Watermelon Panzanella Salad (Gluten Free)

This Watermelon Panzanella salad is the perfect easy, fresh summer salad recipe! It uses just a handful of fresh, easy to access ingredients for an incredibly impressive dish. Highly customizable to any taste or dietary needs by making a few simple swaps detailed in this post.

Whether you’re hosting a summer brunch, an outdoor cocktail party, or you just plain want something different and delicious to nosh on, you’re going to absolutely love this Watermelon Panzanella Salad. It's the perfect way to use up day old sourdough and get your daily dose of fruits and veggies all at once!

If you love summery salads as much as I do, you might also want to try this Grilled Panzanella Salad or this refreshing Strawberry Cucumber Salad.

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Why You'll Love This Recipe

• It is healthy. This watermelon panzanella includes both fruits and veggies with a light dressing, so it is the perfect healthy salad option.
• It is highly customizable. You can easily add or omit ingredients in this recipe to customize it to your personal tastes or dietary needs.
• It is impressive. Bursting with summery flavors and beautiful to look at, it doesn't get much better than this!

Ingredient Notes & Tested Substitutions

• Sourdough – I prefer to use sourdough bread because it is naturally gluten free and also just plain delicious, but you can use whatever type of bread you like. Day old bread or stale bread works best, but if you only have fresh bread available, toast it up before tossing it in the salad.
• Watermelon - Watermelon is the cornerstone of this salad, however if you are following the beginning stages of a low FODMAP diet, you will want to omit it for now.
• Cantaloupe
• Heirloom Tomato
• Cucumber
• Fresh Basil
• Fresh Mint
• Fresh Lime Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Black Pepper

Optional Ingredients & Add Ins

• Feta Cheese
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Salt
• Chili Lime Seasoning

Watermelon Panzanella Step By Step Instructions

1. Mix fruits & veggies. Add cubed melon and chopped cucumber + tomato to a large mixing bowl, tossing with salad tongs or spoons to combine.

2. Add mix-ins. Toss in cubed sourdough as well as roughly chopped or torn fresh herbs. If you are using feta or mozzarella cheese, you may add those ingredients in now as well, tossing once again to combine.

3. Dress the salad. Add in fresh squeezed lime juice, extra virgin olive oil and black pepper to the mixing bowl and toss one last time to combine.

Watermelon Panzanella FAQs

What kind of watermelon should I use?

I prefer to use the smaller seedless watermelons if you can find them. If you'd like to make things super easy on yourself, purchase pre-cut watermelon from the grocery store to save yourself time!

Is watermelon low FODMAP friendly?

Watermelon is not very low FODMAP friendly, in fact only 1.5 tablespoon is considered to be low FODMAP which is not very much at all. If you are currently following a low FODMAP diet in the beginning stages, I would recommend omitting this ingredient. You can still enjoy this melon panzanella without it!

Can I prepare this watermelon panzanella ahead of time?

If you need to prepare this salad ahead of time, I suggest prepping each of your ingredients and storing them separately for optimal freshness. You can store the watermelon and cantaloupe together, but I recommend not combining any of the other ingredients until just before serving.

How do I store watermelon panzanella?

Storing this salad is not ideal and it's best to consume the entire salad the day you make it. If you do need to store this salad, do so in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2 days but be sure to remove any of the sourdough bits as they will become soggy.

If You Liked This Recipe You Might Also Enjoy:

• Watermelon Rum Refresher
• Grilled Panzanella Salad
• Strawberry Toast with Basil + Balsamic
• Cucumber Strawberry Salad

Did you have a chance to make this recipe? If so, please leave me a rating and review below. I always love and appreciate hearing from you!