Panzanella: Traditional Italian Bread and Tomato Salad
Panzanella is a traditional Italian tomato and bread salad using stale bread with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and salt.
Panzanella is a simple Tuscan, peasant dish (cucina povera) which is popular in Italy, using the bounty of tomatoes during the summer, and stale bread which is almost a staple in any Italian kitchen.
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What is Panzanella?
Panzanella is an Italian salad consisting of summer staples in a poor household: tomatoes, stale bread and olive oil. This type of cucina povera dish is explicitly simple for the reason of its inception: poverty. If you see panzanella recipes with loads of ingredients or expensive ingredients, or those that take more than a few minutes to make, they are not authentic panzanella recipes.
There isn’t even a need for an actual recipe as it is so simple, but I know that many of you would love to have one. Maybe you even saw this on Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy series?
You may also enjoy this authentic bruschetta recipe.
Panzanella the same type of salad that I usually make in the summer with homegrown tomatoes, but instead of dipping our bread into the juice that’s left in the bowl at the end, panzanella uses stale bread cubes to soak up the tomato juice (oil and vinegar, too) in the salad. Some areas in Italy will soak the bread with water beforehand, but I don’t think that method is quite as tasty. Speaking of stale bread, do you make your own breadcrumbs?
Speaking of oil and vinegar, I can’t stress enough that the quality of the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Even the type of salt you use is extremely important. If you use poor quality ingredients, you’ll just wonder what’s so special about this salad, but then, that applies for every recipe. I love a really strong wine vinegar, at minimum 6% aciditiy.
Also, it is of utmost importance to use fresh tomatoes (homegrown or organic, if possible) along with the good quality extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar. Your panzanella won’t taste anything close to authentic if you try to use Italian dressing from the grocery store, so please don’t be tempted. If you don’t believe me, let me just tell you that there’s no such thing as Italian dressing in Italian grocery stores!
Panzanella
basic Italian recipe serves 2 or 3
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Place the bread into a salad bowl which will accommodate the rest of the ingredients.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle with the salt, drizzle with good quality extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar and toss again, until well mixed.
Leave for a few minutes so that the juice can soak into the bread cubes, then serve.
What do you think of panzanella? I hope you love it as much as I do!
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More cucina povera recipes ~
- Minestra – healthy greens and beans
- Pasta e ceci – small pasta with garbanzo beans and a soupy sauce (can be made dry)
- Polenta – Italian corn meal based dish
Panzanella: Traditional Italian Bread and Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 4 medium tomatoes (or large sized)
- 2 pieces Italian style bread (stale, cubed)
- 3 basil leaves (fresh, torn into pieces)
- 1 small cucumber (sliced, optional)
- ⅓ sweet onion (cut into pieces, optional)
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (good quality)
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- ¾ tsp Kosher salt (or sea salt)
Instructions
- Place the bread into a serving bowl which will accommodate the rest of the ingredients.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle with the salt, drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar and toss again, until well mixed.
- Leave for a few minutes so that the juice can soak into the bread cubes, then serve.
Notes
- Use fresh, quality ingredients for the best results.
Nutrition
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I can not wait for our garden tomatoes to ripen. Panzanella’s are perfect way to enjoy delicious tomatoes!
I’m not huge on salads, but Panzanella’s are ones I do love, this looks delicious.
This is one of my favorite salads!
You know, I think it must be because I am older that the print is so hard to read or even see with the background that you have. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to read. Thanks for listening….or I should say, reading.
Tammy, this was a problem on some browsers that has since been rectified. So sorry! CC
This is a very good article. Thank you for a great information.
Looks really yummy.
I like to eat salad.
Thank you! CC
I love this dish – first had it in Montalcino in 1998 and we make it now every summer when the tomatoes are ripe. I even plan to make bread a day or two in advance so I can have perfectly stale bread for this. Makes me think it is time for Pappa al Pomodoro, too.
Isn’t it funny how such a simple dish is embedded in your memory? Just goes to show how sometime, the simplest things are best! CC
Christina – I just made this using your recipe. I had honestly forgotten about your post and Googled “Panzanella.” I got tons of non-authentic recipes. Toasted Bread, grilled bread, all variety of ingredients (including tuna!)… Then, I Googled, “Panzanella Authentic” and your recipe was the first hit! I am so glad, as this was amazing, as it was in Italy. Simple, elegant, fresh. Thanks!
Sorry – I meant to rate this recipe, as I hope that helps others find it and not choose to use the celebrity chef versions!
Grazie!!
How wonderful, David! This makes me happy (that you found it, not that all the inauthentic ones came up first)! If I am not posting a family recipe and it’s something Italian, I always check recipes from Il Cucchiaio d’Argento and/or reliable Italian websites.
One of the main goals of my site is to educate others as to what recipes and dishes are AUTHENTIC Italian vs. American Italian. Too many people are under the impression that Olive Garden-type meals are what people eat in Italy, and that horrifies me. I’m fighting a losing battle, I’m afraid, because everyday I see other bloggers and as you said, even celebrity chefs, posting bastardized versions of simple, Italian dishes which are NOTHING like the original. I don’t have an issue with American Italian recipes, I just wish they were designated as such. Anyway, sorry for the rant, but I’m so happy you liked it!
I want one right now, my absolute favorite salad. Reminds me of home and what my Mom made. Fresh tomatoes and vegetables from the garden oh it was so good. So simple and so delicious,
Dear Christina,
Glorious! What colors and what flavor…This is one of my favorites. I never put my bread in water first, that kinda defeats the purpose of the bread soaking up the juices of the tomato, the oil / vinegar, and spices. So simple and yet so incredibly delicious. I think I may have to make that soon, it looks too good! Thanks for sharing…Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Dottie :)