Easy Panzanella Salad + White Wine Pairing

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.

Thanks for reading A Side of Sweet! For more Sweet in your life, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Bloglovin’, Snapchat (@asideofsweet), or Twitter. You can also subscribe to receive a weekly email with new posts and random musings from me.

Easy Panzanella Salad Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

A beautiful and easy panzanella salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and crusty croutons that is perfect for summer! Pairs well with Vinho Verde white wines.

• Author: Kelly Egan
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Salad
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: Portuguese

Scale 1x2x3x

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

1. 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.
2. Combine the croutons, apple, cucumber, tomatoes, chorizo, pancetta and red onion in a large salad bowl and toss.
3. 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!

Craving an easy Panzanella Salad? Pin this for later: