Caprese Appetizers are a fun way to serve up everyone’s favorite (tomatoes and mozzarella) in individual bite sized deliciousness. SO easy to make and done in minutes, you can dip your Caprese salad bites in mini containers of balsamic and create the most adorable food tray.
Ladybug Caprese Appetizer Recipe
You will love how adorable and how easy these Caprese bites are to make.
Nothing to bake, nothing to cook, serve up as a side dish or perfect for an appetizer platter all year long.
And Caprese is always a favorite of mine, as you can tell by the multitude of caprese recipes I have on my site like strawberry caprese salad, caprese pizza, and even caprese stuffed chicken.
- 1 package, 8 ounces, sliced mozzarella cheese log
- 7 cherry tomatoes (more if you are making a larger plate)
- black olives
- Fresh basil leaves
- Wilton sparkle color gels in black
Caprese Salad Bite Tips:
- Full disclosure, there’s not balsamic in this. But you can put a very small amount under the tomato or under the basil if you wanted to. You could also just supply some to dip into. These condiment containers would work well for a large group. Here is my balsamic vinegar reduction recipe.
- These ladybug appetizers aren’t hard to make, so do not let the cuteness of the animal food throw you off.
- Looking for sliced cheese? I used BelGioioso and it’s a pre-sliced Mozzarella. You get 14 full slices, not counting the 2 ends, so enough to make a full tray of ladybugs!
- I used jumbo black olives and probably should have purchased medium sized black olives. This might mean you can make less cuts on the head.
would work well for a large group. Here is my How to assemble Caprese Appetizer Lady Bugs
These mini lady bug appetizer bites are a perfect way to enjoy a salad in a perfectly portioned way! Here are step by step instructions on how to make this super cute Caprese dish.
Place cheese rounds onto a serving tray or platter.
Place 1 basil leaf on each cheese round.
You can usually grab basil leaves right from the produce section of your store but they are also SO SIMPLE to grow!
Halve tomatoes and cut a small slit into the center to create wings.
Place the tomato half onto the basil leaf.
Slice away 1 end of the olive and slice that small piece in half.
Cut the ends of each half to create a head.
Place head onto the tomato.
Use color gel to create spots on the lady bug.
Serve immediately.
Makes 14
Additional Appetizer Recipes
Prepping dips, salsas, and finger foods of a large variety can be overwhelming, so here are my favorites.
- Funfetti Dip – awesome sweet dip served up with graham crackers
- Neiman Marcus Dip – just like grandma used to make, its a million dollar dip to dip into!
- Avocado Deviled Eggs– new spin on an old favorite
- Stuffed Mushrooms – cannot go wrong with this mini bite
- Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball – Its so good that you might be licking your own fingers by the time you are done
- Jalapeno Popper Dip
Caprese Ladybug Appetizer Tray with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Ingredients
- 1 package 8 ounces, sliced mozzarella cheese log
- 7 cherry tomatoes
- black olives
- fresh basil leaves
- wilton sparkle color gels in black
Instructions
- Place cheese rounds onto a serving tray or platter.
- Place 1 basil leaf on each cheese round.
- Halve cherry tomatoes from top to bottom down the center (vertical) and cut a small slit into the center of the back to create wings.
- Place the tomato half onto the basil leaf.
- Slice away 1 end of the olive and slice that small piece in half. Cut the ends of each half to create a head.
- Place head onto the tomato.
- Use color gel to create spots on the lady bug.
- Please note on the black gel - if your kitchen is hot, it can slide off a little of tomato. Its best to put a little bit of pressure into the dot (see video).
- Serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying of full recipe to any social media is prohibited.
