With juicy heirloom tomatoes, crisp cubes of grilled bread, cucumber, and fresh basil, this panzanella recipe is a dish you’ll find yourself making all summer long. Serve it as a side or as a light meal.
Classic Italian Panzanella Salad
Panzanella is a Tuscan bread salad that combines crusty bread, tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, red onion, and olive oil—like Caprese Salad, it’s a perfect summer dish for lunch or as a side for Grilled Chicken Breast. (You can also make it into a fun appetizer, like these Grilled Shrimp Panzanella Skewers.) After tossing everything in a bowl, you’ll let it all marinate for a little while to allow the flavors to blend. The juices from the tomatoes mixed with the olive oil forms the dressing, which makes this salad recipe even easier to put together!
Serve this Panzanella alongside my Tomato Soup for a simple and satisfying meal.
Why My Family Adores This Salad
This simple Italian salad has become a summer tradition in my home. Here’s why we love it—and why you will too!
- A celebration of summer. Summer recipes let fresh ingredients shine and that’s what’s best about panzanella. Start with fabulous heirloom tomatoes and fragrant fresh basil leaves and you’re already halfway there to a perfect salad.
- Crispy bread. If croutons are your favorite part of a salad, you’ll appreciate panzanella, where the toasted bread isn’t just a garnish, but a main component of the recipe.
- Lighter than the traditional version. I add only a tablespoon of olive oil to my panzanella recipe, keeping the calories in check.
Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)
Ingredients
- 8-10 medium ripe heirloom tomatoes, or beefsteak tomatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup seedless cucumber, diced
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
- 8-10 basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- extra virgin olive oil spray,
- 6 ounces sourdough bread, French bread, or a good crusty Italian bread
- kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Lightly spray bread with olive oil and season with a little salt; grill over medium heat, until toasted and nicely browned.
- Remove from heat and cut into 1 inch cubes. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, basil, olive oil, and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Let it sit for about 30 minutes to let the flavors combine.
- Add the bread cubes and toss.
- Serve in individual bowls.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
What You’ll Need
The key to making this simple salad is using the freshest high quality ingredients. I used ripe tomatoes from my garden, my homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe, fresh basil, and a good extra virgin olive oil.
- Tomatoes – I enjoy using colorful heirloom tomatoes because they’re so beautiful in a salad, but beefsteak tomatoes will also work.
- Seedless cucumber – Like English cucumbers.
- Red onion – Or use shallot for a milder flavor.
- Basil – Fresh is a must. Dried just doesn’t taste the same!
- Extra virgin olive oil – Plus some EVOO spray for toasting the bread.
- Bread – While I used sourdough, you can also use French bread or a good crusty Italian bread.
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper – To season everything and bring it all together.
How to Make Panzanella
Here’s how easy it is to make this panzanella recipe!
- Grill the bread. Spray the bread with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt. Grill over medium heat until it’s toasted, then cut it into cubes.
- Start assembling the salad. Toss the tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and basil with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Let the salad sit for 30 minutes.
- Finish. Add the cubes of bread and toss again, then serve.
Tips and Variations
Here are a few additional pointers and some ways you can put your own spin on this panzanella recipe.
- Use day old bread. If you do this, you can skip grilling the bread.
- Scoop out the seeds of garden cucumbers. Have cucumbers from your garden? You can use those in panzanella too! Just slice them lengthwise and then scoop out the seeds before chopping them.
- Add other ingredients. Sliced black olives, balls of fresh mozzarella, shaved Parmesan, white beans, cooked and cooled Grilled Eggplant—there are so many options for this recipe. You can also add a drizzle of balsamic glaze just before serving, like I do with this Bruschetta Pasta Salad.
- Plan on eating it right away. The bread will get soggy as the salad sits, so this is best eaten immediately. If you want to make panzanella for a party, I recommend storing the bread separately and then adding it just before serving.
What to Serve With Panzanella
While I love panzanella as a light lunch or dinner, it’s also great as a side dish. Here’s some inspiration.
Homemade Pizza
If you like pairing your pizza with a salad, the flavors of panzanella make it a great choice.
Grilled Proteins
Because panzanella is so summery, it’s great for serving alongside grilled main dishes.
Italian Dishes
Panzanella complements so many other Italian-inspired main dishes.
