Pizza Panzanella Salad
In this pizza-inspired Panzanella salad, cubed ciabatta bread, pops of tomatoes, fresh basil, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and other classic pizza toppings create an fun and unique dish that's perfect for parties, as a crave-able dinner salad, an elevated side dish or light lunch.
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Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 6 ounces ciabatto bread, cubed
- ¼ cup olive oil to lightly brush on bread
- 35 slices pepperoni, halved
- 16 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup fresh basil (generous ½ cup), rough chopped
- 3 thin slices red onion, quartered
- 8 ounces mozzarella pearls
- ⅔ cup pickled banana pepper slices (or pepperoncini slices)
- ½ cup medium black olives
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- red pepper flakes
- ⅓ cup Italian dressing (with parmesan or romano cheese)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Cube bread. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Lightly brush with olive oil. Place in preheated oven for 5-8 minutes to dry out.
- Cut pepperoni slices in half and place on another baking sheet. Place in same oven as bread and allow to crisp. Remove pepperoni from oven and place on a paper towel and blot to remove grease.
- Chop tomatoes, basil and onion.
- Add all ingredients to a large salad bowl. Toss. Let sit for 10 minutes and serve!
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Notes
- Don't skip crisping/cooking your pepperoni. This step really does add a lot of real pizza flavor to the whole salad, not to mention texture.
- Drying out your bread cubes is preferable toasting them. So place them in that 350 oven and let them get nice and crisp. This will also make a better salad than stale bread or croutons.
- Lightly dress your salad. An overdressed salad is much more likely to get soggy.
- If I properly crisp the bread and go light on the dressing, I can even eat leftovers the next day.
- If you want to make this salad ahead of time, make the salad and dress it, but leave out the bread. Toss the bread in anywhere from 30 minutes to right before you serve it.