A delicious refreshing watermelon feta salad served with cucumbers, pickled onions, balsamic vinaigrette, and sliced grilled flank steak for the perfect backyard get-together recipe. Keep those grills lit because of my T-Bone Steak Recipe with Lemon Butter and my Grilled Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf or must-tries!
Watermelon is a fantastic fruit that reaches its peak season during the summer months. Watermelon, similar to honeydew and cantaloupe, has a unique flavor that allows it to go well with acid, fat, and salt. When combined with all of those things it really enhances the taste of everything, especially when in a salad.
See my Summer Panzanella Salad and Strawberry Spinach Salad and find out how I incorporate fruit into green salads.
Watermelon Feta Salad
This seems like an odd combination of flavors, but it’s nothing short of delicious. The fat from the feta compliments the watermelon to bring about some great flavors.
Just the simple combination of the two makes for a really tasty salad to serve up all by itself. It’s important to make the watermelon feta salad in the summertime to capitalize on watermelon being in peak season.
Grilled Watermelon
Believe it or not, you can grill watermelon. When you grill fruit, whether that’s stone fruit or mango or pineapple, it further intensifies the sweetness of that fruit. The hot sear marks caramelized the fruit bringing forth all of those natural sugars making the flavor awesome.
- Preheat the grill to high heat, 450° to 550°. Spray the grates with non-stick spray or rub down with oil.
- Add peeled watermelon slices to the grill and cook for 20-30 seconds per side or until grill marks have formed. Place in the refrigerator until chilled, about 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
Salad Ingredients
When making this salad you can add different ingredients to help compliment it. When preparing any recipe, the Franke Chef Center in my studio is so crucial. It allows me to prep, clean, and assembles all in the same place. With its assorted attachments, rinsing, cutting, and discarding all come in handy.
Ingredients for this salad include:
- Spring Mix
- Butterleaf Lettuce
- Pickled Red Onions
- Feta Cheese
- Watermelon
- Cucumber
- Radish
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Green Onions
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Flank Steak
Pickled Red Onions: Mix together equal parts red wine vinegar and water along with sugar and salt and submerge the sliced red onions. Refrigerate for 30 minutes for a quick pickled onions recipe.
Grilled Flank Steak
Flank steak is a fantastic cut of meat that comes from the belly area of the cow just below the loin. It is lean but can be a tough cut of meat if it isn’t cooked right. Flank steak needs to be cooked quickly and served or for long periods of time until it easily shreds apart.
Grilling to rare or medium-rare, slicing and serving are best since it does not have a lot of fat to help break down and provide flavor if cooking for a long time.
How to Grill Flank Steak:
1. Preheat the grill to high heat, 450° to 550°.
2. Coat the flank steak in oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the steak on the grill and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
4. Remove from the grill and rest on a cutting board for 2 to 3 minutes before slicing and serving. Add 2 minutes per side of grilling to achieve a medium internal temperature.
Flank Steak Grilling Time: this will depend on how hot your grill is, but if you are grilling on high heat then cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side, resting for 2 to 3 minutes for medium-rare internal temperature.
How to Serve it
Add the greens to a bowl or platter and display all of the toppings over the lettuces by fanning out or placing them in groups. Serve the balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side so that your guests can add however much they would like.
Recipe Chef Notes + Tips
How to Reheat the Steak: While I never recommend reheating steak, I do realize you may not be able to eat it all. If you are reheating you can either quickly add back to a hot grill for 2 minutes per side or in a large pan with about a ½ cup of beef stock, covered in foil and cooked in the oven at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes.
Reheating your steak will 100% cause it to increase in internal temperature most likely past medium and into medium-well.
How to Store: Cover the salad undressed in plastic wrap for up to 2 days. This recipe will not freeze well.
The ripest most flavorful watermelon is round, has some yellow sunspots and brown webbing.
The most flavorful feta cheese is made from goats’ milk and hands down my favorite feta is Bulgarian if you can find it!
You can absolutely add or take away ingredients from this salad list to your liking.
More Steak Recipes
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Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe with Grilled Flank Steak
Ingredients
For the Pickled Onions:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 peeled thinly sliced red onion
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 small diced shallot
- 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
- juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 tablespoon grainy or Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- sea salt and pepper to taste
For the Salad:
- 1 pound flank steak
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 cups of packed Spring Mix lettuce or desired lettuce blends
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1 sliced cucumber
- ½ small peeled and thickly sliced watermelon
- 2 thinly sliced radishes
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions
- 1/2 cup of Feta cheese
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Onions: In a bowl combine together water, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Next, submerge the sliced onions in the mixture and place it n the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Vinaigrette: Combine shallots, vinegar, lime juice, honey, mustard and basil in a large bowl and slowly whisk in olive oil until completely combined. Finish by whisking in salt and pepper, and set aside.
- Steak: Preheat the grill to high heat, in between 450° and 550°.
- Coat the steak on all sides with olive oil, salt, and pepper and cook on a hot grill (450° to 550°) for 3 to 4 minutes on each side to reach a medium-rare internal temperature. Once cooked, remove from the heat and rest on a cutting board for 2 to 3 minutes before slicing.
- Salad: In a large bowl or platter combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, Feta cheese, radishes, and green onions. Place on steak slices and serve alongside dressing.
Eden says
This was fantastic! I love the watermelon flavors with the steak. So good! We’ll be making it again!!
Tara says
I would have never thought to add flank steak to a watermelon salad, but it’s delicious!
lauren kelly says
What terrific combination of flavors! It’s the perfect match of sweet and salty!
Rachael Yerkes says
This is delicious!