Caprese Panzanella is the perfect summer salad to bring to BBQs, picnics and backyard get togethers. This caprese salad is dressed up with toasty Italian bread and a nice drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Caprese Panzanella

Summer salads are the best.

When you hear the words Caprese Panzanella doesn’t it make you happy?

Summer salads that can be thrown together in under 20 minutes are key.

The ones you can bring to that BBQ or backyard party you are going to in a few hours that you know everyone will love.

You have to have a good stock pile of those kind of recipes, right?

I have a few favorites I make time and time again including this Summer Orzo Pasta Salad and this Greek Orzo Pasta Salad.

Yup, I am a sucker for the orzo.

But I also like salads without the pasta in them and am always up for trying something new. 

Now we aren’t skipping the carbs all together by leaving out the pasta because we are going to add in some toasty, crusty bread cubes.

I had a version of this Caprese Panzanella salad that my sister in law made in Chicago a few weeks ago and fell in love.

It has all of those fresh summer flavors of tomatoes, basil and crisp cucumbers paired with creamy mozzarella and crusty bread.

It is the perfect salad to make in the heat of the summer when our gardens are producing all of those beautiful summer vegetables.

I drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the finished salad with salt and pepper but you can get creative with the dressing if you like.

When I had this salad in Chicago I really enjoyed the crusty bread in the salad and forgot how much I love panzanella salads.

I think it goes hand in hand with my love for a little crunch in my salads whether it is croutons, crusty bread or some sort of nut.

If you plan to make this salad and take it with you to a party or BBQ I suggest waiting to add the bread until you are ready to serve the salad.

If you add it too soon it will get soggy and the whole purpose of why it is in the salad is lost. I used a good crusty Italian style baguette but feel free to use your favorite crusty bread or whatever you have on hand.

If you want to get a little more creative with this salad you can add things like sliced red onion and avocado.

Both work nicely together in this salad.

If you like caprese try this Caprese Pasta or this Caprese Panzanella.