Easy, no-cook Tomato Carpaccio done in 10 minutes, guaranteed to impress your guests effortlessly! It’s quick, looks and tastes delicious, and is so easy to make!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- 🌱 Healthy: Full of fresh veggies and no oil!
- 🍅 Effortless Gourmet: Impress your taste buds and friends with this gourmet-looking dish that’s secretly a breeze to make.
- 🎨 Customizable: Get creative and throw in extras like pine nuts, greens (like arugula), and whole grains (like quinoa)!
- 💚 100% Plant-Based: Vegan recipe for our vegetarian and vegan friends or anyone looking to eat more veggies!
Ingredients
- Tomatoes: The star of your Carpaccio, so pick high-quality, bright red tomatoes.
- Use heirloom tomatoes if available, but remember quality over variety.
- It’s better to get normal ripe tomatoes that are bright red and smell fragrant, than to get heirloom tomatoes that are still unripe or have a lot of bruises.
- Red Onion Slices: Thinly sliced for a hint of crunch and a mild kick.
- Hummus (or Vegan Cheese): Either homemade in 5 minutes or store-bought.
- Feel free to sub with your favorite vegan cheese like mozzarella or burrata.
- Nutritional Yeast (Optional): Elevates the dish with a cheesy, umami kick – totally optional. Skip if using vegan cheese.
- Balsamic Glaze: Note that it’s different from ordinary balsamic vinegar (see below for more explanation).
- Basil Leaves: The herb that is a classic combo to any Italian tomato-based dish.
- Black Pepper: For the finishing touch.
Making Balsamic Glaze from Balsamic Vinegar
If you only have balsamic vinegar at home, fret not because making your own DIY balsamic glaze takes only 5-10 minutes!
It’s as simple as simmering 1/2 a cup of balsamic vinegar over low heat until it reduces in volume by at least half. This will thicken the mixture to give you that natural caramelized flavor without any additional sugar.
And yes, the store-bought balsamic glaze usually contains sugar but you don’t necessarily need the sugar to make your own balsamic glaze at home. Win-win!
Step-by-step Instructions
Slice the tomatoes thinly crosswise. So your knife will be slicing from the right to left (or left to right), and NOT from the top to bottom of the tomato.
It’s easiest to just turn the tomato to face the side (such that the green tomato top faces the side instead of facing the top as is usually done), and then cut from top to bottom like in the left picture below.
Arrange the tomatoes on your plate. You can either layer the tomatoes covering the full plate for the classic plating of carpaccio (like the picture right below).
Or if it’s the holiday season, make a cute Christmas wreath for more festivities!🎄 (see the section below for pictures)
Peel and thinly slice the red onion, then sprinkle it on the tomatoes.
(Optional) Mix the nutritional yeast with the hummus for that cheesiness.
Now dollop about 1 teaspoon of hummus on each tomato slice.
Drizzle with balsamic glaze, then sprinkle basil leaves on top. Finish with freshly ground black pepper.
And enjoy your vegan/vegetarian carpaccio tomato!
Making This for Christmas? Try this plating instead!
Plate your carpaccio tomato carpaccio into the shape of a Christmas wreath like below, and have yourself a festive party! 🎄
P.S. Since we’re talking about Christmas, check out my 5-Minute Dark Chocolate Covered Peanuts Clusters, or my Vegan Nutella (using Dates) for some quick homemade DIY gifts!
Want to Watch the Recipe Instead?
Top Tips
- Tomatoes:
- Get the freshest tomatoes that you can find!
- Heirloom tomatoes work best, but remember that the quality of the tomato is more important than the variety. It’s better to get regular tomatoes that are ripe and high-quality (if they smell fragrant, it’s a great sign that it’s gonna taste great), than to get heirloom tomatoes that are unripe or bruised.
- You can also use a mix of varieties and color tomatoes.
