This Burrata and Prosciutto Salad with Arugula is pretty hard to beat. It's creamy, rich, with the perfect zing of freshness, acidity, and salty prosciutto. An ultra-satisfying mouthful, with flavorful and fulfilling bites. You can serve it as a side dish, or even your entire meal!
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Please note: This recipe was originally photographed in April of 2021, but we updated the photos and some of the instructions in March of 2022! We hope you enjoy it!
We start with a base of peppery arugula. Drizzle it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice. Sprinkle on the salt, black pepper, lemon zest, and a dusting of fresh basil. Top it off with tomatoes, creamy burrata cheese, prosciutto, and pan fried leeks.
This salad is fantastic. The flavors provide the perfect balance. Never groan at the thought of a salad again!
You may also like this pear arugula salad, this burrata caprese, or these baked nectarines and cherries with burrata.
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❤️Why we love this recipe
- Simple ingredients - You don't need super fancy ingredients to make something that tastes restaurant-quality! All you need are some simple, high-quality ingredients for a truly delicious salad. You can find all the ingredients you need at most grocery stores.
- Quick and easy - If you love things that are ready in under 30 minutes, this recipe is for you!
- Great recipe for any occasion - Need an easy appetizer or side dish for a dinner party, date night or get together? This dish is simple enough to whip up in just a few minutes, but it tastes decadent and luxurious. Perfect! It's also great for a quick and easy dinner, we do it all the time. 😉
- Naturally low carb, refined sugar free, and gluten free - No need to worry about anything funky being added to this salad. It suits multiple diet types!
🌿Ingredients
✏️Ingredient notes
You can find full quantities and nutritional information in the recipe card.
- Baby arugula - Bright and peppery arugula is the perfect green base for this salad.
- Prosciutto di Parma - Salty, lightly sweet and buttery. The perfect way to add protein and immense flavor to this salad. Make sure you pick a good quality prosciutto here for the best flavor. You may also like adding this crispy prosciutto.
- Burrata cheese
- Tomatoes - We love using fresh and sweet cherry tomatoes, cut in half. We opted for some locally grown tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are also great here.
- Leeks - We fry leeks up with a pinch of salt in some olive oil. They will get nice and browned and crispy.
- Olive oil - Good quality extra virgin olive oil is key here for the robust flavor. Since we don't serve this salad with a specific dressing, this is what adds a lot of flavor. If you prefer a specific dressing, feel free to try it with our honey lemon vinaigrette! We think cooking the leeks in this oil gives the salad such incredible flavor.
- Salt and black pepper
- Lemon juice and zest
- Balsamic vinegar
- Fresh basil
📖Instructions
🔪Prep work
- Clean leeks by cutting them into rounds, and placing the rounds in a bowl of water for about 10 minutes. Leeks have many layers that trap dirt, so this allows the dirt to sink to the bottom of the bowl.
- Place burrata in a bowl of warm water instead of brine. Warm water will help the burrata become super creamy on the inside!
- Halve your cherry tomatoes.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add cleaned leeks to the skillet with a pinch of salt. Cook until golden brown, then remove the oil and the leeks from the skillet and set them aside to dress the salad later.
Pro tip: Season the arugula before you build the salad! Add lemon zest, salt, and pepper.
Squeeze on some of the fresh lemon juice, and drizzle on some of the balsamic vinegar.
Now, add in the halved cherry tomatoes and some of the pan fried leeks and olive oil.
Add in the burrata and slices of prosciutto, then split the burrata into pieces.
Finally, garnish the salad with fresh basil, more leeks, leek-infused olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and zest, plus balsamic vinegar. Enjoy!
💭Frequently asked questions
Burrata is a very soft and luscious cheese made from cow's milk. It comes shaped in a ball, and looks similar to a ball of fresh mozzarella. Burrata cheese has a very loose texture. There are soft cheese curds with cream wrapped up inside of an outer shell made of mozzarella cheese.
Both mozzarella and burrata are born in southern Italy, but burrata is the much younger of the two cheeses! Mozzarella is a staple in many Italian dishes. Burrata is so rich and flavorful, it's often served on its own, with a drizzle of olive oil and simple garnishes.
Burrata is the fresh, soft curds and fresh cream that are stuffed inside of mozzarella cheese scraps. This cheese was invented mostly as a way to reduce leftover mozzarella food waste, and it's such a great invention!
Prosciutto is a general term used to describe an Italian dry cured ham. It's generally sliced up and served uncooked, although you can crisp it up and enjoy it as well.
