A beautiful and easy panzanella salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and crusty croutons that is perfect for summer! Pairs well with Portuguese Vinho Verde wines.
Panzanella salad is the perfect summer food. It’s easy to make and chock full of the things that make summer great, like fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and basil. It’s basically an easy chopped salad, but the thing that sets it apart is the crusty croutons made from stale bread.
You can definitely buy croutons, but I encourage you to make your own from a good loaf of rustic bread. For this recipe, I used a fun olive loaf from my local farmer’s market. If you’re impatient like I am, you can spread up the old bread process by popping it in the oven for a bit to dry out.
I also made a recipe video, so be sure to click through and check it out!
This panzanella recipe is Portuguese-inspired, with its fresh mediterranean flavors, chorizo (chouriço in Portuguese) and prosciutto. If you’re looking for a wine pairing, it goes perfectly with Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas Alvarinho white wine. This wine is a beautiful single varietal from the Vinho Verde region of Portugal.
Vinho Verde is Portugal’s largest wine region, located in the northwestern part of the country. The primarily white wines are made from the wealth of indigenous grape varieties, such as Alvarinho, Loureiro, Trajadura and Arinto. The unique climate of the region make the wines tremendously refreshing thanks to their abundant natural acidity and fresh fruit flavors. They also pair well with all types of recipes and cuisines.
The Soalheiro Alvarinho is crisp and refreshing, making it perfect for summer. The wine itself is made from grapes of the oldest Alvarinho vines on the estate. The grapes are organic and harvested by hand.
Soalheiro actually means a sunny place in Portuguese, and refers to the number of hours of sunshine needed for better ripeness of the Alvarinho grape. The wine itself has a beautiful minerality and notes of citrus. It’s great on its own as an aperitif, or with this beautiful panzanella.
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PrintEasy Panzanella Salad Recipe
A beautiful and easy panzanella salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and crusty croutons that is perfect for summer! Pairs well with Vinho Verde white wines.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Portuguese
Ingredients
- 1 loaf stale crusty bread
- 1 apple, cored and chopped
- 1 english cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 ounces chorizo or chouriço or other salami, sliced and quartered
- 1 ounce prosciutto, chopped
- 8 ounces cheese of your choice, chopped, I used a goat milk cheddar (more suggestions below)
- 1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup olive oil plus more for making or croutons
- 1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- If your bread isn’t stale, you can speed up the process by cutting it into crouton-sized pieces, tossing it with some olive oil and toasting it in the oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes until crisp.
- Combine the croutons, apple, cucumber, tomatoes, chorizo, pancetta and red onion in a large salad bowl and toss.
- Make the dressing: combine the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a sealable container and shake vigorously to combine. Pour over panzanella salad, toss and serve immediately.
[i]Recipe notes:[/i] You can prepare the salad ingredients a few hours or even a day in advance but wait until serving to add the croutons and dressing. Cheese suggestions: goat milk cheddar, shaved parmesan, gouda, but almost anything will work!
Keywords: easy panzanella salad recipe, homemade panzanella salad, panzanella salad recipe, healthy salad recipe, easy salad recipe
This post is sponsored by Vinho Verde wines. For more information check out their website at www.winesofvinhoverde.com. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that allow me to keep creating beautiful content!
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I always forget about Panzanella when thinking about what kind of salad I should make. This looks so good. I didn’t know that there were dry chorizo varieties. I think that there’s Panzanella in my families future.
Hooray! I got mine at Whole Foods, but it’s made locally in California so I’m not sure where the distribute. You can always use salami if you can’t find it!
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Thanks. I will look, and it’s good to know I can use salami if I can’t find the chorizo
Oops. One family..that should say family’s, not families.
Such beautiful photography in this post! That salad looks delicious (as does the wine!!). I love your gold cutlery too – so pretty. xxx
Thank you so much Miranda! The wine is amazing – hope you can try it!
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Kelly I was able to view your site perfectly from my cell so I’m sure it would as well from my PC.
I love what you’ve done to your site since I visited last – it’s beautiful as are all your photos. Those dishes are beautiful – what brand are they, I love them?
As for the Panzanella I always forget about this salad. It’s a favorite of mine and from the way you described the wine, I need to pick up a bottle or two. Nice post, beautiful photos and tasty looking salad!
That’s great news! I actually switched hosts over the weekend to WPOpt but forgot to update my newsletter! I’m so happy everything is working smoothly – and faster! The dishes are actually from our honeymoon in Morocco – they are the traditional Fez type of pottery.
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