This delicious, refreshing watermelon salad recipe is meant for hot summer days. With feta, avocado, mint & lime, it's the perfect mix of savory & sweet.
Once summer rolls around, I can’t get enough of salads made with a mix of peak-season fruits and veggies. I love a good sweet & savory combination, and this watermelon salad with feta, mint, avocado, and a tangy lime dressing is exactly that.
Every year, as soon as I spot a good watermelon, I rush home to make this recipe. It takes minutes to throw together, and it’s incredibly refreshing. Try it once, and you’ll have it on repeat for the rest of watermelon season.
Watermelon Salad Recipe Ingredients
If you’ve never tried watermelon in a savory setting, you have to make this recipe ASAP. Juicy & fresh, the melon goes SO well with the other creamy, crisp, tangy, and spicy components in this salad. Here’s what makes it so delicious:
- Red onion, for a sharp bite of flavor and crispy texture
- Cucumber, for a cool, crisp addition
- Feta cheese, for a creamy, tangy element
- Avocado, for extra creaminess. Plus watermelon + lime + avocado = a match made in heaven.
- Mint & basil, for fresh herbal notes (Mint & watermelon is one of my favorite combos too!)
- Serrano pepper, for a little heat (if you like, these are optional)
- And a bright lime dressing, to tie it all together.
Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe Variations
This watermelon feta salad is a great one to play with. Here are some of my favorite ways to change it up:
- Don’t like spice? Skip the chile, and this watermelon salad will still be delicious.
- Add a little crunch with a handful of toasted walnuts or cashews.
- Make this salad a full meal by serving it on a bed of arugula with some quinoa mixed in.
- Or change up the fruit and substitute strawberries for the watermelon.
Let me know what variations you try!
What to Serve with Watermelon Salad
I love to make this salad for cookouts. It pairs well with whatever you’re grilling, whether that be portobello mushroom burgers or dogs, black bean burgers, veggie burgers, or corn on the cob.
It’s also good with picnic sandwiches like these chickpea shawarma wraps, these BBQ jackfruit sandwiches, this caprese sandwich, or this mushroom po’ boy.
If you have extra watermelon, make watermelon margaritas! If you don’t have extra watermelon, you can never go wrong with classic margaritas.
If you love this watermelon salad recipe…
Try more of my favorite fruity salads like this strawberry caprese salad, this watermelon tomato salad, this summer slaw, or this corn salad!
Watermelon Salad with Feta & Mint
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
For the salad
- 5 cups cubed watermelon
- 1 heaping cup diced English cucumber
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onions
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 avocado, cubed
- ⅓ cup torn mint or basil leaves
- ½ jalapeño or serrano pepper, thinly sliced, optional
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic and salt.
- Arrange the watermelon, cucumber, and red onions on a large plate or platter. Drizzle with half the dressing. Top with the feta, avocado, mint, and serrano pepper, if using, and drizzle with remaining dressing. Season to taste and serve.
A great combination of ingredients. So delicious.
Simply delicious . My daughters devoured it.I didn’t add the avocado.
I used pickled red onions, and added roasted, salted pepitas, and mint. This is a great salad to add more of your favorite fun ingredients!!
I love this salad!! I use cilantro instead of mint or basil.
I made this salad twice, once for practice the day before a party, then tweaked it for the real event. The first salad I followed exactly as directed. I found the avocado, (even though I had a perfect one) got mushy when lightly mixing the ingredients. The second time, I brought all of the ingredients separately to the party and put it together there to make sure it was really fresh. I made sure to drain any watermelon juice prior to putting the salad together, and, layered the salad without mixing it. I added a bed of arugula, and added some to the layers. I also added some walnuts, which was really good, and used mint, not basil. The sauce was good, and the salad was well received amongst my foodie friends. I think pistachio’s would have been a good option as well in place of walnuts.
I’m glad you all enjoyed it!
Would peanuts work okay with this for some added crunch? I have a tree nut allergy
yep!
Delicious!
I made this for the first time. Will definitely make again it is my new favourite. I wonder how many calories are in this
I just made this for our first outdoor dinner of the season. It was absolutely delicious! So fresh and summery. I used goat cheese instead feta, because that’s what we had in the fridge, and served it with pita triangles. Thank you!
Tried today for first time. Loved it!
I had so much FUN making the watermelon salad…The only thing I changed was adding cilantro instead of mint…..I LOVE the sweetness combine with a linger of spiciness, it was yummmy delicious…I will certainly make this salad for a perfect picnic day….LOVED it…..
Great balance of seeet salty and freshness
I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I didn’t have lime, so I used red wine vinegar, and since some friend hate avocados I left them out. It was great, but I can’t wait to try the original recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Our daughter in law made this incredible salad for our BBQ dinner last night. I’m officially obsessed!
Made this and it was awesome. Looked great in the serving bowl too. I wasn’t sure it I was suppose to use mint or basil so used a bit of both. Took to a party so put it all in containers and assembled last minute. Tasted best when first served so I wouldn’t preassemble. Was a great summer side dish.
Can’t wait to make this salad tonight. It will be the perfect side for my pan seared red snapper, cream of collards, and Gouda cheese grits. Great recipe for an awesome family send off dinner for my son heading to college! Thanks!
I hope you enjoyed!
So yummy! I used what I had and still delicious. Didn’t have red onion, used celery stalk. Didn’t have avocado, used walnuts. Forgot the feta but still delicious. Only had a little lime and replaced rest with cider vinegar. This is so yummy and refreshing! Thank you
I’m so glad you loved it!
I broke out of my salad rut with this recipe and loved it! Thank you.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Okay. This was amazing. A salad for four got annihilated by 3 people. I used basil because I had just purchased some from the Farmer across the street. Absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Haha, I’m so glad everyone loved it!
Divine. Would never have thought to include avocado and cucumber and they were fantastic. I’ve had a number of variations on a watermelon/feta salad, but this is my favorite!
While it was best right after it was assembled, it was still pretty good the next morning for breakfast!
I’m so glad you loved it!
That looks so refreshing. Love each one of those ingredients. Can’t wait for the weekend to start.
My wife is a huge fan of making salads with fruit. She’d love this recipe! haha thank you!
I hope she loves it!