Prosciutto di Parma is produced in Parma, inside the Italian region of Emilia Romagna. The production itself is very unique, so it's different than other variations of prosciutto.
Prosciutto di Parma is generally regarded as the top tier of prosciuttos. This food has been around since Roman times. It's protected geographically by the location of Parma inside of the Italian region of Emilia Romagna.
The mountainous region (more specifically, the Apennine Mountains) combined with the breeze from the Adriatic Sea gives Parma a unique climate. This climate gives Prosciutto di Parma a unique depth of flavor. It's delicately salty, sweet and buttery in flavor.
Many Italian chefs and food lovers are still learning to cure their own prosciutto. Prosciutto di Parma is the gold standard. Prosciutto di Parma is natural, and contains no additives, preservatives or any hormones. It's aged for twice as long as other prosciuttos.
✨Variations & substitutions
- Not into arugula? You can use anything you prefer, like radicchio, spinach, or spring mix. Nothing is going to beat arugula for this salad in our opinion!
- You could substitute fresh mozzarella for burrata if you can't get your hands on burrata. Creamy goat cheese (or chèvre) is also a decent substitution.
- Add some sweetness with fresh figs (when they are in season) or a drizzle of honey!
- Add some heat with a little bit of crushed red pepper flakes, Calabrian chili paste, or even a drizzle of hot honey!
- Love umami flavor? Add a sprinkle of truffle salt, or add some parmesan cheese to this salad as well!
🍅More Italian-inspired recipes to try
- Cheesy Baked Cast Iron Meatballs
- Garlic Butter Steak Bites with Lemon Zucchini Noodles
- Eggplant Milanese
- Gluten Free Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks
- Keto Antipasto Salad
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🥣Storage
This salad is best eaten fresh, especially since burrata will only last for 1-2 days once opened. We don't recommend making this ahead of time.
You can pan-fry your leeks ahead of time, and store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days to get a little bit of work done ahead of time.
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📖 Recipe
Burrata and Prosciutto Arugula Salad
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 whole leek, cleaned, white and light green parts only
- 5 ounces baby arugula (about 1 package)
- 0.5 ounce basil, cut into ribbons
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 whole lemon, juice and zest
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes (about 10 ounces)
- 8 slices prosciutto
- 16 ounces burrata (about 2 eight-ounce balls)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add cleaned leeks to the skillet with a pinch of salt. Cook until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes, then remove the oil and the leeks from the skillet and set them aside to dress the salad later.4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 whole leek, cleaned, white and light green parts only
- Add arugula and some the basil ribbons with some of the lemon zest, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.5 ounces baby arugula, 0.5 ounce basil, cut into ribbons, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 whole lemon, juice and zest, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- Layer on tomatoes, fried leeks, and some of the infused olive oil. Now, add on the burrata, prosciutto, and basil. Garnish again and continue topping with remaining ingredients.1 pint cherry tomatoes, 8 slices prosciutto, 16 ounces burrata
- Enjoy right away!
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Video
Notes
- The pan fried leeks can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
- This salad is best enjoyed right away, we don't recommend making enough for leftovers.
- Burrata should be eaten within 1-2 days of opening the package.
Vilma Sucy says
I’m trying to make this salad. I wish the instructions were more specific. I’d love a video. Here I go…
Briana says
Hi Vilma,
We forgot to add the video to the recipe card, but we made one a few weeks ago and shared to our social media. Hope this helps!
Jonelle says
Delicious salad and soooooo easy!
Briana says
YAY!! We're so glad you enjoyed it Jonelle! Thanks for the review 🙂
kate says
delicious, however, the recipe was written very poorly. No mention of how to prep anything, I wasn't sure what to do with the proscuitto, or how to slice the leeks, should the tomatoes be halved, and how is the olive oil infused?
Susannah Ziegler says
I had to google and then watch a tutorial on how to properly slice the leek because to me the leek is really important to this recipe so I wanted it done properly. After you have that down this is my favorite SUPER fast recipe and filled with flavor. It's vastly different than the other salads in my salad recipe book. Highly recommend.
Briana says
Hi Susannah, We're so glad you enjoyed the recipe so much! Thanks for also bringing to my attention that cuttings leeks isn't intuitive - I'll put a tutorial on how to do it on my list of things to make a post about! 🙂
Kaili says
I could eat this salad every day for lunch!! It was the most tasty salad I’ve ever had!! (And I don’t normally like salad lol)
Briana says
This is the best news ever!! We're also the type to not love salads, unless it's this one! haha 🙂