Our secret for the best panzanella salad is to marinate fresh tomatoes with a bit of salt, vinegar, and olive oil until they release their delicious juices, making the most delicious dressing. We then add homemade garlic croutons and fresh herbs to complete the salad. Trust us, it’s fantastic!
Panzanella screams summer. I especially love pulling out this recipe to use up end of summer tomatoes (which seem to pile up on our counter towards the end of August and the beginning of September). If you love tomatoes, panzanella salad is a must-make. In addition to panzanella, we also enjoy making summer gazpacho and this incredible caprese salad.
Panzanella is a bread salad with veggies (like tomatoes), and it’s delightful. Bread salads are popular throughout the Mediterranean, especially in Tuscany. It’s worth noting that while tomatoes are a common ingredient, they are not essential. Panzanella’s main ingredient is bread, specifically dried and stale bread.
Key Ingredients
- Bread: Stale bread is best for this, as it absorbs the dressing without becoming overly mushy. While plain bread works, I love using our garlic croutons for extra flavor. They really make a difference.
- Tomatoes: Wait to make this tomato panzanella salad until you have really great, ripe tomatoes (the same advice I give for other summer tomato salads like Caprese). Look for tomatoes that are smooth-skinned, heavy, and smell sweet and earthy. If your tomatoes don’t smell like anything, put them back.
- Onion: I love thinly shaved onion, which adds a little crunch and sweetness to the salad. Sweet onions are perfect for this.
- Panzanella Dressing: We combine olive oil, champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar), a little sugar, salt, and pepper to make the dressing for this salad. Then, we add the tomatoes and leave them for at least 30 minutes. During this time, the tomatoes release their sweet juices and add to the dressing. It’s so good!
- Fresh Herbs: This salad is all about fresh ingredients, so we love tossing in some fresh parsley leaves (I leave them whole), dill, and tarragon.
- Cheese: This is optional, but some shaved Percorino-Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano are excellent. I’ve also tried this with Gruyère and even feta!
How to Make Panzanella Salad
While tomatoes aren’t always present in panzanella, they are delicious. So, for this tomato panzanella, we marinate the tomatoes first in a mixture of salt, sugar (only a bit), vinegar, and olive oil. As the tomatoes sit in the marinade, they release all their delicious juices, which combine with the other ingredients to create a tasty tomato vinaigrette. The whole process is beautifully simple and makes a delightful salad.
After 30 minutes, you are ready to toss in your bread, fresh herbs, and if you want, some cheese. I use homemade garlic croutons for extra crunch and flavor, fresh parsley and dill for freshness, and some shaved young pecorino cheese. Feel free to use different herbs (mint would be excellent) and change the cheese. Anything goes, like Parmigiano-Reggiano, crumbled goat cheese, and even feta.
This panzanella salad recipe has been created in collaboration with Chef Richard Hattaway. He also worked with us to develop this summery tomato gazpacho, which also calls for those homemade garlic croutons.
Perfect Panzanella Salad
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Our secret for the best panzanella salad is to marinate fresh tomatoes with a bit of salt, vinegar, and olive oil until they release their delicious juices, making the most delicious dressing. We then add homemade garlic croutons and fresh herbs to complete the salad. In our panzanella recipe, we use our homemade garlic croutons, which we recommend making with stale bread. Of course, you can substitute stale bread, but the croutons add a delightful garlic and herb flavor.
You Will Need
1 pound (453g) ripe tomatoes, 3 medium tomatoes
2 cups (100g) garlic croutons, see croutons recipe here, or see tips below for substitution
1/2 cup (55g) thinly shaved onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
8 twists black pepper
1 cup Italian parsley leaves, from half a bunch of parsley
1 tablespoon fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, optional
Shaved or crumbled cheese like Pecorino, Gruyere, Parmigiano-Reggiano or feta, optional
Directions
1Marinate tomatoes: Combine the tomatoes, onion, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Gently toss, and then set aside for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours at room temperature.
2Make salad: Toss in the croutons, parsley, dill, and tarragon. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
3Serve with shaved or crumbled cheese on top. Panzanella is best served the day you make it since the bread will continue to absorb the dressing and will eventually become soggy.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Crouton substitution: Toss 2 cups of stale rustic bread with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then, bake it in a 350°F (180°C) oven for 15 minutes or until it becomes crisp and firm, but not browned. After that, remove it from the oven and let it cool.
- Leftovers: Panzanella is best served the day you make it since the bread will continue to absorb the dressing and will eventually become soggy.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
