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Summer Panzanella Salad with Grilled Chicken

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4 Dinner Portions
45 min
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Prep ahead: vinaigrette can be made & bread cubed ahead.
tomatogrilled chickenquickeasyunder 30 minutessummer weeknight dinnerolive breadzucchinisummer saladeasy elegant mealsdinner partygluten free optionalWeekendWeeknightMain CourseDinner

Panzanella is one of my favorite summer side dishes to make - it's bright, fresh, delicious, and so easy. The thing that really sets this panzanella apart is to salt the tomatoes and let them sit in a strainer set over a bowl while you prep the rest of the salad. The tomatoes will release a lot of their juices, which you'll add to the vinaigrette, making it even more tomato-y!

I also use olive bread and chopped olives in my panzanella, which I love (I am obsessed with olives, if you haven't already figured that out) but you can absolutely skip them and use any other kind of crusty bread for the croutons if they are not your thing!

The vinaigrette for this salad is one of my absolutely favorites - it's an acidic, dijon vinaigrette that also has some diced red onion in it, instead of putting raw onion in the salad. You'll let the diced red onion sit in a little champagne vinegar (you can sub white wine vin or red wine vinegar if you don't have champagne vinegar) and the vinegar will take the edge off the onions before you make the rest of the dressing. I use this dressing on a lot of other salads, it keeps really well if you don't end up using all of it.

The chicken in this dish is SO simple, yet so flavorful. I cook them in a cast iron skillet on the stove, but if you have a grill you can absolutely use that too. If you're using a meat thermometer to cook them, you want the breasts to read 155. Otherwise 5 minutes per side on a hot cast iron skillet is a good rule of thumb - just check the chicken is cooked through / opaque white and the juices run clear. If your chicken breasts are particularly thick, you may need an extra minute or two per side. I use this chicken in a lot of other recipes too, and I love having leftovers to toss on a salad for a quick lunch or in a chicken caesar wrap (I have a recipe here for that too!). So make a little extra if you want to have some leftovers!

While this dish is simple enough for a week night, it's also a really great one to make for a casual dinner party too. Sub GF bread to make the whole thing gluten free. Serves 4 for dinner.

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Special Equipment

Cast Iron Skillet
Large Mixing Bowl
Colander

Ingredients

For the Chicken
olive oil
chicken breast
paprika
ground cumin
ground oregano
garlic powder
kosher salt
fresh black pepper
neutral oil (like vegetable oil), for cooking the chicken
For the Salad
olive bread, cubed (~4 cups of cubed bread)
olive oil
large tomatoes (heirloom if available)
cherry tomatoes, halved
kosher salt, plus more to taste
kalamata olives, chopped
medium zucchini, diced
persian cucumber, diced
chopped basil (1 small bunch or ~1/2 a large bunch)
chopped parsley (1 small bunch or ~1/2 a large bunch)
chopped oregano (optional)
For the Vinaigrette
champagne vinegar
red wine vinegar
red onion, diced
kosher salt
honey
dijon mustard
black pepper
olive oil
juice from strained tomatoes (see directions)

Directions