Grinder Panzanella

Whether you’re on Tiktok or not; you’ve surely seen, heard of, and probably even had this internet famous sandwich. It’s basically an Italian cold cut that’s been lightly toasted, and it’s stuffed with this unbelievable iceberg lettuce mixture that’s loaded up with mayo, vinegar, banana peppers, and lots of other savory/tangy things. It’s really the grinder salad that makes the sandwich. So today, we’re taking the salad/sammie concept and flipping it into an easy to share panzanella salad. And let me tell you, it’s as amazing as the original!

So, let’s get to it!

A panzanella is simply just a bread salad. Think of a salad where the croutons are the star, and the veggies are the supporting actors. It’s basically everyone’s dream come true! Bread choice is important here. You want to choose a bread that can stand up to some of the wetter ingredients we’re going to toss with it, but you don’t want something that’s going to get too hard or tough when we dry it out. So for this sandwich, we’re going with a classic baguette.

Panzanella is typically made with stale bread, but we can help that process along by lightly toasting the bread in the oven. So, we’re going to cut the baguette into roughly one inch cubes. We’ll toss it with a drizzle of olive oil. And, we’ll pop it in the oven for a couple minutes until it’s lightly golden on the outside but still has a little bit of chew on the inside. From there, we’ll set it aside to let it cool a bit. And in the meantime, we can get working on our salad dressing.

Now in pretty much every video I watched about this salad, the instructions were the same when it came to the dressing for the grinder salad: measure with your heart. But lucky for you guys, I quantified the measurements my heart provided so that you don’t have to! We’re making the dressing pretty much the exact same way as the original sandwich. So, we need some mayo, some red wine vinegar, some grated garlic, a little dried oregano, and some red pepper flakes to start off our dressing. Then, we’re going to add some minced red onion and some minced banana peppers to the party. In the original, the onion and peppers were just a mix in with the lettuce. But, they work better in this salad when they’re chopped up into the dressing.

Once our bread has cooled down a bit, we can add in the rest of our salad components. Now, the original sandwich was loaded with Italian deli meats, cheese, and tomatoes, So, we’re going for the same vibe. We’ll chop up some grape tomatoes, slice some mini salami, and shred some mozzarella to add to our bowl. Now this might be a little controversial, but we’re also going to add shredded romaine lettuce to this salad. In the original sandwich, it was very clear that the lettuce had to be iceberg. But, it’s just a little too wet for this salad. Sorry, iceberg! But, once you shred the romaine finely enough, you’ll barely notice the difference.

The last thing to do is to pour over that dressing, add some freshly shredded parmesan cheese, and give it all a good mix. That’s it! From there, we dig in.

This salad is as epic as the sandwich that inspired it if you ask me. All of the flavors are there, it’s a little less messy to eat, and it’s great for sharing with a crowd. The dressing is creamy, tangy, and a little spicy. The tomatoes add the perfect hit of acidity. The bread keeps its crunch while still absorbing all that glorious dressing. Talk about a home run!

Alright, everyone. What’s been your favorite viral recipe trend floating around? What should we remix next?

I hope you enjoy! And, let’s eat!