Easy and Crispy Panzanella Salad

Panzanella Salad uses juicy tomatoes and crusty bread to pack an every day meal full of flavor and texture. Quickly whip this up for lunch, and it’ll keep you full for hours to come.

If you’ve never heard of Panzanella salad, you’re not alone. It’s a lesser known Italian dish that has the reputation for being a delicious way to use up stale bread. I love making this for lunch, and putting the butt ends of the last of our sourdough sandwich bread in it. The bread makes it more filling, and any recipe that helps minimize waste in the kitchen is always a win.

Moreover, the ingredients are super versatile. At the heart of it, this salad is bread and tomatoes. Anything beyond that is completely up to you. In this recipe I added fried prosciutto, feta cheese, and crunchy cucumbers in the mix as well as a few other ingredients to take it to a whole new level.

Where did panzanella salad originate?

This dish originally hails from the Italian country side. Depending on what region of the country, the ingredients will vary, but it is widely known as a summer salad that uses whatever vegetables are on hand. It started as a low-budget meal that farmers made in the kitchen to use up the scrap bits of bread, and it continues to be a humble crowd-pleaser today. (source)

Why you’ll love this dish

Versatile: This salad is perfect with whatever bread and tomatoes you have available. I combine those with whatever veggies that need to be used up in my house, and I’ve got a healthy, filling meal that also helped clean out my fridge.

Easy: With very minimal prep work, this is a dish that can be thrown together in a bowl in just a few minutes. Consequently, I love to have this for lunch.

Waste-minimizing: I love this dish the most because it helps me use up the leftover bits of my homemade sourdough bread. I’ve done all the work in baking it. I don’t want to waste a thing! Another way I like to use up leftover bread is making breadcrumbs with it. Here’s a recipe for those!

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What you’ll need

Stale bread – I like to use the leftovers of homemade sourdough bread. Here is a recipe for my sandwich bread, and here is a recipe for my rustic loaf.

Frying pan – The main difference between this panzanella salad recipe and others is the stale bread is toasted in a pan after the prosciutto has been fried.

Chef’s knife – There’s a little bit of prep work to cut the veggies into small, bite-size pieces, and you’ll want a nice chef’s knife for the job.

Making this panzanella salad

I like to start by washing all my veggies. Ideally I wash them immediately when we get home from the store, but when that doesn’t happen, I will place them in a white vinegar and baking soda water bath for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Once the veggies are nice and clean, chop them all up into bite size pieces. If knife work is intimidating or tedious to you, try investing in a vegetable chopper. I use this one all the time, and it makes kitchen prep so much quicker and easier.

Fry the prosciutto

After the veggies are prepared, I fry the prosciutto until the pieces are nice and crispy.

Soak the bread chunks

I like to maximize flavor and nutrients whenever possible, and my secret to doing that with this dish is soaking the bread in a bit of bone broth before toasting them up. Here’s a recipe for my homemade bone broth.

Let the bread sit and absorb the broth while the prosciutto finishes frying. Once it’s done, take it out of the pan and set it aside.

Toast the bread

Using the same pan that the prosciutto was in, add enough olive oil to liberally cover the bottom and transfer the soaked bread. Toss the chunks around to coat the bread in the oil and allow them to sit for a minute to get a little crispy. I prefer a nice light toast, so I set the stove to medium-low heat and consistently move them around to get an even cook.

Assemble the panzanella salad

I prefer to throw all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix. Crush up the fried prosciutto. Toss in the cut veggies and toasted bread chunks. Sprinkle in the feta cheese. Drizzle the olive oil and vinegar.

Finish with some salt and pepper to your liking, and toss everything together to reveal the most delicious, nutritious, filling salad.

Leave a comment below if you made this, and let me know what you thought and if you tried any variations!

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