Name: Easy Panzanella Salad for Camping
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Main Course
Ingredients: 4 cups stale french bread, cut into cubes; 1 Tablespoon olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 large tomato, chopped, or 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes; 1 cucumber, chopped; 1 yellow,green, or orange sweet pepper, chopped; 1/2 red onion, diced; 3 oz. fresh mozzarella or feta cheese, cubed; For the vinaigrette; 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Jump to Recipe

This incredibly easy camping salad is perfect for high summer when you’ll find an abundance of veggies at your local market.

It’s a one-pot meal that can even be adapted to require zero cooking when you get to camp. It’s also an excellent recipe for using up the rest of the stale bread in your pantry.

a plate of panzanella salad for camping. — Panzanella is my favorite salad for camping.

Fresh tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and red onion are combined with crunchy sauteed bread and a tangy dressing to provide the perfect summer camping salad. Throw some sausages on your grill and crack open a beer. You’ve got the perfect summer camping meal!

The bread is the only thing you need to cook for this Panzanella. Saute it over medium-low heat in a camping pan — over a fire or your camp stove.

Everything else just needs to be chopped and added to a bowl. It’s easy enough for kids with some knife skills to tackle on their own.

Why We Love This Easy Camping Salad

A photo showing a pan of sauteed bread cubes being poured into a plate of veggies for a panzanella salad.

This bread salad is so easy to make it practically makes itself. It’s a one-pot camping meal that is packed with fresh veggies. Here are a few more reasons to love this Panzanella:

It all comes together super quick. Even if you have to cook the bread cubes, you can have this on the table in less than 20 minutes.
The veggies that you need are sturdy and can live outside the cooler for a few days.
Have extra? Save it for the next day’s lunch. The flavors will meld overnight, and the bread will soften, but it will still be delicious!

Special Equipment for this Recipe

A cutting board and knife with a green pepper on it. Next to the board is a plate of panzanella camping salad and a red onion.

You don’t need much to create this easy camping salad. Here are the essentials:

A cutting board and a sharp knife. Worth its weight in gold, we use this campfire cutting set from Primus. We bring it with us on picnics and day trips and wouldn’t go camping without it. The chef’s knife is incredibly sharp, even after four years, and the board is a light bamboo that’s easy to clean. It all wraps up in its own carrying case, making it very portable for picnics.
A small fry pan. We use this 12-inch camping skillet from MSR. The handle is removable and the pan is durable and easy to clean. It’s also great for camping pancakes!
A 2-burner camp stove. You can certainly make this over a campfire, but we wouldn’t go camping without our trusty Coleman stove.

Read More: Your Amazing Car-Camping Kitchen

Easy Panzanella Salad for Camping

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

This panzanella recipe is the perfect low-cook salad recipe for a busy day. It's perfect during late summer wh yenou can easily score fresh veggies from your local famers' market.

Ingredients

4 cups stale french bread, cut into cubes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large tomato, chopped, or 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber, chopped
1 yellow,green, or orange sweet pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
3 oz. fresh mozzarella or feta cheese, cubed
For the vinaigrette
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

At home:

Add the vinaigrette ingredients to a jar. This doesn't have to be refrigerated.

At camp:

1. Heat 1 tablespoons of oil over medium-low heat on a camp stove or over a fire. Add cubes of bread and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring periodically, until the bread is nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

2. Chop the tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, and red onion and add to a large bowl.

3. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add the bread cubes to the bowl of veggies.

5. Shake the vinaigrette and pour it over your salad and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

6. Stir everything until it is well combined.

7. Serve immediately, or allow the salad to sit at room temperature for about half an hour while you grill some sausages. This will let the flavors blend a bit.

Notes

If you want a 100% no-cook camping meal, you can saute the bread cubes at home and store them in an airtight bag. When you get to camp, you just have to chop your veggies and mix everything together.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 388Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 714mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 10g

*Nutrition is an estimate based on information provided by a third-party nutrition calculator.

More Easy Camping Recipes

These are the recipes that we make again and again. Give them a try, and let us know what you think!

A photo of panzanella, an easy camping salad. Text overlay: Easy camping salad - High Summer Panzanella. Vegetarian, family-friendly, one-pot meal.

Tara Schatz is a freelance writer and travel blogger with a passion for outdoor adventures. She is the co-author of AMC’s Best Day Hikes in Vermont and currently blogs at Back Road Ramblers and Vermont Explored, where she shares travel tips, adventure destinations, and vacation ideas for the wanderer in everyone.