Summer is in full swing and salad season has officially commenced. I love serving up fresh and bright salads all summer long. Summer Panzanella Berry Salad is one of my favorites.

While I love serving salads year-round, such as my Orange Pomegranate Winter Salad, there's just something about the bounty of fresh and colorful produce in the summer that makes me happy. This salad pulls from both seasonal sweet berries and beautiful summer tomatoes.

Ingredients

This salad is all about the balance sweet and savory combined with texture. A little soft, and little crunchy, and a feast for all of the senses.

Galbani Cheese Fresh Mozzarella Marinated Ciliegine - This recipe uses both the cheese itself and also the marinade for both the dressing and the croutons. This cheese is marinated in oils, herbs, and zesty spices that pack a pop of flavor in every bite.
Grape or cherry tomatoes
Strawberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Red onion
Arugula
Fresh basil
Balsamic vinegar
Baguette - This is a great use of leftover and stale bread. You want your bread stale to get the crispiest croutons.

How to Make Summer Panzanella Berry Salad

With the except of toasting your homemade croutons, there's no cooking involved for this gorgeous and easy to assemble salad.

This showstopping salad comes together in less than half an hour.

Croutons
Panzanella salad is all about the stale bread that sucks up all of the juices and dressing. For this recipe we are making croutons.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cube up your bread and add it to a baking sheet. Drizzle some of the marinade from the cheese over the bread. Season the bread with salt and Dried oregano. Bake the bread for 10 minutes until the cubes are golden brown and crunchy.
Make Your Dressing
Whisk together the oil from the cheese marinade, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.
Chop it Up
Prepare your vegetables. Cut the berries and tomatoes in half. Thinly slice your onions.
Dress it Up
Add your arugula, berries, tomatoes, and onions to a bowl and toss to combine. Add the cheese and croutons and pour over the dressing. Toss so everything is mixed. Garnish with basil.

Substitutions

Arugula - You can substitute any soft green for arugula such as baby kale, baby greens, or spinach.
Red onion - While it won't offer the same pop of color, you can use a sliced sweet onion for this.
Tomatoes - Feel free to substitute the grape and cherry tomatoes for larger tomatoes. Just chop them into a similar size.

Variations on Summer Panzanella Berry Salad

This salad is a great lunch salad or vegetarian main course. You can easily make this more substantial by adding your favorite grilled protein. Both grilled chicken and shrimp would work well in this salad. In addition you can also use the marinade from the mozzarella cheese to marinate your chicken or shrimp.

Equipment

The great thing about this salad and many salads in general is that you don't need anything special to make it. For this recipe you will need a baking sheet to bake your homemade croutons. For easy clean up you can line the baking sheet with either foil or parchment paper.

Top Tip for Summer Panzanella Berry Salad

An easy way to make your salad dressing and also store it is to add all of your ingredients to a mason jar, put the cap on, and shake it vigorously. It makes it easier to emulsify the dressing.