Panzanella Bread Salad Recipe

By Frugal Recipes, Side Dish Recipes, ,

Its amazing how simple this panzanella bread salad recipe is to make. Not only was it easy to make but it allows you to add and replace parts of the recipe without compromising the quality of the end result. For example, you could easily replace the canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes. This is a great salad is a great side dish to make in the summer months when all the fresh tomatoes are available. It was also surprising to me how little this recipe cost to make, so delicious and frugal!

So lets get cooking!

Panzanella Bread Salad Recipe

 

Ingredients

  • 1 Cucumber – Skinned and seeded. Cut up into chunks
  • 1 or 2 Tomatoes – cut into chunks
  • 4 c. – Dry or hard Italian or French bread
  • 1 Small Green Pepper – Diced into Chunks
  • 1 Red onion- Chopped
  • Basil leaves – Tear up a few
  • 1/4 to 1/2 c. Good olive oil
  • 1/4 c. Italian wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

 

panzanella-bread-salad-2

 

Directions

  1. Cut the bread into big cubes.
  2. Lay them out on a baking sheet.
  3. Cook at 350 for 5 – 10 minutes til the edges have dried out a bit, but not too toasted.
  4. If you use soft, fresh bread it will turn mushy with this recipe. If you don’t want to bake the cubes you could put a little olive oil in a skillet and lightly cook them.
  5. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
  6. Cover and let it marinate at room temperature for a least 30 minutes.
  7. If you refrigerate this salad it will change the texture of the bread and tomatoes. So I only refrigerate my leftovers.
  8. This a fresh salad that you can incorporate just about any fresh vegetables. I used fresh basil from my herb garden and some homegrown tomatoes.



 

Final Word: Panzanella Bread Salad

For this recipe I also able to use fresh basil from my herb garden. This was a light salad and was perfect for a side dish. I did however have to add more bread, oil, and vinegar, maybe even a little more of the cheese too. The bacon actually gave it a very nice flavor that was positively noticeable.

Simply put, it was a delightful Italian dish. This is a light refreshing quick salad to make and will compliment practically any meal. Made with Italian bread and lots of fresh vegetables. Ideally you would always choose fresh vegetables, its understandable to use canned or frozen when in a rush or on a limited budget. But often you will find that fresh is indeed best and gives the end result a much better flavor!