- Balsamic Glaze:
- We’re using balsamic glaze (which is essentially made from balsamic vinegar, sugar, and thickener) to add that bit of sweetness.
- This is different from balsamic vinegar, but you can make your own balsamic glaze just by simmering balsamic vinegar (see the post above).
- For more information on the difference between balsamic vinegar and balsamic glaze, see this post from The Artisan Olive Oil Company.
- We’re using balsamic glaze (which is essentially made from balsamic vinegar, sugar, and thickener) to add that bit of sweetness.
Serving Suggestions
Greens: Make a tomato carpaccio salad by adding mixed greens, or simply arugula/rucola/rocket salad or spinach. Dress them lightly in balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Whole Grains: Make it a heartier appetizer salad by serving this tomato carpaccio over a bed of cooked quinoa or couscous, or other whole grain of choice such as spelt berries or barley.
Grilled/Baked Vegetables: Add some grilled vegetables like zucchini, bell peppers, or asparagus. The smoky flavor enhances the overall experience of this vegetable carpaccio!
Storage and Meal Prep Instructions
Storage: This recipe is best enjoyed fresh. However, if you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Keep in mind that the tomatoes might release some moisture, affecting the dish’s texture.
Meal prep: This recipe already only takes 10 minutes from start to finish, but you can still do some prep in advance especially if you’re making a big batch.
Prepare the hummus and balsamic glaze in advance and keep them in small containers. Then you can continue with the rest of the recipe just before serving.
Freezing: This recipe is NOT suitable for freezing.
FAQ
Looking for Other Similar Recipes?
This recipe is in my No-Cook Vegan Christmas appetizer so if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out my 15-Minute Beetroot Tartare, or my 15-Minute Pineapple Carpaccio recipe for a sweeter option. My Christmas sushi tree is also an easy and great recipe for the holidays!
For more tomato recipes, try my Tandoori Pasta, Tandoori Roasted Vegetables, Gochujang Ramen, Sun-Dried Tomato Aioli, or Hummus Bagel!
Easy Tomato Carpaccio (Vegetable Carpaccio Salad, Vegan)
Ingredients
- 14 oz fresh & ripe tomatoes (400 grams) use heirloom tomatoes or any other high quality tomatoes
- ¼ small red onion thinly sliced
- 5.3 oz hummus (150 grams) feel free to sub with (vegan) cheese
- (Optional) 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic glaze the thick one, different from balsamic vinegar (see post above on how to make DIY balsamic glaze from balsamic vinegar)
- 4 sprigs of basil leaves only
- sprinkle of black pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Thinly slice the tomatoes crosswise. So you place the tomato on its side (with the top of the tomato facing to the sides), then slice it. See the pictures in the post above if this is unclear. Then arrange them to cover your serving plate.
- Peel and thinly slice the red onion. Sprinkle on top of the tomatoes
- (Optional) If using nutritional yeast, mix it with your hummus.
- Dollop about 1 teaspoon each of hummus on top of the tomatoes. Then drizzle with the balsamic glaze.
- Snap off the basil leaves from the stem and sprinkle the leaves on top. You can either just throw away the stem, or use it in soups and stews as a flavor booster.
- Finish off with freshly ground black pepper, and serve immediately!
Notes
- Be sure to get the freshest tomatoes that you can find! As with any other dishes that are served raw, getting the freshest ingredients is the key to a tasty dish!
- One quick way to check this is to check if the tomatoes smell fragrant. If they do, that’s a good sign. If not, it’s definitely worth that extra trip to go to another supermarket to find fresh tomatoes!
- Feel free to use heirloom tomatoes, they’re worth the splurge!
I am including this amazing salad in my roundup, but I just had to say this salad is absolutely gorgeous! You have amazing talent. I’m so jealous!!!
Thank you Debbye! It’s an honor to be featured on your site!!
I’m liking all these easy recipes that taste and look great!
Such a simple recipe but both the plating and taste are amazing, thanks for this recipe!