Name: Panzanella Salad
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 19 min
Ingredients: 1 Italian Bread cut up into 1 inch cubes ((smaller or bigger is up to your taste)); 2 garlic cloves (minced); 2 teaspoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves ((or 1 teaspoon dried)); 1/4 teaspoon salt ((more or less to taste)); 2 cups Basil Leaves (or greens); 1 cup tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, cut in half); 1 red onion (cliced); 1 cup cucumbers (sliced); 1 cup bell peppers (sliced, any color); 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon sugar; 1 clove garlic (finely minced); 1 lemon (zest and juice); 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese ((OR: 2 teaspoons of mustard if Vegan)); 1/3 cup olive oil; 1/4 Basil Pesto (Homemade basil pesto ); 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 lemon (zested); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 burrata cheese (https://www.twopurplefigs.com/burrata-cheese/)

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This gorgeous Panzanella Salad is a hearty, delicious and bright salad that you’ll be making all spring and summer! Tossed with Basil Dressing, with crispy Italian bread, juicy tomatoes, bell peppers and more! Panzanella is a salad recipe you’ll LOVE!

If you love a good salad–this is the ONE for you! Aside from the many Italian salads on this website like our viral Burrata Cheese , Burrata Caprese, Caprese Salad and Caprese Skewers – YUM! Imagine those turned into dishes like: Burrata Pasta, Chicken Caprese and PIZZA —Caprese Pizza, Burrata Pizza, Burrata Salad..you get the idea 🙂

If you’re an Italian food lover, this Panzanella is for you!

What is Panzanella?

It’s a classic Italian bread salad, a Tuscan bread salad to be more precise. It’s a definitely one of those classic Italian salads you’ll have to try if you ever visit Italy! And it’s one you can easily make at home and vary with endless toppings and dressings.

Though it was originally created as a way to use up stale bread, we actually buy fresh bread just to make it! Panzanella Salad is light enough to serve as a salad, yet sophisticated enough to be served at any dinner party.

Panzanella Salad Ingredients

Oh my—the sky’s your limit! The classic Italian version focuses on tomatoes, red onions, some cucumbers, and a simple vinegar & olive oil dressing.

Juicy Tomatoes
Cucumbers
onions
sweet bell peppers
Italian bread toasted
basil leaves

How to Make Panzanella Salad

You’ll need to start with the bread. Similar to the Caprese Salad and Wedge Salad, you’ll need toasted flavorful bread chunks. You can do that over the stove or oven. For the oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the bread cubes with garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and olive oil. Spread them evenly on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes until crispy. Let them cool while you prepare the salad.

Now choose your salad bowl and add in all the ingredients like tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions and lots of fresh basil leaves. Add in the cooled croutons and toss lightly.

Make the Panzanella Salad Dressing

As for the dressing, I love using my Basil Pesto recipe as a base, which I thin out with plenty of lemon juice and some more olive oil. If you’ve got prepared basil pesto on hand, that’s totally fine to use for the Basil Dressing.

Should you not have any basil pesto, then simply add chopped garlic, plenty of minced basil, plenty of lemon juice, salt, and olive oil.

Parmesan is a fabulous ingredient to throw in, and if vegan—I love using mustard instead of Parmesan cheese. It emulsifies the dressing beautifully and adds extra flavor!

Place all dressing ingredients in a sealable container, seal well, and shake until all blended and emulsified. If you like a smoother creamier type dressing—place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Flavor the Panzanella Salad by tossing the salad ingredients with the salad dressing.

Now to finish off, not a classical way but it’s OUR WAY because we LOVE Burrata on everything ❤️ We added Burrata Cheese right over the Panzanella salad and it was TO DIE FOR!!!

Similar to the Burrata Caprese, this feels like an elevated Panzanella that you’ll probably LOVE more than you know!!

This Italian Panzanella salad not only makes a delicious dinner, but it also makes an AMAZING BBQ side dish, a fabulous picnic salad, and a showstopper potluck dish! Save leftover Panzanella and have it for lunch the next day!

Panzanella Salad Variations:

Add some salmon to your Italian Panzanella! To do so, turn the broiler on high, season the salmon strips with salt, pepper and olive oil, then broil them for no more than 5-6 mins. The salmon even tastes YUMMIER with a drizzle of basil dressing on top once they’re cooked. Use this Baked Salmon With Greek Dressing as a base.
If you’ve got leftover grilled chicken, steak, shrimp—they all work beautifully on this Panzanella Salad!
Too busy to fry proteins? Even canned tuna works great, or some soft boiled eggs.
Make this Italian Panzanella vegan by substituting mustard for parmesan and adding some fried tofu or tempeh on top.
This simple steps only adds 10 extra mins to your prep time, but leaves you with a satisfying, nutritious Panzanella Salad that you’ll make over and over again!!

Final Tips
The base of an Italian Panzanella Salad is crunchy bread pieces. I crunch the bread cubes up in the oven with some garlic, olive oil, and fresh thyme, so it’s more of a crouton. Classically, in Italy, any stale old chewy bread is used for making Panzanella salad.
I find that by crisping up the bread, the Italian Panzanella Salad lasts longer and the bread doesn’t get mushy for at least 6 hours.
Use apples, fennel or any seasonal fruits you have!
Homemade Basil Pesto is always best–read my guide to make, freeze, use and store the BEST Basil Pesto.

Panzanella is a name that comes from portmanteau, broken down into “pane”, which means bread, and “zanella” which means a deep plate.

Panzanella pairs well with grilled meats, such as chicken, steak, shrimp or salmon. This salad is also great when served alongside a whole roasted chicken or roast beef. Or even make it vegan with tofu.

Can you eat Leftover panzanella?

Leftovers will keep for a few days in the fridge, but the flavor of the tomatoes will be less bright and the bread can over-soak. Even so, it’s still one of the best salads of summer.

A hand scooping panzanella salad using two salad spoons

4.77 from 13 votes

Panzanella Salad

This gorgeous Panzanella Salad is a hearty, delicious and bright salad that you'll be making all spring and summer! Tossed with Basil Dressing, with crispy Italian bread, juicy tomatoes, bell peppers and more! Panzanella is a salad recipe you'll LOVE!

Course Main Course, Salad, side

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Keyword Italian bread salad, panzanella salad, salad with basil dressing

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 19 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 323 kcal

Author Mahy

Ingredients

For the croutons:

1 Italian Bread cut up into 1 inch cubes (smaller or bigger is up to your taste)
2 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)

For the salad:

2 cups Basil Leaves or greens
1 cup tomatoes cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 red onion cliced
1 cup cucumbers sliced
1 cup bell peppers sliced, any color

For the basil dressing:

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 lemon zest and juice
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (OR: 2 teaspoons of mustard if Vegan)
1/3 cup olive oil

Alternative Dressing:

1/4 Basil Pesto Homemade basil pesto
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 lemon zested
2 tablespoons olive oil

Topping (optional)

1 burrata cheese https://www.twopurplefigs.com/burrata-cheese/

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
For the croutons, toss the bread cubes with all the ingredients and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Toast them in the oven for 10 mins until crispy and slightly golden. Let them cool while you prepare the salad.
To make the dressing: Place all ingredients in a sealable container, seal well, and shake until all blended and emulsified. If you like a smoother creamier type dressing—place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Assemble the salad by tossing the salad ingredients on a plate
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss well.
Finish off with Burrata cheese (optional but SO GOOD)
ENJOY

Recipe Video