This cantaloupe salad combines refreshing melon, mozzarella, cucumber and mint for a delicious light summer salad side dish. It's an easy no cook salad, and so quick to make in about 10 minutes for your summer BBQs or picnics!
Pairing cheese with fruit in salads is always delicious and my family love them as BBQ side dishes and for picnics in the park. Just like my cottage cheese with fruit and caprese salad without tomatoes, this cantaloupe salad is super simple to make and has very little prep time.
The cantaloupe melon brings sweetness, the fresh cheese is creamy, cucumber gives crunch and the herbs bring fragrant flavor. All you need to do to make this salad with cantaloupe is a little dicing and stirring, then it's ready!
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Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Cantaloupe - the bright orange melon that's deliciously sweet, refreshing and in season during the summer months.
- Cheese - I suggest to use mozzarella as it's a fresh, low histamine cheese, with a creamy taste and texture.
- Cucumber - I love the crunch of mini cucumbers (also known as Persian cucumbers), but English cucumber also works really well.
Swaps and Variations
Swap mozzarella for feta cheese. I've made this melon salad with mozzarella to keep it low histamine. You can also use feta cheese, which will give a light salty taste to the salad, but is likely not suitable for low histamine readers.
How to Make Cantaloupe Salad
This salad couldn't be easier to make, with just a handful of fresh ingredients and pantry staples. No need for any fancy kitchen equipment!
All the instructions are in the recipe card below, but these step by step photos should help guide you.
Step 1: Dice the cantaloupe
Remove the seeds from the cantaloupe melon, as well as the skin. Dice into small pieces of roughly the same size (image 1).
Step 2: Dice the cheese and cucumber
Dice your cucumbers into rounds (or half moons, if using English cucumber) and halve the mozzarella balls (image 2).
Step 3: Make the herb dressing
Stir together the olive oil, fresh herbs, apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper (if using) (image 3).
Step 4: Make the salad
Combine the salad with cantaloupe, cucumber and mozzarella by adding all the ingredients to a bowl. Toss to coat in the herb dressing and spoon onto your serving bowl or plate (image 4).
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Use fresh mozzarella. You can either halve mini mozzarella balls, which is what I tend to do, or tear pieces off a large mozzarella ball.
- Use a different melon! There are lots of delicious melons to choose from to make salads. Honeydew and Galia melon would also be good. Low histamine readers may wish to note that watermelon scores 1 on the SIGHI list with a ? as a liberator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course! You can add a handful or two of fresh lamb's lettuce, iceberg lettuce or kale (I suggest to massage kale a little).
Mozzarella and spoonfuls of ricotta cheese or cottage cheese are lower histamine cheeses that are delicious in salads. Feta is often used, but is higher histamine.
No, it won't freeze well. It's best to make the salad right before serving it.
More Summer Fruit Salads
Fruit is always delicious in summer salads, and my carrot and apple salad and celery cucumber salad are always popular with my family! Some other ideas:
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📖 Recipe
Cantaloupe Salad with Mozzarella and Cucumber
Ingredients
- 2 cups cantaloupe melon skin and seeds removed, diced into chunks
- ½ cup mozzarella balls sliced into halves
- 1 cup cucumber mini cucumber, English or Persian cucumbers
- 1.5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 10 large mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon parsley leaves
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Dice the cantaloupe melon. Remove the skin and seeds, then dice the cantaloupe into chunks of a roughly similar size, about half an inch thick.
- Cut the mozzarella balls into halves (or tear a ball of mozzarella into small pieces), and dice the cucumber into slices or half moons pieces.
- Dice the mint leaves and parsley leaves (save a couple of mint leaves for garnish). Stir together in a small bowl with the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper (if using).
- Add the diced cantaloupe, mozzarella and cucumber to a bowl. Spoon in the mint dressing and toss to coat. Spoon onto your serving plate or bowl and garnish with a few mint leaves.
Notes
- You can either use mini mozzarella balls or tear a large mozzarella ball into small pieces. This is fresh mozzarella that comes in liquid, not the aged shredded type.
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- apple cider vinegar, which scores 1.
- black pepper (optional), which scores 2.
- melon scores 0, but has a ? as a liberator.
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