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This delicious vegan Tuscan-inspired Panzanella Salad is truly perfect for the warmer summer days. A bright, tangy dressing paired with crispy oven-baked ciabatta, cherry tomatoes, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and capers!
Why you’ll love this Tuscan-inspired Panzanella Salad:
Easy– this Panzanella Salad recipe only requires a few fresh ingredients and the rest are pantry staples that you probably already have at home! Oh, AND it’s a one-bowl recipe!
Delicious– although this recipe is pretty simple, it’s truly a delicious salad that everyone will love!
Perfect for summer– a bright salad packed with Italian flavours!
What is Panzanella?
Panzanella is an Italian salad made with cubed stale bread, an extremely generous amount of ripe tomatoes, onion, vinegar and olive oil.
Authentic Panzanella vs. This Recipe:
Authentic Panzanella is made by removing the bread crust and then soaking it in water for 10 minutes. The water is then squeezed out and broken into pieces. In this recipe, I’ve baked the ciabatta bread cubes with a little olive oil, salt and black pepper. The reason for this is because I LOVE croutons in salads, so I decided to use this technique rather than soaking and squeezing out the water!
Panzanella is traditionally only made with tomatoes, onions, olive oil, cucumber but I’m a massive fan of olives, sun-dried tomatoes and capers so I knew I wanted to include them in this recipe!
What you’ll need to make this Tuscan-inspired Panzanella Salad:
Ciabatta bread – I actually used a pack of 4 ciabatta rolls in this recipe but any other type of stale vegan bread would work.
Olive oil & red wine vinegar – Tossing stale bread with olive oil before baking creates a barrier, which prevents the salad from becoming soggy once tossed with the vinaigrette. Olive oil is also used alongside the red wine vinegar, and spices to create the beautiful tangy vinaigrette!
Cherry tomatoes & onions – I like to use cherry tomatoes as they hold the moisture even once sliced in half. Can you use regular tomatoes? Yes, but it’s not something I’d recommend! I used red onions in this recipe but white onions will work just as well.
Fresh Basil – garnishing this salad with fresh basil adds a little more colour, don’t skip this ingredient!
Kalamata olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, and roasted red peppers – all store bought and from jars! If you can, try to get seedless Kalamata olives!
Garlic, salt, black pepper, dried oregano, dried basil & nutritional yeast – every salad dressing needs a combination of spices to bring the flavours of the salad together!
How to make this Tuscan-inspired Panzanella Salad:
- Toss cubed ciabatta bread with olive oil, black pepper and salt. Bake until slightly golden.
- Allow ciabatta bread to cool.
- While the bread is cooling make the vinaigrette
- Toss cooled ciabatta bread with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, capers and Kalamata olives. Drizzle over the vinaigrette and toss once again.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
- Garnish with fresh basil leaves and enjoy!
Have you tried this recipe?
If you try this recipe don’t forget to tag me on Instagram with photographs! Also, please leave a review down below – I try my best to respond to you all!
More vegan recipes you’ll love:
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Ingredients
- 6–7 cups ciabatta bread cut into cubes (340g )
- salt
- black pepper
- 1/4 tbsp + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 cup roasted red pepper (from a jar)
- 1/4 cup sundried tomaotes (packed)
- 2 tbsp capers
- 1/3 cup kalamata olives
- 1 small/medium onion
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (roughly chopped)
Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 3–4 garlic cloves (grated)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
Toasting Ciabatta
- Add cubed Ciabatta onto a baking tray, with salt and black pepper and olive oil Give everything a good mix. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden. Mixing halfway. Once toasted, allow to cool.
Vinaigrette
- Add all the vinaigrette ingredients into a jar and give it a good shake until everythings combined.
Assembly
- While the bread is cooling, chop up the sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red pepper, onions, cherry tomatoes and olives. Once chopped, add into a big bowl with the capers.
- Add the toasted ciabatta into the bowl. Pour vinaigrette over and give it a good toss until everything is well combined.
- Refrigerate for 30-40 mins or until ready to serve.
- Garnish with the chopped fresh basil and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Calories: 227
