Artichoke Caprese Bites

These light and refreshing Artichoke Caprese bites take your tastebuds to Italy with each delicious bite! A delicious blend of Italian marinated tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, & basil.

During the hot summer months, what are the foods you crave?  For us, we are all about fresh, light, and as easy as possible!

That’s where these little Italian bites of deliciousness come into play!  There’s no cooking involved, no real exert of energy, heck you don’t even have to skewer them to have a refreshing summer dish!

Insalata Caprese

…and that’s about the limit of my Italian vocabulary. Oh, it’s on my bucket list of languages to learn but for now, I’ll stick to just the food names.

Insalata Caprese just sounds more elegant, more refined than saying Tomato, Basil, Cheese Artichoke salad.

It’s such a simple dish that can be served as an appetizer, a salad, or even a light lunch with some toasted bread. You take all of those beautiful ingredients mentioned above and add some sea salt, olive oil, and perhaps a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

This is one of those dishes that I didn’t try until I met Mr. Fantabulous and his family. Artichokes weren’t something we had in our house. It’s not a German or Slovak thing and my Mom’s extent of Italian food was spaghetti and meatballs.

So when married into an Italian family, a whole world of new deliciousness was opened up for me.

Now while I won’t eat a baked/steam artichoke whole and use my teeth to scrape the stuff off – that’s just too funky from both a texture and process perspective, I’m OBSESSED with artichoke hearts!

Quality Ingredients Matters

This dish really only requires a few basic ingredients but what makes this dish go from good to OMG-AMAZING is the quality of the ingredients you use!

• Fresh Mini Roma or Cherry Tomatoes
• Fresh bocconcini (mini mozzarella)
• Artichoke hearts in water
• Fresh basil
• Seasonings
• Sea Salt – not kosher or table salt, but sea salt. This is my FAVORITE!
• Extra Virgin Olive oil – trust me, there is a difference in taste. Invest in an amazing oil like this one!
• Really good balsamic vinegar – this is my absolute FAVORITE!

Let’s Make Caprese Deliciousness

1. In a bowl add your oil and seasonings. Whisk together and set aside.

Easy, right?

2. If necessary, cut your tomatoes and cheese in half. You may also need to do that to your artichoke hearts too if they are super big.

3. To a bowl, add the tomatoes, artichokes, and cheese.
4. Pour over the oil mixture and GENTLY toss.
5. If leaving this as a salad, chop up the basil, add that in and stir. If wanting to use as skewers, omit the basil.
6. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes up to 8 hours. It can go longer but I find it gets a little too watery.

You can eat this right away if you’re starving but if you let it rest in the fridge for even just 30 minutes, you’re giving it time to absorb the oil mixture and the flavors meld together. So if you can hold off, do it. The wait is worth it!

Chef’s Tip about Artichoke Hearts

Artichoke hearts are delicate so you need to toss gently so you don’t break them. It’s fine if you are leaving this as a salad but if you’re planning on skewering them, it’s too hard to skewer pieces.

Serving as a Salad

After at least 30 minutes, remove from the fridge, give it a light stir and serve.

When adding the balsamic vinegar, drizzle it on right before serving. No need to stir it together.

Serving Suggestions

• Toasted Garlic Bread
• Crostini
• Roasted Pork tenderloin
• Grilled Chicken with herbs
• Ladled over some cooked rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice

 

Serving on Skewers

I LOVE using these natural bamboo cocktail skewers to serve these on. They look so pretty and I love the little loop on the end as it makes it easier to pick up. Plus since they are little thicker skewer, it gives the food more surface to stick to.

Skewering these are easy, even the kiddos can help but yes, your hands will get messy.  I mean the stuff is resting in herbed oil.

1. Grab a tomato piece and push that onto the skewer.
2. Next, add a basil leaf, followed by cheese, artichoke, another basil leaf, and finish it with another tomato.
3. Place in a serving dish (rimmed is best) and set out.
4. Drizzle on the balsamic vinegar right before serving.

Making Skewers in Advance

You can most certainly make these in advance but I would not add the balsamic until the end.

Do your very best to make sure the tips of the skewers (when folks would grab them) stay clean.

Simply make them, place in a container, cover, and store in the fridge until ready to serve.     

Caprese Substitutions 

• Tomatoes – you can use any rainbow or mini tomato
• Raw Vegetables – Cubed zucchini, squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, artichokes
• Grilled Chilled Vegetables – zucchini, squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplant, mushrooms
• Cheese – any cubed soft cheese, cubed cheddar, provolone, smoked gouda
• Meats – yes, why not? Prosciutto, Salami, Pepperoni

Leftover Italian Marinade

One of the BEST things about this recipe (besides the actual skewers) is the oil mixture that it all marinates in.

That stuff is pure gold! Do NOT pitch it, please!

• Serve it on the side with crostini to dip into it
• Spread it on toast, bake it and then top it with some freshly grated parmesan for a delicious snack
• Coat raw chicken or shrimp in it before baking for a delicious Italian protein dish
• Save it for another batch! Simple put it on a jar and re-use it for your next batch of this, It’ll last up to 7 days

 

Keto-Friendly and Gluten-Free

While I’m neither of these things, I find that I tend to eat a lot of dishes like this. Plus I know millions of you guys are so you’ll DEFINITELY love this recipe!!!  It’s so simple and absolutely DELICIOUS!!!

Print

 

Save For Later!