This Panzanella Salad is right up there with our other favorite side salads including: Cucumber Tomato Salad, Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad, Strawberry Broccoli Salad, Creamy Bacon Pea Pasta Salad, Corn Salad, Perfect Fruit Salad, and Grape Salad.
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What is PANZANELLA?
Does it get any better than bread salad?! Because that’s exactly what Panzanella is! Panzanella [pantsaˈnɛlla] or panmolle [pamˈmɔlle] is the Tuscan salad of your dreams, because instead of lettuce, it uses bead! At its simplest, Panzanella is nothing more than stale or toasted bread, red onions, tomatoes and basil dressed with olive oil and vinegar. The magic happens when the vinaigrette soaks into the toasted bread, moistening and softening it up a bit while infusing it with tons of flavor. Other ingredients can also be added such as mozzarella, carrots, bell peppers, capers, olives, eggs, mint, etc. I also love adding fresh fruit such as peaches, blackberries or strawberries along with salty prosciutto.
what does PANZANELLA mean in Italian?
The term panzanella describes the dish. It is a portmanteau of “pane,” meaning bread in Italian, and “zanella,” meaning soup bowl, referring to the deep plate in which it is served in.
Where did PANZANELLA originate?
Panzanella is Italy’s thrifty solution for extra tomatoes and stale bread. Bread has been a staple food in the Mediterranean region for millennia, so it’s no wonder that creative repurposing of the summertime bounty of tomatoes gave birth to this traditional salad. The first written documentation of panzanella is by the famous Italian artist and poet, Agnolo di Cosimo, more widely known as Bronzino, who sings its praises in the early 16th century: “Un’insalata di Cipolla trita con la porcellanetta e cetriuoli vince ogn’altro piacer di questa vita.” Meaning: “A [bread] salad made with chopped onions, purslane [a type of wild succulent lettuce], and cucumbers surpasses all other pleasures in this life.” Tomatoes were added later in the 16th century after they were brought back from the Americas (tomatoes didn’t exist in Europe before then!) Over time, this bread salad evolved into the beloved Panzanella Salad we all crave today with moistened bread, tomatoes, mozzarella, cucumbers and herbs.
Authentic Panzanella vs. This Recipe
As mentioned above, this Panzanella recipe is inspired by traditional recipes but is not traditional. I’ve improved the bread soaking technique to eliminate soggy bread and bolstered the salad with flirty flavors and textures for additional taste bud pleasure, which you can take or leave, but I think the additions are swoon worthy. Delicious! I have to be honest, when I first heard of Panzanella, I was pretty skeptical of bread salad, but this recipe proved me wrong! It’s a study in textures and refreshing Italian flavors with the tomato juice, herb infused bread, creamy mozzarella, crisp cucumbers, succulent fruit and salty prosciutto. It’s a salty-sweet, crunchy-creamy, combo that’s vibrant, beautiful and will make your taste buds giddy! Fool proof – not soggy! This recipe is inspired by authentic Panzanella recipes but is not traditional. I’ve found making a few changes such as toasting the bread instead of soaking it in water, adding cucumbers, peaches and mozzarella, adding plenty of herbs to the dressing and using smaller tomatoes creates the best flavored and textured salad and avoids the mushy, bland or watery pitfalls of many recipes. Instead, the bread boasts golden-crisp edges with a soft, pillow-y, tomato-herb inside. Always a crowd pleaser. Not everyone loves salad, but I can guarantee you everyone will love this bread salad. It’s the answer to all your potluck needs or serve it up as a light dinner. A make-ahead favorite. This Panzanella is also great for potlucks or meal prep because you can layer all of the salad ingredients in a serving bowl and then just add the dressing 20-30 minutes before serving. Versatile, add whatever you want! The beauty of this Panzanella recipe is you can make it a simple or as lavish as you’d like. Feel free to keep it traditional with just bread, tomatoes and onions or add any veggies or fruit of your choosing. I’ve included all types of variations below.
