Bruschetta made with fresh tomatoes, basil, and olive oil is the ultimate bright and yummy appetizer. Everyone will want the recipe!
Bruschetta historically refers to a toasted Italian bread drenched in olive oil and served with garlic or tomatoes, but these days most folks are referring to just the topping when they talk about bruschetta. I mean, bread is great and all, but bright red tomatoes? Fresh basil? Balsamic vinegar? These are the things that make our hearts sing.
I love to serve this as an easy appetizer before our lazy lasagna, on top of crispy chicken thighs, or as bruschetta fish.
Bruschetta
Bruschetta Tomatoes Recipe
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Bruschetta ingredients
- Tomato – I adore sweet cherry tomatoes for this recipe, but roma or vine ripened work as well. Just make sure they are nice and ripe.
- Basil – Normally I am a fan of dried or pre-packaged herbs as a way to make a recipe easier, but in this case I’m going to ask you to definitely use fresh basil. If you don’t have a basil plant you can generally find fresh basil leaves in the produce section of your market.
- Olive oil – If you love the flavor of olive oil, then go for something bold, but if you don’t or you’re not sure, then start with a light olive oil. Whatever you do, don’t sub with a different type of oil though!
- Balsamic vinegar – Oh, I think I would be happy to put balsamic vinegar on just about everything. This is the acid that will brighten up all the ingredients and bring them together. Yum, yum!
- Garlic salt – You can use plain salt and fresh garlic cloves if you like, but I find garlic salt works fine and then you don’t have to worry about that zing if you bite into a bit of raw (spicy!) garlic.
- optional: red onion – a bit of shaved or minced red onion goes beautifully with this recipe!
How Do You Make Bruschetta?
Bruschetta is made by starting with your choice of bread sliced, then toasted – sometimes rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Top with a mixture of tomato, basil, olive oil, garlic, and vinegar. Bruschetta is basically the Italian equivalent of pico de gallo (see also: fresh delicious goodness that tastes great on everything) and I like to serve it as an alternative to marinara sometimes. It’s just so summery and full of yesssssss.
What Kind of Bread is Used for Bruschetta?
Bruschetta typically uses Italian bread, toasted baguette or rustic bread. French bread baked into a baguette would work, and it would even be delicious on an artisan style beer bread. If you wanted to be unique you could even put it on top of a fresh baked pizza dough. Mmmm.
Serving Suggestions
Bruschetta tomatoes are delicious on toasted bread, like our easy French bread, or beer bread, but also try them on proteins!
- Plain Baked Chicken
- Oven Roasted Pork Chops
- Salmon in the Oven
- Simple Poached Eggs
- Broiled Flank Steak
More Italian Inspired Recipes
Bruschetta Making Tools
- Santuko knife – My favorite knife for cutting vegetables! This knife is the perfect size and shape, handles great, and is super reasonably priced. Also, I just love that it’s fun and colorful!
- End grain cutting board – This is my absolute favorite cutting board and the one that I get the most compliments on. And p.s. I have a lot of cutting boards. It really is absolutely stunning, and knows how to take a beating. We use it every single day!
- Garlic press – Need fresh minced or sliced garlic, but don’t want to peel or chop your garlic? This garlic press is the bessssssst. We’ve had ours for as long as I can remember (maybe a wedding present?), and I use it several times a week!
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How to Make Bruschetta
Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 2 cups Tomato (about 2 medium sized tomatoes) small chopped (I'm partial to cherry tomatoes, but use what you like!)
- 2 tablespoons Fresh basil small chopped
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic salt
Instructions
- Add tomatoes and basil to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with garlic salt.
- Taste and adjust proportions as needed.
- Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Bruschetta Tomatoes Recipe
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Try serving this on baked chicken with a side of roasted red potatoes!
This recipe was originally developed for FarmRich 6.27.15. Mama Loves Food was compensated for the associated time and work. All opinions and recipes are mine alone.
Jenn L says
Loved the suggestion to try it on top of pizza dough – such a tasty and versatile recipe!
Alyssa says
Something simple but delicious – I love your tip about using garlic salt. I’ve always been a risk-taker with the plain salt and garlic cloves. Gotta try it with garlic salt next time!
Lilla says
Thanks for the terrific post
Monika says
i love bruscettas as it is my daily snack, this recipe will surely help me enhance the flavor the next time i make which is going to be tonight!