Homemade Bruschetta

This is a really simple homemade bruschetta recipe for a tasty starter that all your guests will enjoy. (Hints on how to adjust the recipe to your taste at the end!)

Bruschetta is usually served as an antipasto (appetizer or starter), or as an easy finger food option. However, it’s also perfect if you’re looking for a light, healthy meal – just prepare a little extra, and/ or use larger slices of bread.

Bruschetta Ingredients

The ingredients for homemade bruschetta are fairly simple. Most made of tomatoes, bread and olive oil, you will not need too many ingredients to make this tasty dish.

• 3 tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 loaf continental bread, thickly sliced
  • You can use any kind of bread you like, be it sourdough, baguette – anything you can toast or grill with the garlic on top.
• ½ small white or purple onion (optional), finely chopped
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garlic very finely chopped or crushed
• 2 teaspoons basil finely chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• extra basil leaves to garnish

My bruschetta recipe is really flexible when it comes to variations, so consider this list of ingredients as a starting point and check out the options below.

These ingredients will make both vegetarian bruschetta and vegan bruschetta. However, if you choose to add cheese topping it will still be vegetarian, but no longer vegan. But as is, it will be both.

Homemade bruschetta pairs perfectly with another appetizer to make a main meal, my kids love my Mexican dip made with avocados and then say dinner is complete. It is a quick, easy, and tasty combination that your family or guests will love. If you have prosciutto available make my prosciutto bruschetta for it’s amazing texture and taste.

Bruschetta is basically slices of toasted bread, spread with olive oil, and heaped with chopped tomatoes and garlic. You can vary the recipe, depending on your tastes, of course, but bruschetta always uses tomatoes. However, you can add in onion, olives, pepper (capsicum), basil, chili, cilantro (coriander), or corn.

In the photograph above, you can see how finely I’ve chopped the basil, tomato, and garlic. You can choose to crush the garlic with a garlic press, if you have one.

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 355 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
• Lay the slices (approximately 8) of continental loaf, or other bread you are using, on a baking tray.
• Mix the olive oil with the garlic, salt & pepper.
• Brush the olive oil and garlic mixture over the slices of bread.
  • This is the secret to my recipe, roasting the garlic on top of the bread.
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Keep an eye on it, the time depends a lot on your oven, you want the bread to go to a nice golden brown, but not burnt and black!
• While bread is baking, mix chopped tomatoes with finely chopped basil leaves and onion.
• Remove garlicky bread from oven and scoop a large spoonful of the tomato, basil, and onion mixture onto each slice.
• Garnish with a basil leaf.
• Serve immediately (so that the tomato juices don’t start to soften the bread).

In the picture below, you can see the garlic and oil soaked into the bread while the bread was in the oven. Yum!

Brush each slice of bread with olive oil, garlic, and salt & pepper before toasting in the oven. Those few minutes of roasting the garlic on the bread really bring out the flavor in the garlic.

In Italy, bruschetta is traditionally grilled on a brustolina – a square sheet of metal with holes in it. The metal sheet sits over a gas burner on the stove, and the bread rests on top. Heat from the stove is distributed evenly across the brustolina, resulting in perfect toast. (However, I have only ever prepared bruschetta in my regular oven and it’s absolutely fine!)

The Italian word “bruschetta” comes from a combination of “bruscare” and “abbrustolire”, both of which mean “toasting’. In the Tuscany region,  bruschetta is called fettunta (“slice in oil”).

So quick and easy! I find myself whipping up a batch of bruschetta just before the kids get home from school. They love it, and I love knowing they’re getting an extra serve of vegetables.

Variations

Earlier I said that you can vary this homemade bruschetta recipe according to your own tastes. Also according to what’s in season, and what’s in your refrigerator/ pantry. You know that I always love to give you options! Here are some of my favorite variations:

• Add in finely diced pepper (capsicum). I use red pepper (capsicum) because it’s slightly sweeter, but you could use orange or yellow. I find green pepper to be too strong and over-powering.
• Include corn kernels in the tomato and onion mixture. It’s an easy way to increase the vegetable content.
• Use finely chopped spring onions instead of the white onion.
• Sprinkle roughly chopped chives on top of the tomato mixture.
• I love cilantro (coriander) so use it instead of basil.
• Mix some very finely chopped chili into the tomato mixture to give the bruschetta some spice.
• Roughly chopped black or green olives and add them into the tomato mixture.
• Turn this into a pesto bruschetta with my amazing pesto sauce

As you can probably guess, I often ask my family and friends to taste test my recipes and give me their feedback. This way, I can make any necessary adjustments to my recipes, and I can present you with the very best version of each recipe. My bruschetta recipe is no different – it’s been tried and taste tested, and I’m happy to report that everyone loves this version!

Until next time…
Love & tasty Italian flavors, Bella X