Salads
Roasted Vegetable Panzanella Salad
Prep
20 minutes
Cook
40 minutes
Yield
4 -5
What flavours do you think of when you think of fall? For me, I think of comfort food like grains, root vegetables, and flavours of herbs like thyme or rosemary. Yum! Fall flavours are some of my fav and can really warm you up when you need a boost in the colder months. This Panzanella salad recipe is an easy vegan meal that I promise you’ll love this fall.
For this recipe, I used Silver Hills Sprouted Power Organic Multigrain Bread. I know what you’re thinking, I thought this was a salad recipe? Yep! You got that right. Panzanella salad is actually a Tuscan chopped salad of soaked bread, onions, and tomatoes traditionally. However, I made my own twist on this Italian specialty by making it rich with the fall flavours of sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, onions, and thyme.
This Panzanella salad is incredibly fragrant, delicious, and made with roasted veggies, crunchy bread, and vegan mozzarella cheese. It’s incredibly easy to make as you can just whip it up, pop it in the oven, and make up the salad dressing in a jar. It’s mess(ish) free and really quick and easy once you’re done prepping and cutting all the vegetables.
Silver Hills Sprouted Power
With 11 grams of whole grains per slice, this bread is made with certified organic ingredients, with a blend of organic oats, rye, barley, millet, and quinoa. I always trust Silver Hills products because they are Canadian and use organic ingredients that can make me feel good about what I’m digesting.
A little about them, Silver Hills began making sprouted bread about 30 years ago for a local health and wellness center and since then they’ve been making their own products made with sprouted grains. They are committed to making the best tasting, most nourishing, plant-powered products possible, which are my three requirements for any product I purchase! All of their products are made with nutrient-rich, high-fibre whole grains sprouted in clean, cold Canadian water. Each ingredient is also guaranteed to be non-GMO.
Sprouted bread like the one I used in this recipe allow for more absorbable, digestible nutrients, and fibre. It sounds weird, but if you can, wait to make this recipe when your bread has gone a little bit stale, or use up your stale bread to make this Panzanella salad. It’s a great way to use up bread that’s going bad and the stale bread is actually what makes this recipe so traditional and special. That’s the way the Italians would make it.
This recipe is traditional, but as I’ve said, I’ve made some adjustments to really create something simple, vegan, and delicious. Make it up for meal prep and keep the dressing on the side, and you’ll have a dish that’s packed with nutrients from both the root vegetables and sprouted bread.
Enjoy this Panzanella salad with more green salad, or enjoy it as a side with your favourite protein!
Looking for more fall inspiration? Here are some of my fav recipes lately:
Roasted Vegetable Panzanella Salad
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 6 pieces Silver Hills bread cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt + pepper as desired
- 2 tbsp. fresh thyme
For the roasted vegetables:
- 1 large carrot cut into cubes or bite-sized chunks
- half a large sweet potato cut into cubes
- 1 large white onion cut into cubes or bite-sized chunks
- 1 acorn squash cut into 1-inch width-sized pieces then into quarters
- 2 medium-sized parsnips cut into cubes or bite-sized chucks
- 4 tbsp. fresh thyme
- season to taste
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- juice of one lemon
For the dressing:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- season to taste
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp dry oregano
- 1 tsp basil
Toppings:
- vegan mozzarella
- handful fresh basil rough chop
- handful fresh mint or parsley rough chop
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Arrange bread onto 1 baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, seasoning and thyme. Lightly toss with hands and bake for around 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, place into bowl and set aside to cool.
- Into a large mixing bowl combine all your veggies, oil, seasoning, spice and lemon. Stir till well combined and arrange onto the baking sheets. Cook till carrots and parsnips are fork-tender, this may take up to 45 minutes.
- While your veggies cook, prepare your fresh herbs and dressing. For the dressing, simply add all your ingredients into a jar and shake to combine. I suggest doubling the recipe.
- Remove vegetables from oven and cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- For serving, combine and gently toss your bread, veggies, mozzarella, fresh herbs and dressing. Serve on it's own or with your favourite pasta dish.
