For a quick side dish or appetizer this Italian tomato salad hits the spot. It’s lovely on its own, but it’s also great when spooned over some crusty bread, too. The flavor is fresh and so quick to make that it’s easily a go-to recipe. I love that the ease of preparation for the pay off of flavor you get with this simple dish makes it a really smooth addition to even busy dinners.

The heart of the salad is the tomatoes. I personally enjoy the flavor of beefsteak tomatoes the best, but you can use Roma or heirloom varieties, too. Just think how pretty a salad like this would be using purple or mottled heirloom tomatoes! There’s also cherry tomatoes in this recipe, cut in half so that they can soak up the dressing.

You have a lot of choice these days for cherry tomatoes, too. There are mini tomatoes, yellow pear-shaped cherry tomatoes, and the ones I used for these photos, the slightly larger ones that are really easy to slice.

There’s a bit of red onion in the mix, as well as tons of flavor from fresh garlic, fresh basil, and some fresh oregano. I never realized how different oregano tastes when it’s fresh- it’s so much better!

The trick to getting the perfect salad is to let it come together in the fridge for just 20 minutes. If it sits for a long time then it can get a bit soggy, so eating this salad same day is best.

But, you could turn any leftovers into a pasta salad by combining the salad with cooled pasta, some black olives, and some parmesan shavings.

This is a versatile dish that has no gluten or added sugar, and is vegan by default- which means it works for a lot of different diets and preferences. But, the flavor is what keeps me coming back to this salad- so fresh and lively. It’s one of my favorites.