Christmas Salad Snowman Wreath

Recipe: Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad Recipe »

Serve up this festive and adorable Christmas Salad with a Snowman Caprese theme! Made with layers of fresh basil, cherry tomato, bocconcini and creamy burrata this is a salad centrepiece. It is perfect for Southern Hemisphere Christmas plus this salad can be made hours ahead of time for easy entertaining and takes 10 minutes to put together!

About This Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad

This is one of the most adorable ways to serve a salad at Christmas. For those of us having a hot weather Christmas, basil and tomatoes are abundant and they form the basis of this simple to make Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad. 

I love this salad for a few reasons:

It's delicious.

It's seasonal (for the Southern Hemisphere).

It takes 10 minutes to make.

It is best made a few hours ahead of time so it clears up fridge space and time.

It is also super cute!

I'm all about finding recipes that don't need last minute attention before serving and this caprese salad with a snowman burrata is one of them. Basil, tomatoes and burrata are best when they sit at room temperature for a few hours - basil and tomatoes flourish in the heat while burrata turns beautifully oozy when it sits out (it's one of the secrets to the great burrata at Totti's apparently!). So make this hours ahead of time and let it sit on the table.

Video How To Make Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad

Video: How to Make Christmas Salad Snowman Wreath

Ingredients For Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad

Basil - Go for the potted basil which tends to have fresher, more abundant leaves. If you only have those small 15g/0.5oz plastic containers of picked basil you will probably need 2 or 3 packs.

Basil pesto - Use your favourite basil pesto for this.

Cherry tomatoes - Go for round cherry tomatoes as they are simulating holly berries. If only cherry romas are available you can cut them in half and place them cut side up.

Cherry bocconcini - We are using the smaller baby or cherry bocconcini here.

Burrata - Look for the larger 150g/5oz burrata cheeses. Do not snip the ties, place them tie side down.

Black peppercorns - Whole black peppercorns for the face and tie detail.

Carrot - One tiny triangular piece for the nose.

Extra virgin olive oil - To dress the salad. Always use extra virgin olive oil over virgin or pure olive oil as it is of a higher quality.

Vinegar - I used an aged Balsamic vinegar which has a viscous, syrupy texture. If you don't have aged Balsamic vinegar, try a Balsamic glaze. Regular balsamic vinegar is too liquid for this.

Tips For Making A Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad

1 - You need one big bunch of basil for this. I like buying basil in pots which gives them a much longer life than picked basil that can bruise and wilt easily.

2 - When picking the basil leaves, avoid the thick stems and be careful as basil can bruise easily.

3 - Use a large round plate or platter for this, mine was 32cms/12.8inches

4 - As I mentioned above, this is best made a few hours ahead of time. Let it sit on the table and then drizzle with balsamic when ready to eat. I put mine together at 10am and we ate at around 2:30pm.

Other easy Christmas salads try this Christmas tree salad or this Santa Claus melon salad that only has 4 ingredients!

Christmas Caprese Snowman Salad

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Serves: 6-8 people as part of a Christmas spread

Ingredients Needed

• 2 tablespoons basil pesto
• 1 large bunch of potted basil
• 200g/7ozs cherry tomatoes
• 200g/7ozs cherry bocconcini
• 2x 150g/5oz burratas
• Black peppercorns
• Small piece of carrot cut into a triangle-
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Aged balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 BASIL - Pick the leaves from the basil separating large leaves from medium and small in three piles. 

Step 2 DECORATE - Spread the basil pesto in a circle on the bottom of a large plate or platter. Place the large leaves around the edge of the plate overlapping on top of the pesto. Top with cherry tomatoes and bocconcini alternating both but leaving a space in the centre. Add small and medium basil leaves on top.

Step 3 SNOWMAN - Drain burratas and gently place one at the top centre and the other underneath it bottom centre like a snowman. Add black peppercorns for eyes, the smile and buttons and the carrot for the nose. Add two small basil leaves for a collar. 

Step 4 SEASON - Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with flaked salt and grind black pepper over the salad around the outside (avoiding the snowman in centre). Just before serving drizzle with aged balsamic.

Personal Note

This was one of the dishes we served at Friendsmas as we all love salads. For Friendsmas we had Laura and her boyfriend Lima Lima Delta as well as Queen Viv. Miss America wasn't able to make it last minute as his colleague's parent overseas fell ill and he had to take her place. It was sad that Monica and Marco weren't there as they've moved back to Italy.

It was a really fun dinner-all my friends get along well and they come together at Halloween and Christmas. And because I'm among friends I don't worry if am running late. But this Christmas I was running reaaaally late. Laura and Lima Lima Delta arrived first exactly on time and then Queen Viv 15 minutes later.

I looked down and realised that I had completely forgotten to make a component of a dish. Then the cocktail fountain wouldn't work (I'll tell you about that another time) and then I also had to put some beautiful flowers that Queen Viv had brought into a vase and store her champagne as she was still on one crutch and quite immobile. Then the always helpful Laura swooped in and put the flowers in a vase, put her oysters on ice with the dressing and then helped me defrost some corn kernels. Because sometimes you just need a little help from your friends!

Dear Reader, I hope you're all having a festive Christmas and that you are with those that you love and that value you. And I want to say a heartfelt thank you for hanging out with me here, I'm so glad that you came!

Lorraine xxx