Cantaloupe Melon Salad is the most refreshing Summer Salad. It combines simple and seasonal ingredients and only takes 15 minutes to make. The perfect pool side or beach salad!
When I first started putting this salad together, I was a bit worried about the flavors. If it sounds weird to you, trust me I get it, but it's really delicious! I ate the entire bowl in one day and couldn't stop visiting the fridge to get more.
This Melon Salad is amazing on a Summer day and the fresh mint with melon is a winning combo. This makes a great side dish for a cookout too. Pair it with this Blackstone Chicken Breast, BBQ Pulled Chicken, or Smashburgers.
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Why You'll Love This Salad:
- Quick. This fruit salad only requires a bit of prep and no cooking.
- Easy. Simple ingredients come together for this Summer Salad.
- Healthy. Melons are high in vitamins and fiber. Plus, this salad is tossed in lime juice and honey, and not high in fat like a lot of salad dressings.
- A Summer Favorite. Everyone goes wild over watermelon and cantaloupe in the summer. It's the best!
Love Summer Salads? Try this Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, Spring Roll Salad and Crunchy Kale Salad.
Ingredients:
Cantaloupe: The star of this recipe. From June to August is their peak season and will give you the best quality fruit and at a lower price tag.
Watermelon: Sweet and bursting with flavor. It's a great match up with cantaloupe and also best when in season in the Summer. Try these Watermelon Fries too!
Red Onion: Sliced very thin for just a touch of tanginess and bite. I highly recommend red onion for this recipe, and would leave it off instead of substituting it with another type of onion. Red onion is the best choice here.
Mint: Fresh mint is a must and brings in so much taste and texture.
Feta Cheese: Adds a salty taste and crumbly texture to the salad.
Lime Juice: Fresh squeezed and tossed into the salad for a citrus taste.
Honey: Optional, but adds a nice sweet finish before serving.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
Love Cucumbers? Cut them into chunks and add them into the salad. I suggest using an English cucumber to add less seeds and less water.
Cherry tomatoes would be a good addition too.
A substitution for honey could be balsamic glaze if you like more acidity. You could use white balsamic glaze for a prettier dish. The juices from the watermelon tend to make a mess when paired with regular balsamic glaze.
Want meat? Add a few slices of thinly sliced prosciutto for topping.
If you don't have a melon baller, cut the watermelon and cantaloupe into 1 inch chunks.
How to Make Cantaloupe Salad:
Step 1: Push the larger side of the melon baller deep into the watermelon and cantaloupe, then dig it out to create a circle shape ball.
Step 2: In a large serving bowl, toss in the watermelon and cantaloupe, then layer over the red onion and fresh mint. Squeeze the fresh lime juice over the salad and toss.
Step 3: Sprinkle over the feta cheese, then drizzle with honey and top with lime zest if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Expert Tips:
- This Salad produces a lot of water from the melon and I suggest eating the full salad within 4-6 hours for the best taste.
- For a fun look, use a melon baller for the cantaloupe and watermelon.
- Top the salad with the feta instead of tossing it into the salad to avoid watering it down.
Big on Fruit recipes? Try this Watermelon Feta Arugula Salad, Pineapple Pico de Gallo, Marshmallow Fluff Fruit Dip and Jollibee Peach Mango Pies.
Recipe FAQs:
Cantaloupe pairs well with sweet, spicy and salty. I love feta cheese or prosciutto paired with the fruit because it's salty. Sweet melons, like cantaloupe and watermelon, taste amazing with spicy too, like tangy red onion or jalapeño. Lots of options here.
A chiffonade is a way to cut fresh herbs like mint and basil into skinny strips. Slice the mint in a chiffonade by stacking a few mint leaves on top of each other, then rolling them up into a cylinder and chopping into several thin strips with the knife perpendicular to the rolled up mint.
They create the prettiest fruit salads. I love them for watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melons. You can buy them at many stores, like Target or online at Amazon for around $12. See the recipe card below for the link.
Store the salad in a sealed container in the fridge. This salad tastes best the first day it's made.
More Summer Salads You Will Love:
If you tried this Cantaloupe Melon Salad Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Cantaloupe Melon Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 5 cups 1x
Description
This Cantaloupe Melon Salad is the most refreshing Summer Salad. It combines simple and seasonal ingredients and only takes 15 minutes to make. The perfect pool side or beach salad!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups of cantaloupe balls (or 1 inch cubes), about ½ a regular sized cantaloupe
- 2 cups of watermelon balls (or 1 inch cubes), about ⅓ of a watermelon
- ¼ cup red onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, sliced into a chiffonade *see recipe faqs*
- juice from ½ a lime
- ¼ cup feta cheese crumbles
- ⅛ teaspoon lime zest, grated with microplane (optional)
- 1 tablespoon of honey
Instructions
- Push the larger side of the melon baller deep into the watermelon and cantaloupe, then dig it out to create a circle shape ball.
- In a large serving bowl, toss in the watermelon and cantaloupe, then layer over the red onion and fresh mint. Squeeze the fresh lime juice over the salad and toss.
- Sprinkle over the feta cheese, then drizzle with honey and top with lime zest if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- This Salad produces a lot of water from the melon and I suggest eating the full salad within 4-6 hours for the best taste.
- For a fun look, use a melon baller for the cantaloupe and watermelon.
- Top the salad with the feta instead of tossing it in the salad to avoid watering it down.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: salad
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: American
Payton
This is so good! I could eat the entire batch.
Tara Smithson
Thank you and SAME! It's so refreshing.