Panzanella: A Simple Italian Bread Salad
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Topped with a zesty vinaigrette, this Italian Bread Salad known as Panzanella is a simple salad that won’t disappoint. It’s an easy dish, filled with your favourite vegetables that can be customized any way you like to put all those tasty garden vegetables to good use.
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Panzanella is a Tuscan salad. It translates to “bread bowl” and relies heavily on any kind of ripe tomatoes and day-old bread. This dish is great for those of us that need to get more vegetables in. Filled with salty, bright flavours, it’ll become your favourite go-to meal.
Ready in under 30 minutes, it’s perfect as an appetizer, lunch, dinner, or side dish. This tomato bread salad can be served by itself, or with grilled chicken. You can keep this dish vegetarian by simply serving roasted chickpeas with it.
Salad Ingredients & substitutions:
- Calabrese bread — If you do not have Calabrese bread, you can use French bread, Baguette bread or panini buns. As long as you have a bread that will crisp up, it will work.
- Olive oil — Will help the bread crisp up and add a layer of flavor.
- Seasonings — Salt will give the bread a little push that it needs.
- Tomatoes — Any variety of ripened tomatoes works. They just need to have the seeds taken out. This will prevent soggy bread and a watery salad.
- Cucumber — Will adds terrific crunch to the Panzanella Salad and is a core item.
- Red and yellow pepper — I love eating the rainbow. These peppers add some sweetness to the salad, while also making it bright!
- Red onion — Sharp, but mild, you can omit this if you do not like it or substitute it for yellow or a sweeter onion variety.
- Basil — A bright and bold herb that makes this dish burst with flavour and adds a herbacious touch.
- Green olives — Add a salty, briny flavor. If you don’t like olives, you can add capers instead.
Ingredients & Substitutions for the Dressing:
- Olive oil — If you don’t have olive oil, you can substitute grapeseed or sunflower oil. Any mild oil that will not add additional flavour to the dressing.
- White wine vinegar — Adds a tang that you will want and need. It will help cut the flavor that comes from the olives/capers.
- Garlic — Whenever I can add it, I will. And for most Italian recipes like this garlic is a staple.
- Seasonings — I add fresh chopped oregano, as well as salt, dry mustard powder, and black pepper.
How to Make This Panzanella Recipe
Preheat the oven to 375º F. In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with olive oil and salt. Spread the bread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In the same bowl, then prepare the salad. Mix together the tomatoes, cucumbers, red and yellow pepper, and onion. Add the basil, olives and bread cubes. Set aside.
In a small bowl, prepare the vinaigrette by mixing together the olive oil, salt, pepper, white wine vinegar, dry mustard powder and oregano.
Mix together the salad, bread and dressing, ensuring that the dressing is distributed evenly.
With all the fresh vegetables in this tasty tomato bread salad, you will definitely want to serve this cold and it is best served the same day. Once the bread gets mixed it the clock is ticking before it will soften and lose its crunch.
I like to serve this salad with a million things but my favourite recipes are:
- Garlic and Rosemary Grilled Lamb Chops
- Keto Chicken Parmesan
- Air-Fryer Salmon Croquettes
- Lemon Parmesan Chicken Burgers
- Calamari Fritti
Should this be served warm or cold?
This simple salad is best served cold.
Can I make this in advance?
You bet can make this salad in advance! I recommend separating the bread from the vegetables and dressing. You can make both the bread, dressing and the salad seperately, storing the bread in an airtight container, and then when you are ready to eat put them both togeher.
How should I store this?
If you have leftovers you are probably good for another day or two but just know that bread will soften the longer it sits with the moisture of the tomatoes and veggies.
More Great Salads to Try
Panzanella Salad
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
- Large Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Chopping Knife
- Spoon
Ingredients
- 5 cups Calabrese bread cubed; about half a loaf
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 large ripe tomatoes seeds removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large garden cucumber peeled, quartered cut into 1" pieces
- 1 red pepper cut into bite-sized pieces, stems and seeds removed
- 1 yellow pepper cut into bite-sized pieces, stems and seeds removed
- ½ red onion thinly sliced
- 20 basil leaves coarsley chopped
- 15 large pitted green olives
Dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- ½ tsp fresh oregano finely chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp dry mustard
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with 3 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tsp salt. Spread the prepared bread cubes evenly on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes flipping halfway through. Bake until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- In a large bowl (you can use the same one used for the bread) add all of the vegetables, basil, olives and baked bread cubes.
- In a small bowl prepare the vinaigrette by adding a half a cup of olive oil, salt, pepper, white wine vinegar, dry mustard powder and oregano. Mix well to combine.
- Pour the dressing over the vegetable and bread mixture just before serving and toss to coat. Serve cold.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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I love how flavorful it is!! So good and delish! Thanks for the recipe!
One of my favorite ways to enjoy perfectly ripe summer tomatoes!
I’m in love with the flavors and textures of this panzanella salad. It’s so easy too! A winner all around…thanks!
The whole family loved this Panzanella salad. Thanks for sharing!