Description

This Watermelon with Labneh and Honey starts with a base of thick and creamy labneh cheese and a generous drizzle of honey. Fresh summer sweet watermelon gets treated with a light dusting of smoky chili powder, a big squeeze of lime juice, and a sprinkle of Kosher salt and then layered on top, finishing with a dusting of fresh lime zest. This summer side dish is lightly smoky, with big sweet, citrusy, and salty flavors.

Ingredients

Scale

1 batch Easy Labneh Cheese (prepped a minimum of 6-hrs before for or 1-day prior)
6 tbsp honey, plus more to taste
3 lb mini watermelon, prechilled if desired
1/2 tsp chili powder, plus more to taste
2 tbsp lime juice + reserve lime zest to top
1/2 tsp Kosher salt, plus more to taste

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Prep the watermelon. I prefer to serve this Chili Lime Watermelon with Labneh and Honey with the rind still intact on one end so people can pick the pieces up by hand -- though it's just as great sliced into wedges or cut into rindless cubes. If you'd like to cut your watermelon into sticks, the best method I've found for doing this is is below:
1. Place a clean slightly damp kitchen towel underneath your cutting board to help your board from becoming slippery and moving around as the watermelon juice drips out. If you prefer, you can, instead, line the top of the board with the towel, if feel like you need to keep the watermelon itself a little sturdier as you cut.
2. Slice 1/2 inch or so of the stem end of the watermelon off and discard that piece.
3. Turn the watermelon onto the exposed end so it's resting flat on the cutting board. Slice the watermelon top-down into slices, roughly 1 1/2-inch wide. You'll end up with long, wide slices of watermelon with rind on one end and two slices that contain mostly rind on the outer edge (the two outside pieces). You can discard the two end pieces or scoop the fruit out and enjoy on its own.
4. Lay each slice flat with the rind pointing forward and cut straight down from the rind into 1 1/2-inch sticks. Trim any ends as needed so you just have rind on one end of the sticks.
Arrange the watermelon into one even layer across the cutting board and sprinkle half of the chili powder, half of the lime juice, and half of the salt across the top. Rotate each of the watermelon sticks twice so that the dressed side is now on the bottom. Sprinkle the remaining half of the chili powder, lime juice, and salt across the top. Continue turning the watermelon sticks until they are reasonably evenly coated.
- Alternatively, if you choose to cube the watermelon instead of cutting it into sticks, you can top it with the full amount of chili powder, lime, juice, and salt at once and toss gently to combine.
On a large platter, spread the labneh cheese in a reasonably even layer. Drizzle the top of the labneh with honey, then top with the watermelon. You can optionally give the watermelon an extra small drizzle of honey if your watermelon isn't especially sweet, but it's not necessary if your watermelon is nicely ripe sweet.
Sprinkle the top with the reserved lime zest and serve cold.

Notes

Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 265
Sugar: 34 g
Sodium: 247 mg
Fat: 8 g
Saturated Fat: 5 g
Carbohydrates: 38 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 15 g
Cholesterol: 27 mg