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Panzanella salad, also known as panmolle, is a classic Italian dish prepared with salad vegetables and bread. It’s traditionally made using stale bread that’s then rehydrated in a tomato juice, red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. There are lots of different variations to panzanella salad which can be fun to try out. If you’re looking for backyard picnic party ideas, this rustic Tuscan salad will really hit the spot. It’s colorful, delicious and pairs with all kinds of proteins from steak to ribs.
The juicy tomatoes, toasted bread, tasty cheese, fragrant herbs, and savory garlic are just some of the delights in this Italian panzanella salad from the heart of Tuscany.
Also try tomato burrata salad, peach panzanella, maple roasted rainbow carrots, roasted beet salad or any of these mouthwatering recipes with corn.
Why You’ll Love It
Unusual: This isn’t your average summer tomato salad. Your garlic, shallot, extra tomatoes and stale bread will come together in a wonderful flavor harmony you never imagined. Seriously, if you’ve never tried a panzanella recipe, prepare to be wowed. Caprese salad is always nice, but this bread and tomato salad is just so distinctively different – it’s well worth making for a change.
Straightforward to make: You toast the bread cubes, prep the veggies and eventually toss everything together to make the most amazing classic panzanella salad.
Great for any occasion: A hearty Italian bread salad is a great way to impress everyone, whether you’re catering a backyard BBQ or bringing a dish to a potluck supper. It’s a Tuscan style treat that everyone will love.
Panzanella Salad Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Heirloom tomatoes: Add vibrant color, sweetness, and a rich, fresh tomato flavor.
Green tomato: Offers a firmer texture and slightly tart contrast to the heirlooms.
Sea salt: Draws moisture from the tomatoes and enhances all the flavors.
Extra virgin olive oil: Adds richness and a smooth, fruity flavor to the dressing and toasted bread.
Italian bread: Acts as the hearty base, perfect for absorbing all the juices and flavors.
Garlic: Brings a bold, aromatic kick to both the dressing and toasted bread.
Shallot: Adds a mild, slightly sweet onion flavor that blends well with the tomatoes.
Red wine vinegar: Provides acidity to balance the sweetness of the tomatoes and richness of the oil.
Fresh basil: Delivers a burst of herbaceous, aromatic freshness.
Oregano: Contributes an earthy, slightly peppery note.
Cucumber: Brings a cool, crisp texture to the salad.
Red onion: Adds sharpness and color contrast with a bit of crunch.
Mozzarella: Offers a soft, creamy element that complements the acidity and herbs.
Shaved parmesan: Finishes the dish with a salty, nutty bite.
How to Make Panzanella Salad
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Prepare the tomatoes: Chop your tomatoes, sprinkle them with salt, and let them sit in a colander so the salt can draw out the juices.
Prepare the homemade croutons: Brush olive oil over the fresh bread and add garlic and shallot before baking it until golden brown, then cut it into cubes. Homemade croutons are a great way to use up bread that’s dried out a bit.
Assemble the salad: Mix the tomato juice with the shallot vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, fresh basil, mozzarella, then toss with all the other ingredients and serve the panzanella, topped with parmesan shavings.
Substitutions and Variations
Add a briny touch: Capers and anchovies often make an appearance in panzanella.
Tomatoes: Although a key part of the salad, you could swap them for watermelon or strawberries for a different flavor profile, perhaps using a balsamic dressing if you do so. Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes could also be used. Another option is to use avocados and extra cucumber and make a Dijon mustard and red wine vinegar dressing.
Bread: You can try different breads like homemade Irish soda bread.
Optional add-ins: Feel free to throw in anything else you want, like yellow or red bell peppers, shaved zucchini or sauteed mushrooms.
Serving Suggestions
As a side dish: This classic Italian salad is typically a dish comprised of hearty bread, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil (Italian, of course!), and various salad veggies, along with aromatic fresh herbs. It’s a vegetarian dish, but you might like to pair it with roasted chicken, creamy Tuscan chicken, a crab boil, your favorite kind of steak (try a Tomahawk!) or even some fat, juicy shrimp or pork.
With other salads: Enjoy this Italian salad as part of a buffet with other salads such as a rice salad, garden veggie macaroni salad or sweet potato kale salad.
