Our Favorite Antipasto Salad Recipe
This antipasto salad recipe combines everything we love about an Italian antipasto platter and turns it into a salad. Perfect for sharing or saving in the fridge for easy lunches all week long.
While an antipasto salad might sound fancy, it is genuinely one of the easiest to make. Most of the ingredients are jarred (like marinated artichokes, roasted peppers, and olives), so there is very little chopping on your part.
We highly recommend whisking together the homemade Italian dressing below, but if you are in a rush, you can absolutely swap it for your favorite store-bought dressing. Enjoy this salad with other antipasto favorites like Caprese salad, bruschetta, and an Aperol spritz.
Key Ingredients
- Dressing: We use our Italian dressing as inspiration for the dressing below (with fewer ingredients to keep it easy for you). It’s a combination of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, a tiny bit of mustard, honey, and herbs.
- Onion and Tomatoes: These are the two fresh ingredients. We love thinly sliced sweet onions and cherry tomatoes.
- Beans: When ordering antipasto in the past, I’ve often seen some sort of marinated white bean offered. That’s why we add two cans of drained and rinsed white beans. They are creamy, take on the salad’s flavor, and make it hearty.
- Artichokes, Roasted Peppers, and Olives: This trio keeps our salad easy. Buy jars of them, roughly chop, then add to your salad. Use black or green olives. Our favorite is to splurge on a jar of castelvetrano olives (so buttery!).
- Cheese and Salami: I love provolone and mild salami, but use what you crave. Mozzarella (even the fresh balls) is lovely. Pepperoni adds a bit of extra spice, or go for a really spicy salami if you are up to it.
- Herbs: Choose one fresh herb like parsley, cilantro, or basil, then chop a handful of it and toss it into the salad. It adds color and a pop of freshness.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make an Antipasto Salad
Tip 1: Make the dressing in a large bowl. To cut down on dishes, whisk the dressing directly in the large bowl you plan to toss and serve your salad in. We use this trick for a lot of our salad recipes!
Tip 2: Let the onions sit in the dressing. The acids in red wine vinegar and lemon juice do an excellent job of toning down the sharp bite of raw onion. Once your dressing is mixed, toss in the sliced onions, stir to coat, and let the bowl sit for about five minutes.
Tip 3: Pile in the rest. Once the onions are ever-so-slightly softened, pile in the remaining antipasto ingredients (the beans, tomatoes, artichokes, red peppers, olives, cheese, and salami). Toss everything together until well coated, and it is ready to serve!
Tip 4: Serve over greens (optional). We usually leave this as a lettuce-free salad since it holds up perfectly in the fridge for meal prep. That said, you can absolutely serve it spooned over a bed of crisp, chopped lettuce!
More Easy Salads
Our Favorite Antipasto Salad
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PREP
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TOTAL
We’ve given a serving size range for this antipasto salad recipe. It works well as a potluck side dish, but also as a no-cook lunch or dinner. This serves 6 as a side with other options, or makes 4 generous dinner portions. We’ve offered suggestions on the sizes of jars to buy for artichokes, peppers, and olives to help when shopping.
4 to 6 Servings
You Will Need
For the Dressing
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 small garlic cloves, finely grated
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons dried oregano
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
For the Salad
¼ small sweet onion, thinly sliced into quarter moons
Two 14-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (about 1 ½ cups)
1 ½ cups marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (from a 14- to 15-ounce jar)
1 cup roasted red peppers, chopped (from a 12-ounce jar)
1 cup green or black olives, pitted and halved (from a 6-ounce jar)
8 ounces block provolone or mozzarella, cut into ½-inch cubes
4 ounces salami, sliced into ½-inch strips
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, or basil
Directions
1In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, grated garlic, mustard, honey, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using) until creamy. Toss in the sliced onions and let them sit for 5 minutes to soften.
2Add the rinsed beans, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red peppers, olives, provolone, salami, and parsley. Using a large spoon, fold everything together until well coated. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Toss well before serving.
- Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1/6 of the recipe (1 3/4 cups)
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Calories
486
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Total Fat
34g
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Saturated Fat
8.8g
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Cholesterol
32.2mg
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Sodium
857.2mg
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Carbohydrate
32g
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Dietary Fiber
9.4g
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Total Sugars
6.1g
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Protein
16.6g
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