Freshen up your summer menu with this light & zingy vegan watermelon salad with parmesan sprinkle. It’s a perfect addition to any summer party table, whether you are serving it as a starter or dessert. Vegan & gluten free.
I’ll be honest, we have been having such a glorious hot weather here in the UK that I’ve hardly spent any time in the kitchen recently. We’ve been packing our picnic baskets and heading off to the seaside after school (I’m so lucky to be living only forty minutes away from the sea). The British summer doesn’t normally last very long at all, so I’m taking full advantage of this glorious hot weather.
When I was packing some snacks for the beach last week, I thought I’d throw a quick fruit salad together with my favourite summer fruits – watermelon and strawberries. I didn’t want to make just a boring plain fruit salad but something with a little zing to it. So off I went on my little experiment combining my favourite fresh summer flavours – sweet and juicy watermelon and strawberries, fresh and ‘tarty’ lime and peppery basil. The final result nearly blew my socks off (but lucky I wasn’t wearing any at the time haha).
I also sprinkled some vegan ‘parmesan’ that I had left over in the fridge, which really compliment the basil and added a new layer of savoury flavour to balance out the sweetness of watermelon and strawberries.
The vegan parmesan recipe yields a small to medium size jar. You won’t use all of it for the salad but it keeps well in the fridge. Sprinkle it all over your toasts, salads or any savoury dinner (I’m totally addicted to it at the moment).
As always, I’d love to hear from you if you recreate my recipe. You would make my day by leaving a comment and saying hello too.
Have a great day and see you next week.
Healthfully yours,
Tania x
FRESH AND ZINGY WATERMELON SALAD WITH VEGAN PARMESAN (V, GF)
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 4 cups watermelon diced (pips removed)
- 2 cups strawberries diced
- A bunch of fresh basil leaves finely chopped
For the dressing:
- Juice of 2 limes
- 3-5 tsp maple syrup
- 3 tsp olive oil
For ‘parmesan’ sprinkle
- 1 cup cashews
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- A pinch of black pepper
Instructions
- 1. Combine watermelon, strawberries and basil in a salad bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- 2. To prepare the dressing, whisk lime juice, maple syrup and olive oil until well combined. You might have to taste the dressing at this stage and add more maple syrup if required.
- 3. Combine cashews, nutritional yeast flakes, sea salt flakes & pepper in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture has turned into fine crumbs.
- 4. Pour the dressing over the salad & mix well. Sprinkle with ‘parmesan’ and more fresh basil if desired.
This sounds like such an explosion of flavors in your mouth! Seriously, YUM! Definitely giving this a try!
Thank you so much Beth! It really is a great combination of flavours, if I may say so myself:) Have a great weekend!
What can I say, this looks AWESOME!!! I’m so into the salads at the moment, and you’ve combined two of my favourite summer fruits into this beautiful and fresh looking salad! Wish I could just grab some through the screen, right now!
Thank you so much my lovely! I’m secretly hoping for some rain Anna – this heat is unbearable now. Looking forward to catching up with you next week my dear. Have a great weekend! xxx
My gym serves a variety of fruit infused waters & my favorite just so happens to be watermelon & strawberry. Such a tasty combo. The parmesan cheese is such an interesting add to this salad.
Hi Lynn. What a great idea about watermelon & strawberry flavoured water! I must make it immediately – it would be perfect for this heat. Salty parmesan is a great addition of an extra flavour, hope you’ll like it too x
This looks so refreshing. I love watermelon in salad, it is made for it. Especially in the summer!
I totally agree with you Kacie. Every summer salad should have watermelon in it:). Have a great day and thank you for popping in to my blog.
Sweet Melons, sweet strawberries and “a salty vegan cheese creation” + pepper, what a fascinating combo, Tania. Will give it a try once we’ve had enough of “plain water melon snacks”. I can imagine this salad to be an eye catcher on every summer party buffet.
Hi Gabi. You’re totally right – this salad is a great eye catcher at a summer party buffet! I hope you get to try it soon:). Have a great day x
OMG Tania this must taste delish . 🙂
Thank you Jasmin, it was really delicious:)