Watermelon, Feta and Arugula Salad

After making agua fresca, I had plenty of watermelon left over so I decided to make a watermelon, feta and arugula salad.  I don’t usually add fresh fruit to my salads – maybe some grapes or an apple – but watermelon?  Who knew that combining sweet juicy watermelon with salty feta would create such a flavorful match?  Add in some spicy arugula and you’ve got a wonderful, simple, tasty salad.

This is a cool, refreshing salad that’s perfect for a hot summer day.  The combination of pink, white and green makes this an attractive salad and it’s really quick to make.

A couple of notes:

I used watermelon from a small, seedless watermelon.  If you are using a big watermelon you’ll need to either remove the seeds or only use pieces of the watermelon that don’t have any seeds.

Before adding raw onion to a salad, soak the onion in a little bowl of water while you’re prepping the other ingredients.  A friend just told me this and I can’t believe what a difference it makes to the salad – it eliminates the raw harsh onion taste.  You can also add a little vinegar to the water but it worked fine with just water for me.

Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa’s Arugula, Watermelon and Feta Salad recipe.

Watermelon, Feta and Arugula Salad

Print Recipe

A refreshing summer salad with juicy watermelon, salty feta and spicy arugula.

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 2 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups cubed seedless watermelon
• 4 cups of arugula
• 1/3 cup diced feta cheese
• 2 tbs minced red onion
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs white wine vinegar
• 6 twists of black pepper from a pepper mill

Instructions

1. Cut one 1/2″ slice of red onion and add to a small bowl of water to soak while preparing the other ingredients.
2. Wash and dry arugula and add to a large bowl.
3. Cut and cube the watermelon and add to the large bowl.
4. Dice feta and add to the large bowl.
5. Drain red onion and mince – should equal about 2 tbs – add to the large bowl.
6. Whisk together 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs white wine vinegar and black pepper.
7. Pour dressing over salad and toss gently.