Burrata Panzanella: Your New Favorite Salad

Beware! For this Burrata Panzanella, I toss aside my healthy-chef hat and instead put on my cheese-lover’s beret—and enjoy every bite of the delicious decadence!

Who doesn’t love Burrata?

I especially love serving this Burrata Panzanella for an al fresco lunch or dinner with friend, and I can tell you—it’s always a hit!

Of course, the majority of the decadence of this Panzanella Salad comes from the Burrata, an ultra-creamy mozzarella-type cheese with an even creamier center. Burrata originates from Andria in the Puglia region of Italy (the heel of the boot). Due to its popularity, cheese makers in the US even produce it, but Burrata di Andria has Protected Geographical Indication status.

Panzanella is a regional Italian dish from Tuscany. This Tuscan bread salad dates back to the 16th Century. The first recipes of this era used onions instead of tomatoes, but this Burrata Panzanella uses both! If you have a tomato garden, this is a delicious way to use your summer harvest!

I like to use a large flat plate and layer the salad for a beautiful presentation.

Burrata Panzanella Recipe

Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups grape, cherry, or pear tomatoes
¼ teaspoon salt
4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
2 cups Italian or French bread, cubed and toasted
¼ cup Meyer lemon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 ounces burrata
½ cup red onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons basil or parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions
1. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise, put in a small bowl, add salt, toss, and set aside.
2. Arrange an even layer of lettuce on the bottom of the plate.
3. Top lettuce with an even layer of the bread.
4. Drizzle half of the olive oil over the salad.
5. Drizzle half of the balsamic vinegar over the salad.
6. Set aside a handful of tomatoes. Top the salad with the remaining tomatoes, and drizzle any juice that is in the bowl on the salad.
7. Cut the burrata into bite-size chunks and add evenly disperse on the salad.
8. Add the tomatoes that were set aside, and the onions.
9. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and balsamic.
10. Sprinkle with basil or parsley

Tips

1. Choose a variety of different color tomatoes to make your Burrata Panzanella a beautiful salad. If you don’t have one of the small varieties above, just chop larger ones.
2. If you can’t easily get burrata, use whole-milk mozzarella. I love to eat healthy and urge you to do so as well, but trust me, this is not the dish to skimp on. Burrata is the best!
3. If you don’t have a Meyer lemon olive oil, a high-quality unflavored olive oil is good too.
4. If you’re looking to save a few steps and/or calories, feel free to use fat-free croutons instead of the bread.
5. Or if you need to skip the bread, it’s still delicious, but call it Tomato Burrata Salad instead!

Recommended for this Burrata Panzanella Recipe:
Burrata
Meyer Lemon Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salad Serving Plate
Salad Servers

Recipes using similar ingredients to Burrata Panzanella that you may enjoy:
Checca Recipes
Sicilian Eggplant aka Caponata
Caprese Strada
Strawberry Arugula Salad
Creating the Ultimate French cheese board