Proper Storage
If you know you’re not going to eat the whole salad in one sitting, only add the bread to the portion you’ll be eating right away. Then, keep the toasted bread in an airtight container for 1-2 days and store the veggie component of the panzanella in the refrigerator in a separate airtight container.
Once you’ve added the bread, the salad will last a day in the fridge, but the bread will get soft.
This is such a great recipe – it was the first time eating Panzanella!! I added some bocconcini pearls and used a ciabatta loaf – delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Made this today using a leftover heel of a sourdough loaf. I toasted it rather than grilled it. It didn’t seem necessary to fire up the grill for a heel of bread. Made just one serving using an heirloom tomato from my garden that needed to be used and a few fresh basil leaves along with some thinly sliced red onion. I cubed a half of a Persian cucumber and ate the other half while cooking.
I make a tomato salad that uses the same ingredients except for the cucumber. I serve it with fresh French bread and dipping the bread in the juices is heavenly. I never thought of adding the bread directly to the salad before. I like this a lot. What a great way to use up leftover sourdough!
What do you suggest serving as a main dish with this?? Looking to try it out over this weekend.
We usually eat this as a main in the summer but also great with grilled chicken or seafood.
I've been making a variation of this salad for lunch every day this week. The variation? FRESH GRATED GARLIC – one large clove for every 2 tomatoes. Unbelievably delicious!
All the recipies from this site are so inspiring…to my body and soul:) Thanks, Gina!!
I added some super grainy mustard, and served over fresh spinach…more food, for an additional point+!!
I've also varied this salad by adding blanched green beans and fresh sliced red onions.
Isn't this a wonderful salad! You really need good bread, it makes the salad.
OMG! I had very little ww points+ left tonight and started looking through your website for something healthy and low in points and found this!! WOW!!! My whole family absolutely loved it. My nondieting family asked me to make this again! Perfect for a hot humid day too! Thanks again. Love your site!
Gina! I made this salad, and it looked just like your picture- except i didnt have ripe tomatoes. I used fresher.. You Rock!!! I loved this salad, as leftovers i added green olives and i sprayed a little vinegarette! Yummy to my tummy!!!
Made this tonight, LOVED IT, husband was not so hot on it but I really enjoyed it. He is a a tad hard to cool for.
I've been making this for the past few days without cucumber and onion,added a dab of balsamic and it's STILL amazing! I'm going to take it to a family reunion tomorrow.At least to provide an alternative to the creamy potato and macaroni salads. You ROCK!
@Tangie- thanks for taking the time to write!! I'm so happy you have tried several recipes and enjoyed them. I really think it's important to cook with real food, it's just as important to me to be healthy as it is to be in good physical shape. The best way to know what you are putting into your body is to cook it yourself. Have a great day!
Gina, your blog has become such a part of our family that I had to leave you a comment. I found your site doing a WW recipe Google search around two weeks ago and have since made about 15 of your recipes for myself and my family (husband, 3 year old daughter, 1 year old son). They are a hit, nutritious, and complement our natural/organic preferences. You are amazing and creative and just had to say your effort is not going unnoticed. Thanks, from North Idaho. 🙂
Everything in moderation!! Considering this salad has very little oil and lots of fresh tomatoes, yes, it's healthy!
First time on your blog and I just wanted to say hi! That panzanella looks amazing!! Looking forward to following you! 🙂
Panzanella is one of my favorites~ I wouldn't have thought of it as skinny. But if Gina says so… I'm a happy girl! I'll share this on our friday's favorites!
Those garden fresh tomatoes look luscious!
i love this! i actually just had some awesome panzanella the other day! sweeet!
This is my hubby's kind of Salad. I should make it for him soon. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Faith
I've been making this salad for years. My husband and I both love it.
awesome! looks like so delicious! I wanna take it testy! 🙂
I know what I'm doing with my leftover bread tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
That looks so delicious.the perfect recipe for those ripe summer tomatoes!Thank you for bringing such nice posts
Welcome back from your holiday!!
Great salad, I never would have thought about this combo its just amazing!
I LOVE this salad…sometimes I throw a little balsamic in with it…
That looks so delicious!!
This sounds delicious…. the perfect recipe for those ripe summer tomatoes!
That looks amazing!