Corn Panzanella Salad

Raise your hand if you want a bread salad! This corn panzanella salad is the summer dream. The sourdough is cubed and toasted on the stove in olive oil, then tossed with lots of basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and a caramelized shallot vinaigrette. Simple and tastes like summer!

This corn panzanella salad is the summer dream. Toasty sourdough cubes tossed with basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and shallot vinaigrette.

Just discovering new ways to eat more sourdough and this corn panzanella is one of the best salads I’ve ever had. Every bite is pure bliss. Every bite tastes like summer. And every bite has bread. A bread salad is clearly the dream. The sourdough is cubed and toasted on the stove in olive oil, then tossed with lots of basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and a caramelized shallot vinaigrette. It makes me feel like I’m in northern Italy! I’ve never been, but we can pretend. 

This corn panzanella salad is the summer dream. Toasty sourdough cubes tossed with basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and shallot vinaigrette.

What is a Panzanella?

A panzanella is a Tuscan (in central Italy) bread salad! It typically includes tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, and olive oil. It’s a great way to use leftover stale bread. There are different ways you can get your bread toasty, but I thought doing it on the stove was easier than getting the oven started on a hot summer day.

Eventually the bread salad gets doused in an olive oil-based vinaigrette and yes, the bread gets soggy with time. And yes, I too was skeptical about soggy bread, but it’s SO good guys. The longer the salad sits, the better it gets! And it’s already pretty great at first bite because toasted bread is wonderful too.

This corn panzanella salad is the summer dream. Toasty sourdough cubes tossed with basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and shallot vinaigrette.

What’s in this corn panzanella salad

1. sourdough or your favorite artisan style bread

2. steamed or grilled corn

3. lots of olive oil

4. cherry tomatoes

5. basil

6. cucumbers

7. a lemony caramelized shallot vinaigrette. You don’t HAVE to caramelize the shallot, but I think it’s a small extra step that does take this dressing to the next level.

That’s it! It has some warm components and some refreshing components. I usually never eat salads for dinner because I need something warm, so this one totally hit the spot. It should come together pretty easily within 30 minutes, so have a good time with it 🙂

Fresh cherry tomatoes ready for this corn panzanella.
Toasting sourdough with olive oil for this panzanella.
This corn panzanella salad is the summer dream. Toasty sourdough cubes tossed with basil, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and shallot vinaigrette.

Corn Panzanella Salad

5 from 2 votes
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Cook Time 30 mins
Servings 3

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups of 1-inch sourdough bread cubes *use any artisan-style bread loaf you'd like
  • cherry tomatoes
  • 2 ears of corn, steamed or grilled with kernels removed
  • 1 Persian cucumber, diced
  • 1 cup basil

Shallot Vinaigrette

  • 1 shallot *caramelized in 1 tbsp olive oil from the
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
  • pinch of red chili flakes
  • ½ tsp dijon mustard
  • salt & pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Cut sourdough into 1-inch cubes. Cook in a large pan with 2 tbsp olive oil and salt on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until nicely toasted. Stir occasionally.
  • For the shallot vinaigrette, finely mince a shallot. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a small pan and caramelize the shallots until crisp and browned. Add to a jar with the rest of the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Shake the jar until the dressing comes together.
  • Toss all ingredients together in a bowl: tomatoes, basil, corn, cucumbers, bread, and the shallot vinaigrette.

Notes

*3 cups is totally an approximation. Can you ever really have too much toasted bread? Probably not. 

For more summer salads, I highly recommend…

The BEST Kale Salad (with Lemon Miso Tahini Dressing)

Tofu Halloumi and Cucumber Salad

Creamy Corn Pasta Salad with Tahini Alfredo

Tofu Corn Kale Salad

4 comments

  • You and I both! Salads are so exciting in the summer. Hope you try it!

  • Hello! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂 I intended for the lemon juice to serve as the “vinegar” in the vinaigrette since it also brings that sour flavor. But thanks for pointing that out and I’m sure balsamic tasted great!

  • 5 stars
    Hi! I made this tonight…and discovered you have no vinegar in the recipe…which I think you need for a vinegarette! I tossed in some balsamic, but thought you might want to update! It was yummy!

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