Only the Italians—the brilliant, carb-positive Italians—could come up with something as delightful as this Tuscan bread salad. We break out this classic panzanella recipe when the temperatures rise and we want a simple, summery dinner without much cooking. Bread, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and plenty of Parmesan — what could be better? Looking for more salad recipes that celebrate summer tomatoes? Try our simple Tomato Salad, or classic Caprese Salad, too.
What Is Panzanella?
Panzanella is a classic Italian recipe that’s associated with Tuscany, but can be found throughout Italy. Panzanella is a recipe that evolved as a way to use up what people had around, in this case, as a delicious way to make the most of day-old loaves of rustic bread. Tossing the dry bread pieces with juicy summer tomatoes and a garlicky panzanella dressing gives the bread a second life! As the dried out bread soaks up the dressing and tomato juices and whatever else you might have added to your panzanella, it takes on a new quality—tender, deeply flavorful, and irresistible.
Panzanella Ingredients
For the bread salad:
Bread. Traditional Tuscan panzanella would be made with day-old, local, country loaves of various shapes and sizes depending on the town or village, and most of us don’t have access to exactly that type of bread. Our panzanella recipe mimics that staleness by toasting the bread, so even if your bread isn’t “mature”, don’t sweat it. If you do have day-old bread, by all means use it. Make our panzanella with any “good bread” you love. We like ciabatta or French bread, but Homemade Sourdough is nice, too.
Cherry tomatoes. The freshest, juiciest tomatoes you can find. If the best tomatoes are regular and not cherry tomatoes, that’s OK! Just use what is in season right in the moment and tastes best — it’s the Italian way.
Fresh basil. A must!
Parmesan cheese. Freshly grated is always best.
Shallot. We love to use shallots because they have the hint of sharpness we want, but are a bit milder than other onions.
Granulated garlic. This is the key to why our panzanella is so good! We toss the bread pieces with garlic and salt before we toast them, so that every single bite of bread is bursting with savory goodness.
For the homemade dressing:
Extra-virgin olive oil
White balsamic vinegar. We choose white balsamic vinegar so that the salad remains light and bright, but if all you have is regular balsamic vinegar, it’s OK to use that.
Honey
Fresh garlic
Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper
Tips For Making Panzanella
This easy, classic panzanella salad recipe comes together pretty quickly and relies on simple ingredients to make a dreamy light (vegetarian!) dinner, or hearty side.
For an even easier summer dinner, you can prep much of this panzanella recipe a day ahead of time. You can tear up your loaf of bread and leave it out on a tray overnight to go stale (or follow our instructions for toasting it), and whisk together the panzanella dressing a day in advance.
On “de-flaming” the shallots: To make the shallots even more delicious and mellow out their onion-y bite, we have you pour boiling water over them. It’s a trick we love to employ for this panzanella recipe, so that we can enjoy their pleasant sharpness without overpowering the other ingredients.
- Leftover panzanella is delicious, and will keep easily for 1-2 days. After that, it’d still be safe to eat but the bread will be quite soggy by then and may not be very appetizing.
What to Serve With Panzanella
On a hot summer evening, all you really need to serve with panzanella is a glass of chilled white wine. But, if you’d like to serve this as part of a larger meal, it makes a lovely side dish, or complement to other veggie-heavy, warm-weather dishes. Try serving panzanella with other easy summer recipes like:
More Hearty Salad Recipes to Try
Gorgeous Italian Salads, All Summer Long
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