This easy to prepare Cantaloupe and Prosciutto Salad is packed with fresh ingredients, including strawberries, arugula, and goat cheese and is topped with a delicious mint yogurt dressing. It makes for a delightful side salad, but is also totally satisfying as a meal.
(This recipe for Cantaloupe and Prosciutto Arugula Salad with Mint Yogurt Dressing was originally published in April 2012, but was updated with new photos in 2018).
I hope you'll excuse me if my next couple weeks (OK, maybe 1.5 months) of recipes are a bit simpler than usual. It seems that we've entered that crazy busy time in wedding planning when it's total crunch time and pretty much every minute of my life is packed with something or the other. Free time in the kitchen? Is at a minimum. So, dinners for me will be fairly simple for the next several weeks. And they'll also likely provide me without enough leftovers for lunches the next day or so. A girl's still gotta eat, so I'll still be cooking, but it will likely mostly be salads and simple light fare for this hot weather and to make sure I stay in ultimate wedding shape until June 9 (which is laughable, considering I have done next to nothing to get in wedding shape up to now... Oops. It's never too late to start?).
It really hit me this weekend when I realized we only have seven weekends left before the wedding. And since this weekend is my wedding shower (!!!) and the next is my bachelorette party (!!!), that leaves us with five. Five weekends to tackle a crazy large to-do list that's giving me a minor anxiety attack every time I look at it. Really though, we are trucking along through everything and we know it's going to be perfect no matter what (to us at least!), so we're trying our best to keep stress at a minimum. And easy, delicious meals are certainly helping!
This one, Cantaloupe Arugula Salad with Prosciutto and Mint Yogurt Dressing, is one of them. You can throw it together in a snap and it has basically every flavor you could desire. I have a feeling it will become a summer staple in my house. Also, please tell me to shut up if you're sick of all my wedding talk. But for the next 1.5 months, it's definitely top-of-mind for me!
CANTALOUPE AND PROSCIUTTO ARUGULA SALAD WITH MINT YOGURT DRESSING RECIPE
OK, so yes, I've been eating this salad as a meal, but if you're having company, you should probably make it an appetizer or side dish. Some people are mighty picky about salad for dinner and will get up and leave your party if you're trying to make this the main dish. But if you happen to be a salad lover who's having a ridiculously busy spring and want something fast and easy that's also super satisfying, this cantaloupe and prosciutto salad is totally fine as an entree. The leftovers also make a great lunch the next day!
Believe it or not, this was my first time cutting up a cantaloupe. I never buy cantaloupe or honeydew for some reason and really only eat it when I go to my parents' house (my mom always has some cut up in the fridge in the summer!). It was easy and I don't know why I don't keep it around more often.
When I make salads, you'll rarely ever find me using iceberg lettuce or even romaine. I like "real" greens and am obsessed with the spicy kick arugula brings. It pairs perfectly with the sweet fruit like cantaloupe and strawberries and salty meat like prosciutto. Once your fruit and prosciutto are chopped, all you need to do is toss everything together in a big bowl.
For the dressing, I put Greek yogurt, fresh mint leaves, and freshly squeezed lime juice in a blender and blended the ingredients together until smooth. It turned out to be a nice summery minty color. Mint green does seem to be the color of the season, after all.
I didn't want to dress my salad until I served it, so I put some salad in a bowl and drizzled the yogurt dressing over the top. A little fresh cracked pepper goes perfectly on top.
And the perfect summer salad was born. Seriously though, this salad has everything you could want: the sweet, the salty, and the spicy. And can you get over how beautiful the colors are?? I cannot. Plus, a light minty dressing that I basically want to put on everything in life now.
Everyone knows that cantaloupe and prosciutto together is a match made in heaven and now I know that an cantaloupe and prosciutto arugula salad (with strawberries and a minty dressing) is my idea of an even better heaven! If I'm going to eat a salad as a meal, I generally want some cheese involved, too (right??), but I didn't feel like anything was missing in this salad! Maybe that's just the power of prosciutto?
Whatever the case, these are the kinds of meals that will be my life for the next several weeks. But really, I'm perfectly OK with that because it's 80-something degrees in Boston and who wants to slave over a hot stove anyway? I officially got my first sunburn of the season yesterday when I sat outside for 6 hours watching the Boston Marathon. Ugh, I didn't realize how much sun I was getting until a marathon runner speeding by us at mile 24 yelled out, "You're turning red! You need sunblock!" And he was correct. Happy Summer weather y'all. I will definitely remember from now on.
Are you especially busy right now or are you enjoying the lull the beginning of summer sometimes brings?
For more delicious salads, check out my Salmon BLT Salad with Chipotle Buttermilk Dressing or my Honey Lime Peach Salad with Roast Beef and Turkey. I also love this Fresh Melon Mint Caprese Salad from The Wooden Skillet!
📖 Recipe
Cantaloupe Arugula Salad with Prosciutto and Mint Yogurt Dressing
Ingredients
- 4 cups arugula
- ½ medium cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 1 ½ cups sliced strawberries
- 8 slices prosciutto, chopped
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 10 mint leaves
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
Instructions
- Toss arugula, cubed cantaloupe, sliced strawberries, and chopped prosciutto together in a large bowl.
- Add yogurt, mint, and lime juice to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Serve salad in individual bowls or on individual plates and drizzle dressing on top.
Asmaa says
It looks so very delicious this dishes,also it's so easy to prepare it , i like it because is natural and healty. Thanks for this receipts.
Emily @ A Cambridge Story says
This looks just right for a hot spring night, especially a busy one! My schedule is also crazy until mid-May. I can't wait til then. Best of luck with the last of the wedding planning!
Blog is the New Black says
So exciting! We just had our shower and got so much fun stuff to cook with! 😉 Enjoy it all!
Ashley Nolan says
I love the colors! And basically anything with prosciutto haha. I miss wedding planning! Have fun and please share lots of pics!!
Michelle says
I can't wait to hear about the wedding shower!
Faith Towers says
That sounds so amazing! You're making me hungry...
Colleen @ Culinary Colleen says
Yum, this looks like one of my favorite appetizers in salad form!
sarah k. @ the pajama chef says
this salad sounds awesome!!
C.Peb says
Mmm, Mmm Good!
Gia says
Melon and prosciutto is the best appetizer so I can only imagine how this tastes!
Cara says
This looks delicious, I'm going to make this for lunch this weekend! I wonder if I ran by you on Monday!
Susan says
I love this salad! I made a similar salad to bring to a friend's home and sadly, the melon was not good 🙁 This will be delicious when farmers' market melons starting coming in later this summer!
Meesh says
i will be using that much prosciutto 🙂