Watermelon Mint Salad

This Watermelon Mint Salad is a must try, especially in the hot summer months. This impressive watermelon salad with goat cheese has it all. It is balanced with flavor, it is filling and satisfying and most importantly it is ready to eat in less than 15 minutes. This watermelon salad without feta cheese has a more delicious and unique addition. We stepped it up a notch with fresh, cold pistachio crusted goat cheese balls. The creamy goat cheese is a divine alterative to the traditionally used feta cheese.

This watermelon salad recipe has only a few ingredients, but they work so well together. The light crispy greens are layered with ripe, refreshing watermelon cubes, large protein packed butter beans, sweet red grape tomatoes and fresh lively chopped mint leaves. The creamy pistachio crusted goat cheese balls add a much-welcomed softness with a complimentary flavor to each bite. We highly recommend making our Honey Prosecco Vinaigrette for this watermelon mint salad.

Ingredients and Variations for this Watermelon Salad Recipe

mixed baby greens – any mix of baby greens will work great for this salad. Romaine lettuce mixed with baby spinach would be amazing as well. When it comes to leafy greens, I like to use organic as often as possible. If using store bought baby spring mix packed in clamshell containers, they are usually ready to use. Meaning that you do not have to rinse the greens. Double check the package.

seedless watermelon – ripe seedless watermelon cut into bite sized cubes. Learn How to Pick a Watermelon that is ripe, sweet and juicy.

butter beans – large, white canned butter beans add plant-based protein to the salad. If you don’t have large white butter beans or can’t find them in your grocery store, cannellini beans will be a fantastic substitution. The flavor and texture will be similar to the butter beans, they will just be much smaller.

tomatoes - I used red ripe grape tomatoes, however any small tomato will be great such as cherry tomatoes or colorful mix of tiny tomatoes.

fresh mint leaves – roughly chopped fresh mint leaves add a refreshing flavor to the salad. You can use more if you prefer a heavier mint flavor. I like a hint of mint in every bite, for me a little goes a long way. If you don’t care for mint, you can omit it entirely or substitute it with fresh basil. Basil will add a more earthy sweet herby flavor opposed to the refreshing bite of the mint leaves.

Ingredients and Variations for Goat Cheese Balls

goat cheese – for this recipe I recommend using plain goat cheese. Goat cheese has a great texture that can easily be rolled into balls and will hold their shape. We opted for goat cheese instead of feta cheese for this recipe. Watermelon and feta cheese combination is very popular, and we thought you would enjoy a watermelon salad without feta cheese.

pistachios – we used unsalted shelled pistachios roughly chopped into small pieces. If you don’t have pistachios or prefer another flavor, use shopped walnuts or pecans. They will work very well in this recipe.

How to make Watermelon Mint Salad with Goat Cheese

Making this salad couldn’t be any easier. Simply prepare your ingredients:

Rinse and slice tomatoes. Rinse can of beans thoroughly. Cut the watermelon into bite sized cubes. Roughly chop mint leaves.

Assemble the salad in a large serving bowl or individual salad plates.

Add pistachio crusted goat cheese balls and dress with salad dressing.

Pistachio Crusted Goat Cheese

Make pistachio crusted goat cheese balls by rolling about a teaspoon full into a ball in the palm of your hands, you can make these as small or big as you prefer.

Chop pistachios into small pieces and roll the goat cheese balls in chopped pistachios until completely coated. Add the pistachio crusted goat cheese onto the salad.

Dress the salad with our homemade Prosecco Vinaigrette.