Caprese Salad. Evidence ranking
White Bean Caprese Salad
#1 among published recipes we could fairly measure. We use this ranking to build The GüdDish when the method is cook-validated.
Ranking verdict
Split Decision
Current evidence cannot confidently separate the top two. Treat this as a shortlist, not a single crown.
#1 ranked recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
· top 1% of 405 analysed
5.00 from 4,768 ratings
Open recipe at cooking.nytimes.com →Answer for citation
#1 published Caprese Salad by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): White Bean Caprese Salad from cooking.nytimes.com (of 405 rated recipes across 76 sites). Verdict: Split Decision. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
Among published Caprese Salad recipes we could fairly measure, #1 is White Bean Caprese Salad from cooking.nytimes.com (405 rated recipes across 76 sites). GüdScore orders them by how far each outperforms its own publisher. That ranking is how we decide what to learn from when we build The GüdDish.
Why it ranked first
This recipe
5.00
cooking.nytimes.com avg
4.54
Ahead of its publisher by 0.46 stars. That gap, not the raw rating alone, drives the rank, because a 4.99 on a site where everything is 4.99 means little.
- 4,768 people rated it, enough that the score is not resting on a handful of opinions.
- That combination puts it in the top 1% of every Caprese Salad recipe we analysed.
Runner-up: Easiest One Pan Caprese Pesto Orzo Bake (halfbakedharvest.com), ★ 4.92 from 347 ratings.
What this takes
8 ingredients · 3 steps
- 1 (14-ounce) can white beans, such as cannellini, rinsed
- 5 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 5 ounces ciliegine (small mozzarella balls), at room temperature, halved lengthwise, or good-quality fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces
- ¼ cup loosely packed basil leaves, torn if large
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 teaspoons good-quality balsamic vinegar, plus more as needed
- Flaky salt
The GüdDish · draft · cook QA in progress
GüdDish Caprese Salad
This is the caprese salad we cook at home when we want the best result without juggling ten tabs. We read the strongest recipes we could find, kept the ingredients and techniques that overlap again and again, and cut the rest. What is left is one combined method: the best of the best, easy to handle, easy to run, and built to come out right every time.
serves 4 to 6
65 min total
3 steps
Needs cook QA
Preview draft GüdDish →
We already drafted The GüdDish from the field. It is not cook-validated yet, so Rank stays primary until QA is green. We do not ship a half-tested recipe as the answer.
Full evidence ranking
Showing 10 of a 10-slot list for this dish’s pool of 405 scored recipes. First 10 clear the full CrowdScore floor (at least 15 ratings and 4.5+ stars), ordered by how far each beats its own publisher after we adjust for rating volume. Star ratings and counts are the publisher’s public evidence when present. Close places can still reverse with more data.
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1White Bean Caprese Salad5.00 from 4,768 ratings
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2Easiest One Pan Caprese Pesto Orzo Bake4.92 from 347 ratings
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3Caprese Salad Tomatoes (Italian Marinated Tomatoes)5.00 from 52 ratings
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4Caprese Tartlets4.86 from 77 ratings
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5Chicken Caprese Skillet5.00 from 63 ratings
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6Caprese Sandwich5.00 from 60 ratings
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7Caprese Salad4.99 from 76 ratings
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8Caprese Skewers5.00 from 56 ratings
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9Easy Chicken Caprese4.93 from 91 ratings
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10Grilled Chicken Caprese5.00 from 44 ratings
Major publishers (ratings not CrowdScore-verified)
Some major publishers show star totals without review-level data we can audit. Those aggregates never enter CrowdScore. They can still appear here as honest publisher claims or as method references. Below: top claims for this dish.
Behind the evidence
405Recipes rated
76Sites
21,559Ratings
HighOrdering confidence
What enters GüdScore
We only put a recipe in GüdScore when we can check the evidence behind its rating at the review level. Sites that only publish closed aggregate stars, without recoverable reviews, stay outside that score rather than being quietly down-weighted. Where we can rebuild ratings from raw public reviews, we do that before a recipe competes. Full methodology: How GüdScore works.
FAQ
What is the best Caprese Salad recipe?
#1 published Caprese Salad by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): White Bean Caprese Salad from cooking.nytimes.com (of 405 rated recipes across 76 sites). Verdict: Split Decision. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
How does GüdDish pick a winner?
We search the open web for methods, measure rated recipes with GüdScore (evidence engine), study ingredients and techniques that set the strongest ones apart, then build one GüdDish. GüdScore does not hand you a single best recipe alone. Details: https://guddish.com/method.html
What does the verdict mean?
The Rank verdict describes the published-recipe competition, not a grade for The GüdDish. Clear Winner means number one is well ahead. Close Contest, Photo Finish, and Split Decision mean the top recipes are hard to separate. Limited corpus means we analyzed fewer recipes than a mature dish.
Why are some big publishers missing from GüdScore?
GüdScore only includes ratings we can audit at the review level. Sites that only expose closed aggregate scores, without recoverable review data, stay outside that score. Their recipes may still inform technique. See How GüdDish works for the full rules.
How often is this updated?
This page’s data was last scored or re-synced on 2026-08-17.
The public Rank is the top 10. The rest of the scored pool lives in the JSON API, not on this page.