Here’s how this recipe differs from authentic Panzanella:
Oven-drying fresh bread produces a better texture than using soaked stale bread. In truly authentic Panzanella recipes, stale bread is soaked in water for about 15 minutes, wrung out, cut up or crumbled by hand then tossed in the dressing. This makes for sad, soggy salad without the pleasing chewiness. Instead, the bread practically disintegrates! My recipe differs by first tossing cubes of bread in olive oil and seasonings, then toasting it in the oven. This hands-off approach dries out the bread, along with the added flavor bonus of the Maillard reaction, to achieve the very best texture. Next, you’ll toss the bread with the tomatoes, other salad ingredients and olive oil, red wine vinegar dressing and let it soak for about 30 minutes, just long enough for the flavors to meld and the bread to soak up the dressing without becoming mushy. When it’s time to dig in, the Panzanella will be moist, spongy on the outside, but sturdy and chewy on the inside. Classic Panzanella Salad is made with a few simple ingredients but in this recipe, the addition of a few key elements elevates the salad to a head-above-the rest. Traditional Panzanella recipes are more pared down with just bread, tomatoes, onions and sometimes cucumbers and basil. You are welcome to keep with just these ingredients, but if you want to truly elevate your Panzanella, I find adding creamy mozzarella, sweet peaches and other sweet fruit such as blackberries, cantaloupe or strawberries along with salty, silky prosciutto and crunchy sunflower seeds makes for a spectacular flavor/texture explosion you will crave. The dressing in my Panzanella recipe is not just olive oil and red wine vinegar. Instead, it’s amped up with a hint of Dijon mustard and seasonings typically included in Italian dressing such as oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, salt and pepper for superior, subtle, layered flavor in every bite. It may seem like a lot going on, but the salad can handle it and craves it, especially because the flavors are toned down when mingled with the tomato juice and other fresh ingredients.
What bread is best for panzanella?
The bread is the star of this bread salad! For the best Panzanella, you want to use a flavorful, hearty bread that is sturdy enough to soak in the juices from the tomatoes and vinaigrette without becoming soggy – soft and chewy yes, but not soggy. I like ciabatta or sourdough but any rustic Italian loaf or even French bread will work. I’ve found the very best texture is fresh bread (or day old), that is not stale. This means the bread will dry out when you toast in the oven with a golden-crispy outside but still be soft and pliable in the middle, as opposed to stale bread that is tough through hand through. The bread will be toasted in the oven tossed in a hearty drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, garlic powder and pepper so it is stand alone delicious. Here’s the breakdown of breads in order of preference:
Ciabatta Bread: is my favorite for Panzanella Salad with its firm crust and dense crumb with alveolar holes that make it taste chewier rather than dense, and help prevent it from getting soggy.Sourdough Bread: another favorite with its tangy flavor, crisp, crackly crust and chewy texture. Use sourdough that is hole-y instead of dense.Tuscan Country Bread/Artisan Loaf: is traditional in Panzanella recipes with its dense crumb and crunchy crust. It tends to get softer than ciabatta bread.Crusty French Bread: is hard and crusty on the outside, with a light and soft crumb, less dense than Tuscan bread. Make sure to get rustic, country French bread with a spongy center, not the cotton candy soft center that will quickly become soggy.
Don’t use:
any soft, light bread, baguettes or dinner rolls. Their cotton candy texture will turn to mush when tossed with the dressing. bread that is extra dense because it won’t absorb enough dressing. Medium dense is best.bread without toasting it, even if it’s stale. Even though stale bread starts out hard, it can become mushy once tossed with the dressing because it is not dried in the oven (dried and stale are two very different things).
What is in Panzanella salad?
In addition to bread, you will need tomatoes, peaches, cucumbers, red onions, basil, mozzarella and I love adding some sort of sweet fruit and prosciutto to add flavor, depth and to balance each other out. Here are the ingredients you will need (full measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post):
SALAD DRESSING
The dressing for this Panzanella Salad is a tangy, robust herbaceous Italian dressing that will mellow when mixed with the tomato juices. It’s marries all of the ingredients together as it blends with the juices from the tomatoes and seeps into the bread. It’s super simple to whip up, here’s what you need:
Olive oil: use extra virgin olive oil for the best flavor.Red wine vinegar: for its fruity tanginess. Please don’t substitute with another vinegar here, especially white vinegar because it’s too strong. Lemon juice: fresh is best but you may use bottled. If you don’t have any handy, you may substitute with red wine vinegar. TIP: For fresh lemon juice at your fingertips, freeze leftover lemon juice by the tablespoon in ice cube trays.Honey: just a teaspoon adds sweetness and balances the tanginess of the vinegar and lemon juice. Use more or less depending on how tangy you would like your dressing.Dijon mustard: helps balance the sweetness and adds a layer of subtle flavor. I used coarse grain but you may use smooth Dijon as well.Seasonings: an adept blend of Italian seasonings really brings the flavor. You’ll add dried oregano, dried parsley, dried basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. You are welcome to use fresh garlic, but I find garlic powder disperses more easily in this recipe.
