Panzanella 101

How to make summer’s most photogenic dish with whatever you have in your fridge

One of the meals I have on weekly rotation, especially in summer, but I’m happy to eat it year-round, is panzanella. To me, there’s not much better than a salad studded with hunks of fried bread and a colorful assortment of produce. They’re endlessly adaptable and nearly always very photogenic, which makes them an easy target for a weeknight dinner when your bandwidth is low.

Let’s back up. Panzanella is a traditional Tuscan dish dating back to the 16th century that has since made its way through central Italy, and beyond. The original panzanella combined stale bread with olive oil, vinegar, onions, and greens and was created as a way to be resourceful and cut down on food waste. While panzanella is often synonymous with tomatoes, it wasn’t until the 19th century that they were incorporated into the dish after becoming readily available in Italy.

Rather than provide a recipe, I thought I’d walk you through how I think about making them while produce is at its peak.

Inspiration for a summer panzanella.

Panzanella 101

1. What produce do you have on hand? Tomatoes are an obvious choice, but you could start with corn, zucchini, peaches, melon, kale, arugula, or radicchio. Plan on a small fist full of each type of produce per person. A panzanella doesn’t have to have greens, but if you’re looking to eat more of them, smothering them with fried bread and cheese is an easy way. I typically toss said produce into a punchy vinaigrette. This can be a full-on dressing, or you can simply marinate the veg in a good douse of sherry vinegar and olive oil.

2. I typically plan on 1.5 slices of bread per person. You can cube the bread with a knife, but I prefer the more rustic look of roughly tearing it into bite-sized pieces. Add a layer of olive oil to a large pan over medium high heat and fry the bread until golden brown on both sides. Then, transfer the bread to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt before adding it to the salad. This is a great opportunity to use up any stale bread you have on hand.

3. Consider your add-ins. Cheese is an obvious one, although you can also make your panzanella vegan. Mozzarella, feta, halloumi, and dollops of ricotta are all great choices. You could also add in toasted nuts, roughly chopped herbs, or sliced alliums.

4. Do you want protein in your panzanella? You could serve it on the side, or you could top it with jammy eggs, sliced skirt steak, crispy prosciutto, or flaked baked salmon. None of these are traditional and the old nonnas might roll over in their graves, but this is your panzanella and you can do what you want.

5. Toss it all together in a large bowl or layer the ingredients on a serving platter. While some recipes call for letting the salad marinate together, I like the contrast of the crisp bread to the cool veg.

For more panzanella inspiration, check out this version I made with corn, cucumber, and melon and this one with squash and prosciutto for cooler weather.