The perfect summer salad, this Panzanella Bread Salad with Cherry Tomatoes is full of fresh flavor! A twist on the Italian classic, this salad is run through the garden with juicy tomatoes, cucumber, basil, red onion, kalamata olives, feta cheese and tangy white wine vinaigrette! The most amazing barbecue side dish, you'll want to make this one all summer long! Ready in 15 minutes!
Summer is in full swing and this Mediterranean inspired Panzanella tomato bread salad is perfect for all those garden cherry tomatoes! Great for using up day old bread, or even pulling some out of the freezer.
In just 15 minutes, this Italian bread salad will be the star of the side dish table at your next cook out! Check out all of our Summer Salad Recipes here!
If you love cherry tomatoes, try them in Italian Sausage Gnocchi with Cherry Tomatoes, Bruschetta with Cherry Tomatoes, and Green Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Feta.
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Run through the garden, this salad is summer seasonal, fresh and full of bright flavor!
- Crusty Bread - Panzanella is a use-up salad for day old bread. I used half a baguette, but ciabatta or any crusty Italian bread like my Homemade Dutch Oven Bread will work great. I often keep an extra loaf in the freezer so I can make this salad any time!
- Cherry Tomato - This cold/warm panzanella salad is bright and beautiful with cherry tomatoes! You can use whatever type of tomato you have, including chopping up a larger one. This is great too, as the tomato juice soaks into the bread. Try this Peach Caprese Salad with cherry tomatoes too!
- Cucumber- Flooding the garden at the same time as the cherry tomatoes, cucumber adds a crisp cool freshness to balance the warm bread from the oven. If you've got loads of cucumbers growing, make these Small Batch Refrigerator Pickles!
- Kalamata Olives - My favorite olives, these really pack the flavor and give it a Greek Mediterranean flavor! But if you aren't an olive fan, you can leave them out! Try my Marinated Olives with Feta and Cherry Tomatoes with the rest of the jar!
- Red Onion - Just a few slices give you a tangy zip to the salad. They can be omitted if you don't like onions, or subbed with a milder shallot or fresh chives.
- Feta Cheese - Feta brings this salad together! It gives a rich creaminess to balance all the fresh veggies. I recommend buying the block of feta that comes in liquid and crumbling it yourself. You could also substitute fresh mozzarella pearls or shaved Parmesan.
- Basil - This Italian bread salad screams summer with the bright freshness of basil. If you're growing lots of basil and other garden greens, make a batch of Freezer Pesto or Lemon Herb Dressing!
- Vinaigrette - A simple white wine vinaigrette is made by shaking up a few ingredients in a jar. A minced clove of fresh garlic gives it a ton of flavor! You could also use a simple store-bought vinaigrette.
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations and Additional Ingredient Options
This is a bit of a Mediterranean or Greek inspired panzanella, a twist on the classic Italian dish, and is pretty versatile in its ingredients!
- Tomatoes and bread are a must, but from there you could add red bell peppers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, toasted pine nuts, or a handful of spinach or arugula.
- Fresh mozzarella pearls or shaved Parmesan could be used instead of feta, or left out to be dairy-free. This makes for a super healthy panzanella salad, with lots of fresh veggies and so much flavor!
- Basil is my favorite but you could vary the herbs with fresh oregano, thyme or parsley. You could even add chickpeas if you want to bump up the protein, or try this White Bean Salad!
Instructions
Step 1 - Prepare your ingredients. Cut the bread, when cubed, it should total about 4 cups but does not need to be exact.
Step 2 - Toss the bread on a sheet pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Bake at 400°, about 7 minutes until lightly toasted.
Step 3 - Add all ingredients to a large bowl, including the toasted bread.
Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar and toss well with the salad.
Step 4 - Pour your salad into a serving dish and garnish with more basil leaves.
Recipe Tips
- Bite Size Pieces - Try to chop all ingredients about the same size. Larger cherry tomatoes can be cut in half.
- Grill the Bread - This salad is a great side dish for grilling! And if you already have the grill fired up, you can cut your bread into slices, oil and grill it and then cube it to throw in the salad.
- The Dressing - I've included a very simple vinaigrette recipe that you can add the ingredients to a jar and just shake it. This dressing could be doubled or tripled and keeps in the fridge for a month to use on any salad. You can also substitute a basic store-bought or homemade vinaigrette like this Easy Vinaigrette in a Jar or this Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.
- Make Ahead - This summer panzanella can be made 2 hours in advance and stored covered in the fridge. You can make it at home and transport it to a party, but I wouldn't make it too early in the day. This salad is all about fresh! It's fine to let the dressing soak into the bread and let everything marry together, but not for too long that things become soggy and your cucumbers go limp! Plus, if you make it fresh you get the cold/warm panzanella temperature contrast with the bread fresh from the oven and the crisp cold veggies, so delicious!
- Storage - Leftovers can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge and eaten the next day for lunch, but won't be quite as good as the first day!
What to Serve with Panzanella
Panzanella Bread Salad is the ultimate summer side dish and goes great on the backyard picnic table! Serve it with Grilled Steak Kabobs, Honey Mustard Dry Rub Ribs, grilled chicken, sausages or fish.
It's great with barbecue or Simple Roasted Wild Caught Salmon. It also makes a delicious lunch on it's own!
For the perfect panzanella menu, add a few other summer favorite side dishes, like Avocado Bean Dip, Melon Prosciutto Salad with Arugula, Green Bean Salad, or Broccoli Salad with Feta and Cranberry!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can substitute your favorite gluten-free bread or even make this salad with white beans or chickpeas instead of bread.
Olives seem to be either loved or hated by most people. If you aren't an olive fan, let me first say that kalamata olives are the delicious olives, while black canned olives are pretty terrible! You can easily leave the olives out or substitute sliced red bell pepper, capers, artichokes or sun-dried tomatoes.
I love using cherry tomatoes in panzanella because they are already bite size so you don't need to chop them! Plus we just grow so many in the garden that we throw a handful in everything! However, you can really use any kind of tomato for this recipe. You'll just want to chop them to be the same size as your bread cubes and other veggies.
More Delicious Summer Recipes!
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Panzanella Bread Salad with Cherry Tomatoes
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 4 cups crusty bread cut in cubes
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups cherry tomato
- 1 cucumber chopped
- ½ cup kalamata olives
- ¼ cup red onion sliced
- ⅓ cup feta cheese crumbled
- 4 leaves basil chopped
For the Vinaigrette
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 grinds fresh black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons white or red wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and toss on a sheet pan with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Bake 7 minutes.
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl, including the toasted bread. Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar, or whisk in a small bowl, and toss well with the salad.
- Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with more basil leaves.
Notes
- Additional ingredients or substitutions can include red bell peppers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, white beans or chickpeas, fresh mozzarella pearls, toasted pine nuts, or a handful of spinach, arugula or other herbs.
- Cherry tomatoes can be substituted with any kind of tomatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces.
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