chicken breast into the mix, which will help fill you up without making the dish overly heavy. Plus, any of these ideas will work beautifully with the extra addition of cucumber.