This take on Italian Panzanella, or bread salad, is brimming with olives, artichokes, and tomatoes. The croutons soak up the juices from the vegetables and white wine vinaigrette, but retain delicious texture.
Make tomato and artichoke summer panzanella with your garden-grown produce or store-bought!
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What is Panzanella?
Panzanella is a traditional Tuscan Italian salad consisting of stale bread or croutons, and fresh tomatoes often with other vegetables soaked in a tangy vinaigrette. This dish originated in Tuscany but different variations can be found across the Mediterranean.
In Italian, panzanella means bread (or pane) in a deep plate (or zanella). You also hear it called Italian Bread Tomato Salad.
Other countries have bread salad also. You can make a Fattoush bread salad with pita bread and serve with chicken kebabs.
Make a mediterranean bread salad inspired by Greek flavors with cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes and a red wine vinaigrette. Try this Greek panzanella salad from Ina.
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Tomato and Artichoke Bread Salad
The best panzanella salad recipe is built from two staple ingredients: bread and tomatoes. Make sure that you get high-quality fresh tomatoes for this recipe. The better the tomatoes, the better the salad will be. I like to make this Italian bread salad in the summer when tomatoes are at their peak.
Choose a good bread for your base. I like to use a whole-grain rustic bread, like a whole wheat sourdough or country loaf.
Grab whatever is available at your local bakery or even try to make your own. Don't try to make this with sandwich bread. The croutons just won't turn out the same.
Many Panzanella ricettas (recipes) will call for stale bread, but I find that stale bread renders unpleasantly tough croutons. Save the stale bread for French Toast! I like to use fresh bread and toast it in the oven to make perfectly crisp croutons.
Besides–this way you don't have to remember to get bread a few days before!
How to Make a Panzanella Salad
- Prep all the ingredients: Cut bell pepper, core and cut tomatoes into small wedges, and remove thick crusts from bread, then cut into cubes.
- Make marinade: Mix the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, garlic, anchovy, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Add bell pepper, artichokes, tomatoes and their juice, and olives to marinade.
- Toss bread cubes in anchovy, butter, spices, salt, and olive oil.
- Bake bread cubes until toasted.
- Toss the marinated vegetables, bread, and herbs together up to an hour before serving.
Can You Make Italian Bread Salad Ahead of Time?
Panzanella salad is best served within an hour of tossing. Any longer than that and the bread will become soggy. No one wants that!
If you want to make this tomato and artichoke salad with crunchy croutons ahead of time, you can prep the ingredients separately and toss them up to an hour before serving.
What to Serve with Panzanella?
During the summer, I love to serve panzanella on its own. It's a light and fresh salad that is filling enough to stand as an entrée.
Sometimes I bring panzanella to a BBQ or dinner party in lieu of a traditional green salad. Guests are always ecstatic to see lots of carbs. Panzanella salad pairs well with grilled chicken or steak, and of course complements any Italian meal splendidly.
Seasonal Summer Panzanella
Tuscan bread salad is great with any seasonal ingredients. You can use the same dressing in my recipe for tomato and artichoke panzanella, or try a balsamic vinaigrette.
Winter panzanella could have squash, Brussels sprouts, hearty herbs like thyme, and even kale.
Spring panzanella salad might be great with snap peas, leeks, and asparagus.
Greek panzanella salad would have cucumbers, olives, and red wine vinaigrette.
Epic Summer Salads
Summer is the time for salads. I usually have my fridge full of farmer's market finds and end up chopping up whatever I have on hand and calling it dinner. Here are a few of my favorite salads for summertime.
Warm Salmon and Arugula Pasta Salad
Fresh Tomato Recipes
Best Panzanella Salad with Artichokes
Ingredients
Marinade Dressing
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons honey (or granulated sugar)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 anchovy filets minced, divided
- ¼ cup champagne or white wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1½ teaspoons Kosher salt divided
- ground black pepper
Panzanella Salad
- 1 roasted red bell pepper from a jar
- 5 small (1½ pounds) yellow or orange tomatoes
- 1 (1 pound) loaf whole-grain rustic bread
- 14 ounces frozen baby artichokes thawed and drained
- ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives halved
- 1 stick unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flaked
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano and basil
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Make marinade dressing: In a mixing bowl whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, garlic, one anchovy, vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper.
- Prep all the ingredients: Cut jarred bell pepper into 1-inch pieces; discard seeds. Core and cut tomatoes into small wedges, reserving juices for the dressing. Remove thick crusts from bread and cut bread into ¾-inch cubes; you should have about 8 cups of bread cubes.
- Add bell pepper, artichokes, tomatoes and their juice, and olives to marinade. Let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, heat oven to 375ºF. Whisk the remaining anchovy, the melted butter, coriander, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ cup olive oil. Drizzle over bread in a large bowl; toss.
- Transfer bread mixture to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, turning once, until croutons are just golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack.
- Toss the marinated vegetables, bread, and herbs together up to an hour before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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About Tara Teaspoon
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