Raspberry Spinach Panzanella Salad

This raspberry spinach Panzanella salad contains sourdough bread, almonds, chicken, and raspberries. Drizzled in a creamy raspberry basil vinaigrette, it is ready in under 30 minutes!

Meal sized salads are what I live for! From Healthy Taco Salad and Strawberry Steak Salad, it's a great way to enjoy a refreshing (and cooler) meal in the summer.

This raspberry spinach Panzanella salad is an easy, light (but filling), fruity salad. It is super easy to prep, and perfect for eating outside, and is drizzled in the most incredible raspberry basil vinaigrette.

It has an awesome variety of textures: creamy, crunchy, bread-y, and flavors: sweet, savory, tangy. And it's good for you!

Ingredient Notes

• Spinach- use fresh baby spinach, or swap for your favorite greens. Arugula, baby kale, or romaine lettuce would also work well.
• Raspberry Basil Vinaigrette- is a delicious, oil-free dressing that blends fresh raspberries with basil, red wine vinegar, water, maple syrup, and dijon
• Raspberries- so good in this salad! Can be swapped for your favorite in-season berry
• Almonds- add a nutty flavor and crunch to the salad; swap for pecans, sunflower seeds or macadamia nuts
• Sourdough bread- to be sauteed to make soft 'croutons'; swap for your favorite crusty bread
• Chicken- adds some protein to this salad and makes it a complete meal; swap for boneless skinless chicken thighs or a can of chickpeas

What is Panzanella?

Panzanella is a traditional Tuscan bread salad that consists of stale soaked bread, tomatoes, and onions though many chefs will put their own spin on it, adding additional ingredients (1).

Typically the bread is not toasted, rather soaked overnight, either in water, oil, or tomatoes. Many North American interpretations of Panzanella do toast the bread, as they are often serving it immediately (2).

This raspberry spinach Panzanella salad is a very loose adaptation of a Panzanella and is by no means traditional. We are swapping the tomatoes for berries and adding in other non-traditional ingredients such as feta cheese, spinach, chicken, and almonds.

Recipe Tips

Start with the chicken

To get this Panzanella salad ready in under 30 minutes, you must get the chicken cooking ASAP. Heat the oven to 425°F and toss the chicken in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, then bake for 25 minutes.

The vinaigrette

Sweet, tangy, and completely oil-free, this raspberry basil vinaigrette is one of my favorites. Make sure you pick sweet, ripe raspberries for the dressing, and if you find that your raspberries are not sweet, increase the maple syrup until you get the sweetness that you need.

You will need either a stand or immersion blender. Combine the ingredients and blend until smooth.

The bread

While traditional Panzanella involves spending up to 24 hours preparing the bread, we are going to take a shortcut and make it right now. To prepare the bread, cut or tear into 1-inch cubes. Toss in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and cook in a frying pan for 5 or so minutes. You want it to be golden and slightly crispy.

The salad

This is a meal-sized salad, so the portions are large! Place 2 cups of spinach in large bowls or bowl plates. Top with red onion, feta cheese, fresh raspberries, sliced almonds, toasted bread cubes, fresh basil leaves, and cooked and cooled chicken. Drizzle with the dressing and enjoy!

Variations

• Classic- for a more traditional Panzanella, swap the berries for tomatoes, omit the feta and almonds and use a red wine vinaigrette
• BLT- swap the chicken for bacon (see how to cook bacon in the oven); swap berries for tomatoes, swap feta for mozzarella, omit almonds, add lettuce and use a red wine vinaigrette
• Greek- add in tomatoes, cucumber, olives, bell peppers, feta cheese and drizzle in a classic greek salad dressing

Meal Prep + Storage

Unfortunately, raspberry spinach Panzanella salad does not keep well and should not be assembled until just before serving. If you want to get a head start on dinner, here are two options for you:

• Chicken- cook the chicken up to 4 days ahead and store it in an airtight container in the fridge
• Dressing- blend up to 1 week ahead, the flavor is the best when served within 24 hours, but it's still good after 1 week

More delicious salad recipe to try

• Healthy Taco Salad
• Orzo Pasta Salad with Mint + Feta
• 10 Minute Crunchy Rainbow Thai Salad
• Black Bean and Corn Salad
• Kale Caesar Salad with Garlic Chickpeas

Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!

Raspberry Spinach Panzanella Recipe with Chicken

5 from 1 vote

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 30 minutes mins

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This raspberry spinach Panzanella salad contains sourdough bread, almonds, chicken, and raspberries. Drizzled in a creamy raspberry basil vinaigrette, it is ready in under 30 minutes!

4

Ingredients

Balsamic Chicken

• ▢ 1 lb chicken breasts boneless skinless
• ▢ 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ salt and pepper

Fried bread

• ▢ 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 4 cups sourdough bread cut into 1-inch cubes
• ▢ salt and pepper

Salad

• ▢ 8 cups spinach
• ▢ ¼ cup red onion sliced
• ▢ ½ cup feta cheese crumbled
• ▢ 2 cups raspberries fresh
• ▢ ¼ cup almonds sliced
• ▢ ⅓ cup basil leaves loosely packed
• ▢ 1 batch of raspberry basil vinaigrette

Instructions 

Chicken

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Line a baking dish with foil. Place the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and chicken in the dish, turning to coat the chicken. Season with salt and pepper.
• Bake the chicken for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes (for small chicken breasts) or 15 minutes (for larger chicken breasts).
• Allow chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing into strips.

Bread

• Heat olive oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat.
• Toss the bread to coat in the olive oil, adding more as needed. You want a light coating.
• Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat (stirring occasionally) for 5 minutes or until golden and slightly crunchy.

Salad

• Toss the spinach, red onion, feta cheese, raspberries, almonds, basil, fried bread and chicken breast with raspberry basil vinaigrette.
• Enjoy immediately.

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Tips:

Nutritional Information does not include dressing

 

Storage

This salad does not keep well and should be served immediately after dressing.

 

Prep ahead

Get a head start by preparing these components ahead:

• chicken- cook, then cool and refrigerate for up to 4 days
• vinaigrette- best enjoyed within 24 hours but can keep for up to 1 week in the fridge

Variations

• Classic– for a more traditional Panzanella, swap the berries for tomatoes, omit the feta and almonds and use a red wine vinaigrette
• BLT- swap the chicken for bacon, swap berries for tomatoes, swap feta for mozzarella, omit almonds, add lettuce and use a red wine vinaigrette
• Greek- add in tomatoes, cucumber, olives, bell peppers, feta cheese and drizzle in a classic greek salad dressing

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1/4 batch, Calories: 363kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 52mg, Sodium: 402mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 4g

Author: Denise Bustard

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

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