HOW TO MAKE panzanella
Panzanella is very quick and simple to make because you prep the dressing and remaining salad ingredients while the bread toasts in the oven. The hardest part is waiting the 20 minutes for the bread to soak up the dressing. Here’s how to make it (full recipe measurements in recipe card at the bottom of the post):
Add protein: make the Panzanella even more of a meal by adding simple shredded rotisserie chicken, balsamic chicken, lemon basil chicken, grilled shrimp, marinated flank steak, leftover steak or hard-boiled eggs.Omit ingredients: you can take this Panzanella recipe back to its roots by omitting the peaches, other sweet fruit, mozzarella and/or Parma ham. If you omit any of these ingredients, consider bulking up the cucumbers or tomatoes or adding different ingredients. Add greens: bulk up the salad by adding greens such as baby arugula or a spring salad mix. If you add greens, you’ll want to make additional dressing (use the arrows next to the servings in the recipe card to adjust the measurements), or swap some of the lettuce for some of the bread. The greens should be added just be serving and not marinated for the 20-30 minutes.Add vegetables: you can add any vegetables your heart desires! Bell peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, etc. would all be tasty. Add avocados: slice or chop a large avocado for satisfying creamy bursts to complement the crunchy textures. Make sure you use a ripe avocado but not overly ripe or it will turn to mush. Add the avocados just before serving. Add dried cranberries: also known as craisins, are plump, sweet, juicy gems in salad. You can use ½ cup instead of the 1 cup sweet fruit called for. Craisins are often located next to the salad condiments/toppers at the end of the produce aisle or they’re sold in the bulk bins at Sprouts. Swap cheese: swap the mozzarella for salty, tangy feta, creamy, tangy goat cheese, rich and salty provolone, or salty Parmigiano (or add Parmigiano in addition to any of the above!).Add nuts: sprinkle in your favorite toasted nuts such as sliced almonds, walnuts, or pistachios.Make it dairy free: omit the cheese, the rest of the ingredients are dairy free.Make it vegan: omit the cheese and Parma ham; substitute your favorite sweetener for the honey.Make it gluten free: use your favorite gluten free bread.
Step 1: Toast the bread. Toasting the bread gives it structure so it has the capacity to soak up the dressing without becoming mushy. You want the bread to be crispy on the edges but still chewy in the middle, much like toast. To toast the bread, toss the cubed bread with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes, let the bread cool, then transfer to a large serving bowl.
Step 2: Make the Dressing. Whisk all the vinaigrette ingredients together in a bowl or shake in a jar.
Step 3: Assemble. Add all of the salad ingredients to the bread except in the large serving bowl except for the Parma ham, drizzle with the dressing and gently toss to coat.
Step 4: Marinate. Let the salad rest for 20-30 minutes so that bread can absorb the dressing/tomato juices. Give it a toss, right before serving. Step 5: Dig in! Divide salad between serving plates and top individual portions with Parma ham. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then dig in!
TIPS FOR THE BEST panzanella SALAD
This Panzanella Salad is super simple to make, but here are a few tips to make it the very best!
Use a sturdy, rustic loaf of bread with a crunchy crust. I prefer ciabatta with its chewy crust over Tuscan country bread, but you can go for an Italian loaf if you prefer softer melting bread. Use fresh, not stale bread. It is better to dry the bread out in the oven by toasting it rather than using stale bread. Toasted bread will absorb the dressing better whereas stale bread can taste leathery. Don’t cut the bread too small. You want pretty big chunks of bread, about 1-inch, because they will shrink in the oven, and bigger pieces have the best ratio of crispiness to chewiness. Smaller pieces can easily become crouton hard.Don’t skip toasting the bread. Toast the bread in the oven before tossing it with the dressing, even if your bread is already somewhat stale, or you’ll end up with soggy, even mushy Panzanella.Don’t over-toast bread. When toasting the bread, you want the edges to get crispy and the inside to get firm but still chewy, not rock hard. If your bread gets too hard, plan on soaking it for longer to soften.Don’t use all large tomatoes. As discussed, large tomatoes are extra juicy and can make your salad soggy and even fall apart after marinating. It is best to use half large tomatoes and half smaller tomatoes, or all small tomatoes. Use ripe tomatoes. The riper the tomatoes, the sweeter, richer, the better the Panzanella! When using cherry tomatoes or small tomatoes, make sure to cut them in half – we want all those juices for the dressing!Customize the salad. The Panzanella ingredient measurements are simply suggestions. You can add/swap any ingredients for your favorite veggies and fruits or omit ingredients altogether.Customize the dressing. Don’t be afraid to make the dressing your own. Make it sweeter by adding more honey or tangier by adding additional vinegar one teaspoon at a time.Let the Panzanella Salad sit for before serving. Unlike some salad recipes, like Watermelon Salad, this Panzanella Salad should not be served immediately. The resting time will depend on how soft you like the bread, but I find 20-30 minutes produces the ideal texture with bread that’s soft yet chewy and not soggy. If you like your bread softer, let it rest longer, up to 4 hours, if you like it firmer, let it rest for less time. Scale the recipe. This recipe is easy to scale up for large crowds/potlucks or down in half for lunches by using the up and down arrow in the recipe card next to the servings.
does panzanella keep well?
