Caprese Bruschetta (Bruschetta Caprese) is a quick and easy recipe! Perfect as an appetizer, for brunch or a light lunch this easy recipe takes minimal effort to make. Using fresh, juicy tomatoes, zesty basil and creamy mozzarella. For best tasting results drizzle some balsamic glaze over the tomato mozzarella bruschetta just before serving.
Recipes like my Baked Feta With Honey, Cold Stuffed Tomatoes and Caprese Pesto Pasta Salad deliver fuss free light meals that don't take hours to prepare!
The Zucchini And Carrot Fritters, Bacon And Corn Fritters and Ham Fritters also offer light options that work across most meals throughout the day.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have highlighted everything you will come to know and love ❤ about the easy caprese bruschetta recipe in the points below (they are many great things to enjoy!):
- Simple ingredients: you will be able to get all of the ingredients you need to make this bruschetta recipe from your local grocery store. They are each year round available ingredients that will be easy to get your hands on.
- Budget friendly: this is a cost effective bread and salad style recipe that won't break the bank. It is a great recipe to meal prep on the weekends so that you only need to throw a few ingredients together and get a meal on the table 😉👍.
- Kid friendly: everyone of all ages will enjoy this bruschetta. There is no flavors that are overly strong or too intense so the whole family can enjoy the meal sitting around the table together.
- Freezer friendly: if you like to be organised in advance, you can purchase the bread and store it in the freezer until a time comes when you want to use it. None of the fresh ingredients however, can be frozen as they are each a little fragile!
- Versatile: there is not a meal in the day that this caprese bruschetta won't work for. It is perfect across occasions. Try it for the easiest appetizer ever, a healthy breakfast, a weekend brunch, light meal after a hectic day or dinner when you want it to be a minimal effort night.
🥗 Ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are simple and easy to find at the local shops. They are set out in the photo below so you can see exactly what you need. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific measurements and detailed instructions.
As you can see, the recipe calls for:
- Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little bit of black pepper to season the tomato mixture.
- Pesto: to keep things super easy store bought basil pesto is fine to use for this recipe. It then only needs to be spread on the bread, allowing for the full pesto taste and texture, without making it from scratch.
- Olive oil: adds an aromatic and fragrant touch to the Italian Caprese. We use it drizzled over the basil and tomato mixture.
- Balsamic glaze: is the perfect drizzle for our tomato mozzarella and basil bruschetta as it ties all of the other ingredients together. This glaze has a thick syrup like texture and it is different to balsamic vinegar.
- Mozzarella: you will likely find this cheese called bocconcini in small ball form in a tub with brine. It has a very mild taste and helps form the perfect combination of flavours needed for our bruschetta appetizer. We drain it but there is no need to rinse it.
- Cherry tomatoes: we use these both for flavour and texture. They add a great pop of red and contrast really well with the fresh basil, creating a visually appealing dish as well as one with a great depth of flavour.
- Basil leaves: fresh basil leaves have a lovely aroma to them and are delicious to use in many recipes. A must have ingredient for Italian bruschetta! We trim the leaves from the stems and roughly chop them (the leaves only) using kitchen scissors.
- Rye bread: rye bread is what I usually use when making this recipe. But you have plenty of options available to you. For best results a robust crusty bread that toasts well is a good choice. You can also use your favorite type of bread or make mini caprese crostini toasts for a spin on the larger slices of bread.
Top Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the easy caprese bruschetta. We start by preparing the bread then making the caprese topping.
- Slice the bread (Photo 1)
- Lay the slices on a large baking sheet (Photo 2)
- Spray the bread with cooking oil (Photo 3)
- Add the basil to a mixing bowl and roughly chop (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Caprese Bruschetta
Start the recipe by slicing your bread loaf into individual slices. Then lay these onto a silicon mat on a baking tray and give them a spray with cooking oil.
Next add the basil leaves to a medium sized mixing bowl and then use kitchen scissors to roughly chop. You can see this being done in the photos above.
- Slice the tomatoes (Photo 5)
- Add the sliced tomatoes to the chopped basil (Photo 6)
- Add the bocconcini to the basil tomato mix (Photo 7)
- Season the tomato salad with salt and pepper (Photo 8)
🍅 Tomato Mozzarella Bruschetta
Next use a knife and chopping board to slice the tomatoes in half and then add them to the chopped basil.
Then use the same knife and chopping board to slice the mozzarella balls in half, add these to the tomato mixture and then season the ingredients with salt and pepper.
Whilst Insalata Caprese with balsamic vinegar might sound super fancy you can see by the photos above and below that it is simple to make as the flavours come to life!
- Oven bake the bread till toasted (Photo 9)
- Spread a layer of pesto on each slice of toasted bread (Photo 10)
- Drizzle the salad with the oil (Photo 11)
- Stir to combine (Photo 12)
Next place the baking tray with the bread slices into the oven on the middle shelf and toast bread till it feels firm and the crusts a little bit crispy.
Once done, use oven mitts to remove the baking tray from the oven and place it onto a heatproof surface.
Then use a butter knife to spread a layer of the basil pesto onto each slice of toasted bread.
Next add the drizzle of olive oil to the basil mixture and use a spoon to gently stir and combine.