How to Store Homemade Panzanella
Store: Panzanella is best served as soon as it’s ready. You can refrigerate it for a day, but the tomatoes will lose some of their flavor, and the bread will get soggy.
Freeze: This isn’t a recipe you can freeze. It’s best served fresh like many other Italian recipes.
Top Tips
Don’t skip the draining: Don’t rush this step—salting and draining the chopped tomatoes ensures the salad isn’t watery and gives you a flavorful base for the dressing with the reserved tomato juice.
Toast the bread just right: Aim for golden and crisp on the outside but still a little soft inside. This helps the bread soak up the dressing without turning soggy too quickly.
Toss just before serving: Combine all the ingredients right before serving to maintain the perfect balance of textures—crispy bread, juicy tomatoes, and fresh, vibrant herbs.
Panzanella Recipe FAQs
For this tomato bread salad, you should opt for bread that is firm enough to hold its form while tossed with the tomato dressing but not something that’s too stale to chew. The most popular choice is Tuscan bread, because the dense texture holds up well in panzanella and it isn’t salted so you won’t have an overwhelming salt flavour in the finished salad. If you can’t get Tuscan bread, choose anything you want so long as it’s not too crusty or too soft.
This authentic Italian panzanella salad recipe isn’t just a way to use up all the tomatoes in tomato season. Although any excuse to make it works! In fact, rustic bread salad goes back to the 16th century and was a way to use up stale bread. Originating as a peasant dish, panzanella, or panmolle, was a mixture of stale bread cubes, tomatoes and onions, vinegar, and olive oil. It’s still a great recipe if you have stale bread to use up but it’s so good it’s well worth making just because the combination of ingredients is so very special.
Panzanella Salad Recipe
Panzanella Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tomatoes, heirloom or organic if possible
- 1 tomato, green
- 1 Tablespoon sea salt
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 Loaf Italian bread
- 6 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 20 Leaves basil, fresh
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 1 Teaspoon black pepper, fresh cracked
- 1 Teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cucumber, chopped
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 4 Ounces fresh mozzarella, cubed
- parmesan, shaved, as garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Chop up the tomatoes and put them into a colander over a bowl. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a tablespoon of salt, stir to assure each piece gets salted, and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Slice bread in half and brush each cut side with olive oil. Sprinkle half the minced garlic and half the minced shallot over the top and place into the oven for 10 minutes to toast.
- Slice the toasted bread into bite sized pieces.
- Whisk the tomato juice with remaining garlic, remaining shallot, the vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil, mozzarella and basil to make the dressing.
- Toss everything together with the dressing.
- Top with parmesan shavings and serve immediately.
Notes
Toast the bread just right: Aim for golden and crisp on the outside but still a little soft inside. This helps the bread soak up the dressing without turning soggy too quickly.
Toss just before serving: Combine all the ingredients right before serving to maintain the perfect balance of textures—crispy bread, juicy tomatoes, and fresh, vibrant herbs.
Nutrition
Panzanella salad is a tasty Italian dish that’s made with juicy tomatoes, crispy toasted bread croutons, garlic, salad vegetables, olive oil, and more. This easy and rustic Italian salad pairs with any protein and is also nice for a buffet, BBQ or potluck dinners. So, if you love Italian food, especially juicy tomatoes, you must try homemade panzanella salad. And if it’s tomato season and you have too many, you might also want to bookmark this homemade tomato soup!
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
This rustic salad totally hit the spot. The soaked bread mixed with juicy tomatoes and zippy dressing was SO satisfying. It felt super fresh and flavorful
This sounds so delicious! Is there any way of lowering the sodium content? This has about 1,000 mg more sodium than I’m supposed to have in a day. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
Hi Carol, you can either omit the salt altogether, use a salt-free alternative or reduce the amount of salt in the recipe.
This is my new favorite salad. Absolutely impressed!
I love Italian flavors and this salad really hits the spot.
My favorite salad. Love every ingredient on this!
I always end up buying too much bread. What can I say, it just smells so good in the bakery! Anyway once it loses its freshness it’s perfect for this recipe!
This is our favorite salad recipe!