Easy Spanish Tomato Salad Recipe

The temperatures are rising, the sun is shining brighter, and that can only mean that summer is right around the corner.

Do not let the summer find you unarmed, you have to be prepared to fight it with the freshest dishes, and one of them is the Spanish tomato salad.

This is the ultimate summer salad because it refreshes you immediately, so keep reading this article to learn how to make this Spanish salad and give it a chance.

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Background of the Dish

The Spanish tomato salad is one of the oldest Spanish salad recipes, and it combines all the best flavors of Andalusia.

Some people even say that eating this salad is similar to eating gazpacho, and it makes sense because most of the ingredients are the same.

The main difference with other tomato salads, like the recipe for cherry tomato salad, is that on this one you use regular tomatoes cut into large pieces, so you get to feel the texture and flavor of it. 

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Things You’ll Need for Spanish Tomato Salad

To prepare the Spanish tomato salad you need onion, garlic clove, manchego cheese, olive oil, vinegar, and of course, tomatoes.

However, you still can make a lot of changes to the tomato and onion salad recipe, so don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients at home.

Ingredients

• 5 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 100gr manchego cheese
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley (optional)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (or to taste)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

How to Make Spanish Tomato Salad – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this Spanish tomato salad recipe you have to wash the tomatoes. Chop them into slices and place them in a large bowl or plate. You can peel them if you prefer, but if you wash them properly there are no problems with the skin.

2. Now peel and chop the onion julienne-style. If you want it to have a softer flavor, put the onion slices in a strainer and run some hot water on top of them, this will make the flavor milder. Set them aside for a bit.

3. After that, you have to peel the garlic, and mince it. Then, pour it over the tomato.

4. For the next step on this cheese tomato salad, add the onions to the bowl and season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Cover with the Spanish salad a drizzle of olive oil and another drizzle with a smaller amount of vinegar to dress the salad. This is the dressing for the classic Spanish version, but you can use any other dressing of your choice.

6. Now, put the parsley (optional), and mix all the salad so that everything is completely coated in the dressing and parsley. Taste it to see if it needs more seasoning.

7. Shred the manchego cheese and pour it on top of the cheese and tomato salad, and now you can serve it.

Substitution of Ingredients

We love this Spanish tomato salad because the ingredients are super easy to find all year round.

Still, you can make some changes to almost all of them, so feel free to play with the tomato onion salad recipe as much as you like.

For example, you can replace the tomatoes with cherry tomatoes (or technically other vegetables can work too, it’s a salad after all).

If you can’t find manchego cheese, you can shred some parmesan cheese on top, or just skip that step.

Besides that, you can prepare this onion tomato salad recipe without the garlic if you don’t like it (although it is the spirit of the Spanish flavor), and replace the onion with red onions.

The Spanish salad dressing is a mix between olive oil and vinegar (as described in the step-by-step fresh tomato salad recipe) but you can use any other dressing of your choice.

Finally, you can turn this into a tomato and cucumber salad recipe. If you add some slices or pieces of cucumber, it will be the freshest salad.

If you want an easy salad for summer, we recommend you try the ensalada de pepino, a delicious cucumber salad just perfect for fighting the hot days.

Tips on Serving Spanish Tomato Salad

The Spanish tomato salad is the perfect side dish or appetizer, and you can serve it for lunch or dinner.

If you want this Spanish-style salad to be the main dish, then you should serve larger portions, and we still recommend adding some protein or more cheese to make it filling.

You can serve this dish as soon as you finish making the Spanish salad recipe, but if you want it to be colder then place it in the fridge (before dressing it) for 30 minutes before serving.

Lastly, you can do like other Spanish tomato salad recipes and add croutons, or toast your favorite bread with olive oil and place it right next to the salad for serving.

Don’t miss our easy-to-make Spanish potato salad with beets and the Spanish potato salad with tuna, which are both nutritious and healthy.

Another salad for summer that is refreshing and easy to make is the ensalada de zanahoria, a delicious Spanish carrot salad recipe.

How to Store Spanish Tomato Salad

Unfortunately, you can’t store the Spanish tomato salad for too long.

After you chop the tomatoes, you shouldn’t store them for more than 2 hours before serving, because they get a weird texture both on the inside and outside.

Besides that, after you dress traditional Spanish salads you have to serve them right away or wait 45 minutes at the most, because otherwise the vinegar makes the ingredients go bad.

Some Spanish salads that can be stored for longer are the Spanish potato salad and the Spanish seafood salad.

Recipe Card: Spanish Tomato Salad

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