Corn nuts were the missing piece I didn’t know I needed in a watermelon salad. Ground up fine and scattered on top right before serving, they replace the salty crunch of feta without the cheese — and honestly do it better. This is the perfect cookout side alongside grilled tempeh or vegan black bean burgers.
Watermelon salad is a winner in the summertime. My version has diced watermelon, red onion, cherry tomatoes, creamy avocado, and fresh basil, all capped off with a chili, lime and black pepper dressing applied in two layers. Sweet, spicy, fresh, salty, and juicy in every bite.
For the watermelon salad dressing, I have you heat the oil before pouring it over ground chilies and a hefty amount of black pepper. This helps infuse the oil with toasted spicy flavor, almost in the style of making chili crisp. We add the lime zest, lime juice, maple syrup, and Tamari while the oil is still warm, so that everything keeps infusing together. I love using a combination of Guntur Sannam Chilies and Silk Chili for the spice here.
It’s really important to get salted corn nuts here (also known as toasted corn). Once they’re ground up, I recommend sprinkling them on top immediately before serving. We want to maximize the crunch factor! The salty toasted corn flavor contrasts so well with the sweet watermelon, lush avocado, sharp red onion, and tangy tomatoes.
While testing this, I found that just the dressing and watermelon alone is pretty incredible. Everything else feels like a bonus.
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Spicy Vegan Watermelon Salad with Corn Nuts and Basil
Ingredients
Dressing
- ¾ teaspoon ground chilies (see note)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon lime zest, plus extra
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Tamari
- sea salt, to taste
Salad
- ½ cup salted corn nuts (also called toasted corn)
- 7-8 cups chopped watermelon (bite sized pieces)
- flaky salt, such as Maldon
- ⅔ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted and diced
- 1 small Fresno chili, very thinly sliced (optional)
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
Equipment
- Food Processor
Notes
- Top with the corn nuts right before serving! They can get a little sticky if they sit too long.
- I find that one of those small/individual sized watermelons gets you the perfect amount for this salad.
Instructions
- Place the ground chilies and ground black pepper in a small bowl. In a small skillet or saucepan, heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, pour it over the chilies and pepper. Give it a little stir. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Then, add the lime zest, lime juice, maple syrup, Tamari, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a food processor, grind up the corn nuts until they’re finely chopped. Set aside.
- Build the salad. Arrange the chopped watermelon on a large platter. Drizzle half of the dressing over the watermelon and sprinkle a bit of flaky sea salt.
- Over the watermelon, scatter the halved cherry tomatoes, red onion slices, diced avocado, sliced Fresno chili, and sliced basil. Drizzle the remaining dressing over top and season with flaky salt again. Finally, sprinkle the ground up corn nuts over top and finish with some more lime zest if you like. Enjoy immediately!
Absolutely delightful. The perfect side salad for summer. Added strawberries and it was fantastic.
wow. so delicious. spent the day in the sun and sand and made this when i came home. such a delight. so crunch so hydrate so fun. so grateful you share your creativity this way! thank you!
Love to try this but I need substitutes for the corn nuts, (cashew) and the dried peppers. Can’t find in my small town?,
Hi Kevin,
You could finely chopped any roasted and salted nuts to top the salad. Red chili flakes will work fine in place of ground chilies.
-L
Thanks. So tasty.
We tried this tonight and it was a success, no leftover for tomorrow ! Superb flavor and texture mix and while unsure about adding the sliced chili it was a good ingredient to add. To make it a meal we added black beans.
Fantastic! Unique, multi-flavor profile. We’ll be making this again.