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This 30-minute panzanella is all about the contrast: juicy summer tomatoes, crisp oven-toasted bread, briny olives, and creamy burrata if you want it. It’s the kind of summer salad I love because every ingredient brings something to the table, and it’s a great way to use seasonal ingredients. I love to bring this to a BBQ and assemble it when I get there, or make it on a hot summer night for a fresh side.
Why You’ll Love This Panzanella Recipe
- Texture in every bite: Crispy bread, tomatoes, crisp cucumber, tender red onion, and optional creamy cheese give you so many different textures in one dish.
- Ready in 30 minutes: You only need 10 minutes of prep, about 10 minutes of cooking, and a 10-minute rest before serving.
- Made for tomato season: Heirloom or field tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil make this one of my favorite ways to celebrate peak summer flavor. If you need a refresher, here’s how to choose and store ripe tomatoes.
- Burrata is optional: Leave it off entirely or swap it for 1 cup of drained small mozzarella balls.
What Is Panzanella Salad?
Panzanella is a Tuscan bread-and-tomato salad traditionally associated with making use of stale bread. Preparations can vary: some versions soften stale bread, while modern variations may toast or crisp the bread before combining it with tomatoes, olive oil, and vinegar.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
My panzanella salad recipe is Italian-inspired. I crisp the bread in the oven with olive oil and garlic powder, then toss it with cucumber, green olives, tomatoes, lemon, red wine vinegar, and basil. Cheese can be added at the end for a creamy finish.
The combination of everything in this salad just works. You have richness from the olive oil, acidity from lemon and vinegar, sweetness and juiciness from ripe tomatoes, freshness from basil, brininess from the olives, and bread ready to soak up all those flavors. It’s the perfect summer salad that I’m obsessed with making!
For a Greek take on the bread-and-tomato combination, try my Cretan dakos salad. It’s a different dish with its own Greek identity, but it showcases just how delicious bread and ripe tomatoes can be together.
Key Ingredients and Why They Work
Bread
You’ll need 6 cups of cubed bread, or approximately one 400 g loaf. Tossing the cubes with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper helps them become golden in the oven.
The goal is a golden, crisp exterior, not bread that’s merely warmed through. You want to see that golden color before it comes out of the oven so it has enough structure to absorb the vinaigrette and tomato juices later.
Tomatoes
This recipe uses two types of tomatoes. Four large heirloom or field tomatoes give you substantial, juicy wedges, while cherry tomatoes add smaller, sweeter bites.
Salt the large tomato wedges before they go into the bowl. It seasons the tomatoes and helps their juices mingle with the vinaigrette.
Cucumber, Red Onion, and Green Olives
These ingredients bring contrast to all those tomatoes and pieces of bread. Cucumber adds crunch, thinly sliced red onion brings sharpness, and green olives add the salty, briny flavor I love in Mediterranean-inspired dishes.
Lemon-Red Wine Vinaigrette
The dressing is simple, but that’s all you need to make this salad come to life. Fresh lemon brings brightness while the red wine vinegar provides acidity. Once you toss the dressing with the tomatoes, their juices become part of that flavor too.
Fresh Basil
The torn basil goes into the finished salad as a fresh herb rather than being blended into the dressing. It’s such a natural partner for ripe summer tomatoes. This salad is a great way to use up basil in your garden!
Burrata or Mozzarella
Burrata is optional. Use 1 cup of drained small mozzarella balls instead, or leave the cheese off.
Looking for something with a more traditional lettuce-based salad format? Try my Italian chopped salad.
How to Keep the Bread Golden, Not Soggy
Bread that immediately turns to mush? No, thank you. The secret to this panzanella recipe is paying attention to both the color of your bread and how long the assembled salad sits.
First, bake the bread at 400°F for 10–12 minutes, looking for a golden exterior. Every oven is different, so keep a close eye on your bread to ensure you don’t overcook it.
Once you toss the bread with the vegetables and vinaigrette, let everything rest for 10 minutes. This gives the bread time to soak up the tomato juices and dressing while lightly softening around the edges.
What to Serve with Panzanella
Panzanella is such a great summer side dish. It works well alongside grilled food, at backyard gatherings, or as part of a Mediterranean-style spread.
Pair it with The Best Chicken Souvlaki for a complete meal, or if you’re putting together a larger summer table, quick and easy focaccia bread is another great addition.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Panzanella is designed to absorb its dressing, so timing matters.
The assembled salad is best served right away. If you need to prep ahead, store the bread, vegetables, dressing, and cheese separately, then toss everything 10 minutes before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional preparations commonly use stale bread, but this recipe creates the dry, golden texture it needs in the oven. The cubed bread is coated with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and baked until golden before being combined with the tomatoes and dressing.
Yes! Panzanella can absolutely work as a light main dish, especially on a hot summer day when you’re craving something fresh but still satisfying. The crispy bread gives the salad some substance, and adding the optional burrata or mozzarella makes it even more filling. For a heartier meal, I love serving it alongside something grilled.
Ripe tomatoes are naturally juicy, so some liquid at the bottom of your panzanella is totally normal. Those tomato juices mingle with the dressing to create even more flavor for the bread to soak up. If the salad sits for too long, though, the tomatoes will continue releasing moisture and the bread will keep absorbing it, so this recipe is best enjoyed soon after its 10-minute rest.
For this recipe, I recommend serving the panzanella shortly after you toss everything together and let it rest for 10 minutes. The bread comes out of the oven golden and crispy before being mixed with the tomatoes and vinaigrette, so there’s no need to chill the assembled salad before serving. That way, you get the best balance of juicy tomatoes, flavorful bread, and fresh basil.
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Ingredients
For the bread
- 6 cups cubed bread (about 400g loaf)
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp pepper
For the dressing
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, (from about half a lemon)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
For the salad
- 4 large heirloom or field tomatoes, cut into wedges and sprinkled with a bit of salt
- 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and chopped into half-moons
- ½ cup thinly sliced red onions
- 1 cup sliced pitted green olives
- 1 ball burrata cheese, optional, (or 1 cup small mozzarella balls, drained of their liquid)
- ⅓ cup torn fresh basil leaves
Instructions
Start Cooking- For the bread: Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut bread into cubes and toss on a parchment paper lined sheet pan with 2 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- For the dressing: Add the olive oil, kosher salt, lemon juice and red wine vinegar in a large bowl and whisk together to combine. Add the heirloom tomato wedges, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber, thinly sliced red onions, sliced pitted olives and crispy bread and toss to combine. Let sit for 10 minutes in the bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper if required.
- Scoop the salad onto a platter and tear the burrata over top. Garnish with the torn fresh basil leaves and serve.
Notes
- We love topping this salad with fresh burrata cheese, however, you can omit it if desired OR substitute with small balls of mozzarella cheese instead, about 1 cup.
- Serve with our The Best Chicken Souvlaki for a full meal
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