White Bean Avocado Panzanella Salad
4 from 3 votes

This white bean avocado panzanella puts a light, creamy spin on the classic bread salad. It’s made with a delicious avocado basil dressing and features crisp lettuces and radishes. The panzanella also includes nutritious white beans, which lend plant protein to the dish.

An overhead image of a white bowl, which is filled with lettuces, white beans, radishes, avocado, and a creamy green dressing.

This white bean avocado panzanella salad is so non-traditionally panzanella that I’ve questioned whether to call it by that name.

Yet it’s undeniably a bread salad. A creamy, avocado-based dressing soaks the bread just enough to soften it, but not enough to take away from its crispy, toasted edges.

When I first made this salad, I thought I’d miss the ripe tomatoes that are usually a part of panzanella. However, once I let that expectation go, I was delighted with what I had.

The avocado dressing is a little tart, flavored with basil and lemon. It adds the acidity that tomatoes would usually impart to the dish.

This dressing is a perfect counterpart to creamy pieces of whole avocado, tender white beans, and salty bread cubes.

In the end, this salad preserves so much of what I love about panzanella, bringing a springtime twist to the recipe.

Building a vegan panzanella salad

A classic panzanella is made with bread, onions, tomato, and vinaigrette. Sometimes cucumbers are included.

The idea is for the juices of these juicy veggies to be soaked up by torn or cubed pieces of bread. The salad puts slightly stale bread, which soaks up liquids easily, to good use.

For me, homemade panzanella has become just about any salad with bread, which I know is a stretch.

Case in point: my winter root veggie panzanella. I even take liberties with the bread, as illustrated by my vegan cornbread panzanella.

But even when tomatoes and vinaigrette aren’t involved, adding bread to a salad usually creates a good contrast of texture.

I love whole grains, such as farro, rice, or quinoa, in a salad. But they can sometimes blend in and get lost with beans or chopped veggies.

A hearty bread cube won’t do that. It continues to feel rustic and substantial, which is part of its charm.

An image of a white bowl, which is filled with lettuces, white beans, radishes, avocado, and a creamy green dressing.

Creamy avocado dressing

Many traditional panzanella recipes call for using vinaigrette as a dressing. However, I think that the creamy avocado dressing is a key part of this particular salad’s success.

The dressing adds acidity to the salad, along with flavor from shallots, lemon, and basil. It can be made with white vinegar if you’re out of lemon—I actually like that version a lot, too.

The basil screams summer, but it can be replaced with parsley or dill if you prefer.

It’s worth saying that you don’t have to make the dressing for this panzanella only. It’s a lovely dressing in its own right, and you can use it on lots of summer bowls and salads.

Sometimes I make it for dunking veggie crudités, as well. You can store the dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a full week.

An added dose of plant protein

I’m always happy when I can turn a side salad into more of a meal-sized salad with the addition of a plant protein.

Beans are an especially great way to add protein, because protein isn’t the only nutrient that they offer. Most beans are also good sources of fiber, folate, and iron. Many are calcium sources as well.

This panzanella features one of my favorite type of beans: white beans.

White beans are really a group of beans, which includes navy beans, great northern beans, and cannellini beans.

I love how nutrient-dense these beans are, and I love their texture. White beans have a buttery consistency that makes them equally good for smashing into sandwich spreads, soups, and for simmering to brothy white bean perfection.

In this recipe, the tender white beans are a great complement for creamy chunks of avocado.

If you’re inspired by the avocado panzanella, I have many more vegan white bean recipes for you to explore.

How to make white bean avocado panzanella salad

The steps for making this salad are pretty straightforward. I’ll walk you through them.

Step 1: Toast the bread cubes

The bread for a panzanella salad should be toasted, so that it provides some crispy texture in the recipe and is also dry enough to soak up dressing.

You’ll toast the bread for this salad on a rimmed baking sheet in a 350°F / 175°C oven. This should take about ten minutes, or until the cubes are golden.

