Traditional Panzanella Salad

5 from 1 vote

A delicious end-of-summer salad with day-old bread and fresh tomatoes. This Italian classic panzanella salad is a great way to use up old ingredients and combine them with fresh produce.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Rest time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Italian

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 661kcal

Author: Vincent DelGiudice

Cost: $10

Equipment

1 baking sheet
1 large bowl

Ingredients

1 loaf day-old Italian bread or semolina bread
3 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 ¼ red onion, sliced thin
1 handful fresh basil, julliened
8 oz fresh mozzarella
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced

Instructions

Take day-old bread and cube it. Leave it out on the counter overnight to dry or preheat the oven to 225℉ and bake for 15 minutes to dry.
Chop tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Combine the tomatoes in a bowl with red onion, basil, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Once the bread cools, add the bread to the tomatoes and mix well. Let it sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes. The bread will soak up all the juice.
Tear the mozzarella into pieces, and toss it into the salad, and combine. Serve immediately while the bread is not completely soggy.

Notes

Dry your bread in the oven like you're making croutons. You will get the same dried hard bread result as stale bread without the stale flavor.

Fresh tomatoes over a specific type of tomato, like roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes. I used German Johnson and Campari tomatoes from the Farmer's Market.

Use high-quality extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This will make the flavor significantly better. Bad olive oil can really make this dish lackluster.

Slice the red onion super thin so that it doesn't overtake all the flavor in the salad. If you cut it too thick, it will be really sharp.

Nutrition