Once done we spoon the caprese mixture onto the toasted bread and then drizzle the slices with balsamic glaze.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
The bruschetta will be ready to serve straight away and goes down very nicely with a drizzle of balsamic glaze. You can see what it will look like in the photo below and throughout the post.
If you are not looking to serve your bruschetta straight away, hold off on adding the oil, topping the bruschetta and drizzling with balsamic glaze until you are (this will keep it from going soggy 🥰👍😉 !).
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
You can make the tomato cheese mixture for the salad and cover it with plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container then refrigerate it. It is best, however, to hold off adding liquids (oil) to it if you want to make some of the recipe in advance.
The bruschetta is not suitable for freezing or reheating. However, as I mentioned earlier, you can purchase the bread and store it in the freezer until you are ready to use it if you wish to.
😉 Substitutions And Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- You can use a wide variety of bread types for this recipe. Be it sourdough, wholemeal, multigrain, French baguette or your favorite bread. A thick, robust sliced bread that toasts well is the best choice.
- You can use sun-dried tomato pesto in place of the basil pesto if you wish too.
- Grape tomatoes (vibrant orange or red colour) can be mixed in or used in place of the cherry tomatoes. You can also use a combination of tomatoes with roma tomatoes and garden tomatoes if you wish to.
- You can use balsamic vinegar to drizzle if you wish too. It will come out of the bottle a lot more quickly and we only need to use a small amount of it 😉👌.
- If you are keen on the idea of this yet not wanting a bread pairing you might like to try the Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad.
💡 Tasty Tips
These are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you to help you master this recipe from the 1st time you make it:
- A chopping board and sharp knife will come in handy for the steps throughout the post.
- Kitchen scissors are the way to go for chopping the herbs. I start by using the scissors remove the stems from the leaves (discard the stems) add the leaves to the glass and then chopping them roughly with the scissors.
- You can flip and toast both sides of the bread if you wish (extra effort and not necessary but you can 😉👌!)
- You can make the salad mixture ahead of time (no oil yet thought), and keep it in the fridge ready to top the bread when family and friends arrive!
- Hold off drizzling the balsamic glaze until moments before serving the bruschetta.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What is an easy to prepare and inexpensive Italian recipe to make at home?
Mozzarella and tomato bruschetta is a great starting place for Italian style cooking in your kitchen!
What should you serve with a Caprese salad?
A Caprese salad pairs with roast chicken, salmon and grilled or roasted meat like lamb or beef.
What are some bruschetta topping ideas?
Here are 11 easy ideas for flavorful bruschetta toppings:
- pesto
- strawberries
- tomatoes
- red onion
- garlic
- mushroom
- fresh herbs
- roasted tomatoes
- zucchini
- cucumber
- ricotta
😍 More Light and Easy Recipes
If entertaining, brunching and having lunch are your favourite things, then here are some more ideas to try:
- Prawn Pizza
- Pumpkin Frittata
- Spinach and Feta Pizza
- Chilli Tomato Jam
- Polenta Al Forno
- Haloumi Wrap
- Gluten Free Zucchini Slice
- Bacon and Egg Slice
- Zucchini Frittata
It is time to get our bruschetta on my friends. You can also find all of my lunch recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Caprese Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 6 slices rye sourdough Note 1
- ½ bunch basil leaves leaves only, stems removed, roughly chopped
- 250/ 8 oz cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 250 grams/ 8 oz bocconcini drained, not rinsed, sliced in half
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup basil pesto Note 2
To serve:
- balsamic glaze Note 3
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5
- Bread slices: use a knife to slice your bread into even pieces, then lay the slices flat onto a lined baking tray. Spray them with cooking oil and then oven bake for 5 minutes until the bread is nicely toasted.
- Tomato mixture: add the basil leaves to a medium sized mixing bowl and use kitchen scissors to roughly chop. Then slice both the cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls in half and add them to the chopped basil. Season with salt and black pepper then use a spoon to stir and gently combine.
- Pesto and salad: use a butter knife to spread a layer of basil pesto onto each toasted bread slice. Then use a spoon to scoop the caprese salad over the top of the pesto.
- To serve: drizzle the balsamic glaze over each piece of bruschetta and serve.
Notes
- Note 1 Bread: thickly sliced rye bread is my favorite type of bread to use when I am making bruschetta. You can however, use your favorite. A robust bread that holds its own when being toasted is best. Some options are sourdough, rye, white, wholegrain, a baguette, or turkish bread. Almost all bread types will work. The freshly baked loaves from the instore or local bakery are generally better quality than your average sliced loaf of bread from the bread aisle.
- Note 2 Basil pesto: I use the dip version of the basil pesto. You will find it in the fridge section of the store with the other dips. It has a lot more flavor and texture to jarred pesto from the pasta aisle.
- Note 3 Balsamic glaze: this is a thicker textured product than regular balsamic vinegar. It will, however, be in roughly the same area at the shops (in a squeezy bottle). It is perfect to drizzle over salads and bruschetta like this. Wait till just before serving to use.
Nutrition
Published June 2021, updated October with more tasty tips for you 🥰👍.
Christian Guzman says
I needed to harvest the rest of the basil right before a cold snap and this was the perfect recipe! It tasted wonderful and I can't wait to make it again.
Katherine says
This is just the BEST. I love all the fresh flavors.