Tuna Panzanella – Italian Bread Salad

Tuna Panzanella Salad made with seared tuna steaks, juicy and sweet cherry tomatoes, salty olives and crunchy cucumber. It's tossed with a simple and easy dressing and homemade croutons. This salad can be prepped ahead making it suited to lunch on the go or a light dinner.

This is totally an amped-up, non-traditional version (more about that below) but it doesn't go overboard with fancy ingredients and it still takes less than 15 minutes to make from start to finish.

We love a traditional Panzanella salad with canned tuna but this time we decided to swap it for fresh tuna steaks and wow, flavour is insane. Best of all this salad is healthy and fresh so you can whip it up and serve it any time of the day.

Traditional Panzanella Salad Vs Tuna Panzanella

So there a good few differences between this salad and a traditional version here's what you need to know:

• Traditional Panzanella: a traditional Panzanella doesn't contain any tuna although it's a popular addition throughout Italy. The bread is also traditionally soaked in water (stale bread) to rehydrate and then is crumbled into the rest of the ingredients.
• Our Tuna Panzanella: The seared tuna steaks and ciabatta bread croutons are the main differences here. The croutons are fun and give a good, crunchy texture to the salad whereas the tuna steaks give it an amped up modern feel making it a great dinner option that's both filling and healthy.

How to Make Tuna Panzanella Salad – Step By Step

Place the ciabatta bread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil, freshly grated parmesan and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes until crisp (photos 1 & 2).

Drizzle the tuna steak in olive oil to lightly coat and sprinkle with a small pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a hot griddle pan for 2 minutes each side, it should still be pink in the middle. Remove and cut into slices (photos 3 & 4).

Place the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, olives, basil and parsley in a large bowl then add the croutons and slices of tuna (photos 7 – 9).

Whisk the olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl then pour over the salad ingredients, toss the salad to combine. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes then serve (photo 10).

Other ingredients that would work well

We like to stick to simple ingredients when it comes to panzanella but you can easily adapt it with whatever ingredients you like. Sun-dried tomatoes would work well as would zucchini, asparagus, carrots, eggs and you could swap the tuna for cured meats such as prosciutto or keep it veggie.

Top tips For making this salad

• Use the freshest tuna possible and from a sustainable source
• If you can't get ahold of tuna steaks you can use canned tuna
• We like to let the salad sit for a few minutes so the dressing soaks into the croutons and all the flavours get a chance to develop
• Cut the onion as thin as possible so you don't get a pungent onion taste
• You can store this salad in the fridge for up to 2 days

More Easy Salads You Might Like

• Authentic Tuscan Panzanella Salad
• Tuna White Bean Salad with Basil and Lemon
• Warm White Bean Salad – Tomato, Prosciutto & Baby Mozzarella
• Loaded Lentil Salad With Eggplant And Burrata
• Classic Caprese Salad – Easy, Fresh & good

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

• 2 Tuna steaks (300g)
• 2 1/2 cups Tomatoes (cut in half (300g))
• 1/2 Red onion (finely sliced)
• 1 cup Cucumber (finely sliced (150g))
• 1 cup Olives (mixed (150g))
• 7 oz Ciabatta bread (cut into cubes (200g))
• 1 tbsp parmesan (freshly grated)
• 1 tbso fresh parsley (chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh basil (chopped)
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 5 tbsp Olive oil (extra virgin)
• Salt and pepper (to season)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F/200C. Place the cubed ciabatta bread on a baking sheet and spinkle with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp freshly grated parmesan and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes until crisp.

2. Drizzle the tuna steak in around 1 tsp of olive oil just to lightly coat and spinkle with a small pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a hot griddle pan for 2 minutes each side, it should still be pink in the middle. Remove and cut into slices.

3. Place the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, olives, basil and parsley in a large bowl then add the croutons and slices of tuna.

4. Whisk the olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl then pour over the salad ingredients, toss the salad to combine. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes then serve.

Kitchen notes

• Use the freshest tuna possible and from a sustainable source
• If you can't get ahold of tuna steaks you can use canned tuna
• We like to let the salad sit for a few minutes so the dressing soaks into the croutons and all the flavours get a chance to develop
• Cut the onion as thin as possible so you don't get a pungent onion taste
• You can store this salad in the fridge for up to 2 days