Mediterranean Watermelon Feta Salad

This Mediterranean Watermelon Feta Salad brings juicy, sweet watermelon together with a cast of perfectly unlikely characters. Feta cheese, mint, red onion, lime, and balsamic vinegar all are very different in flavor and texture, but combine perfectly to make something special. It is simple to make and can be put together very quickly. A perfect side salad or light lunch fare, our Mediterranean Watermelon Feta Salad should be on your picnic table this Summer.

Mediterranean Watermelon Feta Salad Summary

This recipe is short and sweet. It doesn’t need to be cooked, doesn’t need to sit in the fridge, and anybody can get it right. Simply, toss the solid ingredients together, add the lime juice and vinegar. Toss a little more. 

In just 15 minutes, you can have this salad ready to go and on your dinner table, picnic table, or have a light lunch ready. 

How To Serve This Dish

This salad is bright, flavorful, and a perfect summertime salad. It is great for an outside dinner or when you are cooking the main dish on the grill. This doesn’t require a whole lot of time to put together and would be great to toss together right before you start grilling.

Some specific ideas that might go well with this salad is our grilled salmon recipes or maybe our grilled chicken shish kabobs recipe. This is a Mediterranean dish and it might be a great opportunity to make it a full Mediterranean meal. 

It can also be a great light lunch. It is low on calories, but still has a bit of protein. With a bunch of fruit and a bit of veggies, it can make for a well-rounded light lunch. I would suggest adding something else to the meal, but it might be enough to tide you over until supper.  

Picking a Watermelon

If I were to pick two ingredients in this recipe that are most important, it would be watermelon and balsamic vinegar. Because watermelon is so important, I think it is a good idea to find great watermelon. Here are a few tricks that can help you find a great watermelon

Look for the Darker Field Spot

The field spot is the white or lighter spot on a watermelon. This is where the watermelon sat on the ground, while the other side was soaking up the sun. The darker the field spot, the longer the melon was sitting on the vine and out in the field, sweetening up. 

So, when you are looking at the various watermelons in the pile, look for darker yellow spots vs white spots or melons with no spots. A darker spot will help you find a ripe, sweet melon.

Pick a Watermelon That is Comparitavely Heavy

Compare watermelons in the group you are shopping from. If you can find comparable watermelons, but one is heavier, choose that one. There is more water in the heavier one, which increases the chance of getting a ripe, sweet, and juicy watermelon.

Look for a Dark Green Watermelon

Outside of the field spot, look for a watermelon that is dark green. If it is lighter in color, it may not have ripened well. So, in addition to a dark yellow field spot, hopefully the top side of the watermelon has a great deep, dark green color to it.

Look at the Stem

If there is a stem on the watermelon, move on. This means that the melon had a difficult time being plucked from the vine and it wasn’t quite ripe. A watermelon with a vine has a high likelihood of not being ripe and of lesser quality.

Additionally, look for a little bit of an indent where the stem would have been. This may be an indicator that the melon released naturally from the vine and picked at peak ripeness. It might just be the perfect melon, presuming you want to eat it soon. 

Crumbled Feta Cheese

Use what you can find, but if you can purchase a block of feta cheese and then crumble it yourself, that is the preference. Much like pre-shredded cheese, there is likely stuff on it (probably potato starch mixture) to help preserve the pre-crumbled cheese. 

Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar

The balsamic vinegar you use is important. We do keep some random balsamic vinegar around the house and first used that when experimenting with this recipe. It was ok. I decided to level up my balsamic vinegar game and invest in some nice stuff. It was a game-changer for this recipe.

I ordered this Chef Jean Pierre’s Black Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar (Affiliate Link) and it is so good. It has the tang of vinegar we are looking for, but it also has a great sweetness and thicker consistency that works great for this recipe. 

Outside of this recipe, I have even started adding a little dollop of this to plain vanilla ice cream. The balsamic vinegar is great for this recipe and great to just have around the house. If you aren’t using this vinegar, use what you like or what you have.

The Other Ingredients

We are also using onions, mint, lime, and salt in this recipe. The end product will be a reflection of the ingredients you use. So, I suggest trying to find fresh onions, mint, and lime to use. For the salt, I used pink Himalayan salt. Use what you have, but nice salt can help make a nice dish.

Does This Recipe Keep?

While I did keep this watermelon feta salad in the refrigerator for a few days and it was fine, I would recommend eating this up. It keeps, but it is best if eaten right away. To answer the question, it can be kept in the fridge for a while, but it does not keep very well. 

Mediterranean Watermelon Feta Salad Tips

• Find a nice ripe watermelon using the tips in this recipe post.
• Pick up some nice, sweet Mission Fig balsamic vinegar.
• Use fresh ingredients.
• This recipe can be kept in the refrigerator for a while, but is best served right away.

Products Used In This Recipe

• Chef Jean Pierre’s Black Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar
• Large Glass Bowl

Did You Try This Recipe

Thanks so much for giving this watermelon feta salad a try! I really love it and hope you did, as well. If you did, you could do me a really big favor and let me know how it went in the comments area below and give it a rating. Of course, a share on your social media, like Pinterest, would be great, too. I hope this dish brought something special to your Summer dinner and I really appreciate you trusting Ramshackle Pantry with our recipes!

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