Tomato and Onion Salad with Peppers

~ This super EASY Tomato and Onion Salad gets an extra boost of flavor from vibrant, crunchy peppers. It’s a signature summer recipe from one of the very best cooks I’ve ever known – my Oma! And, it only takes 5 minutes to make! ~

This Recipe Is:   •  Ready in 30 Minutes or Less  •  Make Ahead  •  Vegan (and Vegetarian)  •  Gluten Free  •

What’s the one thing anybody can say about a recipe that automatically labels it “DELICIOUS”? 

“This is my Oma’s recipe.”

Boom. ‘Nuff said. Instant stamp of approval.

Uncomplicated Summer Perfection

This Tomato and Onion Salad may look simple, but that’s actually its true beauty: delicious simplicity.

• Summer’s best tomatoes
• Thinly sliced onions
• Crisp yellow peppers
• All tossed with a super-fast, tangy vinegar dressing

That’s it. So beautifully simple.

Clean, fresh, vibrant flavors. No need to overthink it.

It’s quick and easy … and blissfully flavorful.

It’s also wonderfully adaptable. (Read on for lots of little tips on how to change this up and truly make it your own.)

Oma’s Summer Tomato and Onion Salad

My sweet Oma just turned 90, but she’s hardly slowed down even a little, especially in the kitchen.

She regularly cooks for hundreds (seriously – hundreds!) of people at her local German Club. And she and her daughter, Annie, are an unstoppable force of nature when it comes to preparing massive, over-the-top, buffet-style meals for our own family, too. I cherish the memories we made when my kiddos were little, and a highlight of summer vacations was Oma’s “cooking lessons.”

This woman knows good food. Undisputed.

“Oma made that” is all you need to say to ensure a party dish will be licked clean in the blink of an eye. Everyone loves Oma’s cooking.

She has a lifetime of amassed knowledge, tried-and-true techniques, and signature recipes. Unquestionably one of the very best cooks I’ve ever known.

This Tomato Onion Salad is one of her most eagerly awaited summer recipes.

She makes it several times each week for family meals, and (thankfully!) brings it along to picnics and parties (and yes … everyone is SUPER excited when they see this one comin’!).

In her sweet, Yugoslavian accent, she patiently walked me through exactly which ingredients to use (hint … it’s REALLY flexible … more on that in a minute), and her precise (but super-easy) techniques.

I took pages of notes, to be sure my Tomato Salad (and yours!) could turn out exactly like Oma’s!

Here’s how you do it …

How to Make Oma’s Tomato Salad

You basically need just 4 ingredients (plus salt and oil, which nobody really counts). And it literally takes about 5 minutes. (So don’t blink or you might just miss this!)

The big, super-important note here is that you’ve gotta use great tomatoes. Summer-ripe, fresh from the garden or farm market. Just like with my favorite Tomato Sandwich recipe: great tomatoes make all the difference!

Once you’ve found the perfect tomatoes, the rest is easy!

Step #1

Thinly slice your onion and massage the slices with 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Massaging onions with salt helps to soften the onions a little, and is also particularly important in mellowing their flavor and taking the edge off that sharp, raw onion taste.

Step #2

Set the onions aside while you chop the peppers and the (unseeded) tomatoes. Oma says you want them to be bite-sized chunks.

Then combine the veggies together, and add your extra virgin olive oil and white vinegar, stirring to make sure everything is really thoroughly combined.

Before serving, taste your salad and season it with just a little extra salt if you think it needs it.

Usually, I find that I don’t need any more than an additional 1/2 teaspoon of salt to really make the flavors pop. But that’s the key: you want the flavors to pop vibrantly.

That’s it!

You’re done! (Told ya this was pure simplicity, didn’t I?)

Change It Up and Make It Your Own!

Like I keep saying, this recipe is SUPER flexible. 

Even Oma changes it up a little from time to time!

Peppers

All different sorts of yellow peppers work here. 

•  Oma usually uses her own, homegrown Hungarian peppers for this recipe (like you see in my photos). If you like a bit of heat, they’re a great choice!

•  For less heat, choose milder banana peppers.

•  Or for a sweeter flavor, you can even go with yellow bell peppers, which is what I often do if my store doesn’t have other options. (If you opt for yellow bells, I recommend using more like 2 cups of pepper pieces, though, since thicker-fleshed bell peppers don’t pack as tightly into the measuring cup.)

•  In a pinch, you can even use those cute little mini “picnic” peppers. That’s what Oma did a couple of years ago when she planted the wrong pepper plants in her garden!

Onions

Oma and I both prefer using sweet onion in this recipe, but she says you can use any onion you happen to have, since rubbing them with salt takes most of the bite out of the onions, anyway.

Vinegar

Oma makes this with plain ol’ white vinegar (not white wine vinegar), which is what I always do, too.

But feel free to get creative! Oma assures me that you can use whatever type of vinegar you want. In fact, her son (who’s an accomplished home cook himself), sometimes gets all edgy with a little balsamic instead. And I can tell ya – it’s delicious that way, too!

Oil

Oma usually reaches for canola oil, but after she told me that virtually any mildly flavored oil will work just fine, I always choose extra virgin olive oil.

Just be sure to avoid highly flavorful oils like sesame or walnut.

Proportions

Oma’s version of this salad is more about the tomatoes than the peppers, but you can adjust the ratio however you like.

Make-Ahead Tips

Talk about flexible! You have loads of options to make this salad partially … or entirely … ahead!

Making It Entirely Ahead

Oma often takes this Tomato and Onion Salad straight to the table, serving it for dinner immediately after she makes it.

But it actually lasts for at least 5 days in the fridge.

In fact, the longer it sits, the more wonderfully juicy it gets as the tomatoes release their liquid. (Hint: you’ll probably want a slotted spoon for serving.)

And, after it sits, the flavors meld and the vinegar-y flavor more fully permeates the veggies. Yum!

It’s a terrific make-ahead salad recipe for summer entertaining, or to help with meal prep to make summer evening dinners easier and more relaxed.

Making It Partially Ahead

Oma tells me that you can also get a head start on the prep if you want, without actually making the whole salad in advance. This is a good option if you’re not as keen on long-marinated flavors and prefer not to have your salad be so juicy when you serve it.

• You can salt and massage the onions and store them in the refrigerator for two or three hours. Then, finish the recipe whenever you’re ready.

• Or, you can layer the veggies ahead – onions that have been rubbed with salt, peppers, then tomatoes – and store it in the fridge without the dressing. Simply toss it all together and dress it before you serve it up.  

Whatever option you prefer, the bottom line is: yes … you’ve got options!

So there you have it! Oma’s signature Tomato and Onion Salad. The one her friends and family eagerly await, every single summer.

Straight from Oma’s heart, to your table … in about 5 minutes flat.

Such a simple way to celebrate the late-summer tomato season. And totally, Oma-approved, DELICIOUS!