To me, this comes down to personal preference and how toasty your bread was to start with. If you don’t mind softer/borderline soggy bread salad, then it can keep for up to two days. It will also keep better if you start off with crispier bread which will make leftovers less soggy. If you’re not a soggy bread fan, then plan on enjoying the salad right away or only add dressing to part of the salad.
How to store Panzanella
The bread will become softer the longer it sits, so if you don’t like soggy bread, eat the Panzanella fresh, otherwise, store leftover Panzanella in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
CAN I MAKE panzanella AHEAD OF TIME?
Yes, you can prep all of the ingredients for the Panzanella Salad ahead of time but keep the dressing separate. Here’s how to make ahead:
Toast bread: toast fresh bread up to 24 hours ahead of time and store in an airtight container on the counter. Prepare salad ingredients: chop all of the salad ingredients and layer in a large serving bowl in this order so the ingredients don’t become soggy: tomatoes, onions, sweet fruit, peaches, cucumbers, mozzarella, basil. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator until ready to add the dressing.Dressing: can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Serve: now all you have to do is combine, let the bread salad rest for 20-30 minutes, then devour!
what do you serve with panzanella?
Panzanella is delicious served alongside any of your favorite summer fare from grilled chicken and steak to burgers and kebabs. It’s equally delicious alongside more cozy dishes like soup or stews, creamy pastas, Italian classics or cheesy melted Italian sandwiches. Here are some fun ideas to serve with Panzanella Salad:
Grilled Proteins: Panzanella is particularly wonderful in the summer when tomatoes are at their peak alongside any of your favorite hot-off-the-grill proteins such as Balsamic Chicken, Lemon Basil Chicken, Best Marinated Grilled Chicken, Lemon Butter Shrimp, Marinated Flank Steak, Sirloin Steak, Buffalo Chicken, BBQ Grilled Pork Chops, Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Marinated Pork Chops, etc.Summer Cookout Favorites: Panzanella with its loads of fresh tomatoes is also tasty alongside other summer cookout favorites like Greek Burgers, Best Burgers, Steak Kabobs, Chicken Souvlaki, Chicken Gyros, Beef Brisket, Barbecue Ribs, Grilled Barbecue Chicken, Barbecue Chicken Kabobs and Barbecue Pulled Pork.Pastas: This Italian bread salad pairs beautifully with pastas that don’t already have tomatoes in them such as: Parmesan Meatballs and Orzo, Blackened Chicken Alfredo, Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta, Gnocchi in Brown Butter Herb Sauce, Creamy Basil Chicken Orzo, Mushroom Pasta, Homemade Mac and Cheese, Cacio e Pepe, Salmon Pasta, Chicken Lasagna, and Lemon Garlic Shrimp Fettuccine.Italian Main Dishes: Panzanella is the answer to “what should I serve with _____?” It makes a tasty side to all your Italian inspired dishes such as Roasted Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp and Asparagus, Creamy Italian Chicken, Lemon Pepper Chicken and Asparagus, Creamy Mushroom Chicken, Lemon Garlic Panko Crusted Salmon, Lemon Garlic Butter Pork Tenderloin, Salmon Piccata, Soups: There’s nothing better than soup and salad! Serve this bread salad with other Italian inspired soups such as Italian Chicken Stew, White Chicken Lasagna Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, Zuppa Toscana, Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, and Chicken Gnocchi Soup.Sandwiches: Sandwiches and salad is also a classic combo! Pair Panzanella with any of your favs from cheesy grilled panini and grilled cheese to pesto Caprese chicken sandwiches, Italian Beef Sandwiches, Philly Cheesesteaks, French Dip Sandwiches, BBQ Brisket Sandwiches or Pulled Pork Sliders.
LOOKING FOR MORE SUMMER SIDE SALAD RECIPES?
Grilled Corn Salad with Cilantro Lime DressingPerfect Fruit Salad with Honey Citrus DressingCucumber Tomato Avocado Salad with Italian DressingStrawberry Salad with Strawberry Balsamic VinaigretteOutback Copycat Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese RanchSouthwest Salad with Creamy Salsa DressingStrawberry Broccoli Salad with Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing
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