I recommend peasant bread or sourdough for the recipe. Cubed baguette and Italian bread can work well, too.

Step 2: Blend the dressing

While you toast the bread, you’ll split two avocados in half.

One and a half of them will go into the salad, cut into creamy pieces.

The remaining half will be blended into your creamy, fresh-tasting, basil dressing.

Step 3: Mix the salad

Once the bread is toasted and the dressing is ready, you need only mix the salad.

First, add the vegetables—greens, radishes, and cucumber—into a large mixing bowl. Add the cubed avocado.

A large, white serving bowl is filled with cubed bread, radishes, white beans, and greens.
Crusty bread cubes, creamy white beans, crispy greens and radishes, and refreshing cucumber give this panzanella a lot of wonderful texture contrast.

Then, pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to combine.

The finished salad should be quite creamy. Be sure to taste it and adjust your salt and add a pinch of freshly ground black pepper before serving.

An overhead image of a white bowl, which is filled with lettuces, white beans, radishes, avocado, and a creamy green dressing.
The finished salad will be nice and creamy, yet still light and summery.

Meal prep & storage

If you’d like to store this salad, I recommend keeping all of the components separate.

I’ve made traditional panzanella and enjoyed how the bread gets even soggier as it sits in the fridge overnight. But I think this particular bread salad is best when it’s freshly mixed.

If you’d like to save a little time, you can chop your radishes and make the dressing in advance. Simply add the greens and fresh avocado pieces and dress it when you’re reading to eat.

An overhead image of a white bowl, which is filled with lettuces, white beans, radishes, avocado, and a creamy green dressing.
4 from 3 votes

White Bean Avocado Panzanella Salad

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 small boule peasant or sourdough bread, cubed (loaf should be about 1 pound / 455g)
  • avocado oil spray (optional, for toasting bread)
  • 2 Hass avocados, pitted and halved
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice or white vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons minced shallot
  • 1/4 cup loosely packed, fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
  • 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 2 medium radishes, very thinly sliced crosswise
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked cannellini or great Northern beans (1 15-ounce / 425g can, drained)

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Spread the bread cubes onto a large, rimmed baking sheet. Spray the cubes lightly with avocado oil spray, if desired. Toast the cubes in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges of the bread cubes are golden. Remove the bread from the oven.
  • Cut both avocados in half and remove their pits. Add one half avocado, along with the olive oil, water, lemon juice or vinegar, shallot, basil, salt, and pepper into a blender and blend until smooth. Set this dressing aside.
  • To prepare the salad, combine the toasted bread cubes, cucumber, romaine, radishes, and white beans together in a very large mixing bowl. Cut the remaining one and a half avocados into cubes and add them to the bowl. Pour all of the dressing over these ingredients. Toss the salad well, taking care to mix all of the ingredients with the dressing. Serve right away.
An image of a white bowl, which is filled with lettuces, white beans, radishes, avocado, and a creamy green dressing.

If you like, you can modify some of the vegetables in the avocado panzanella to make it more seasonal. For example, I’ve replaced the cucumber with small, steamed broccoli florets.

Thinly sliced carrots and quick pickled red onions can replace the radishes. If you love the flavor of pickled ingredients, try halved quick pickled cucumber slices instead of raw cucumber.

Finally, if you don’t mind turning the entire salad a shade of pink, simple oven roasted beets are a great addition.

I never get tired of this bright, cooling lunch, and I hope it’ll give you some pleasure, too.

xo

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Categories: Meal Sized Salads, Salads
Ingredients: White beans
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: 30 Minute or Less, Quick & Easy

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    29 Comments
  1. Gena, I had to stop myself mid-way through eating your recipe for panzanella salad to post this comment. The salad is awesome! The dressing by itself is sooooo good. I was licking the top of my blender and I would have licked the bottom if I could have stuck my head in there….lol. Thanks for an amazing recipe!

  2. Hi Gena,

    This is unrelated to your post, but relates to the one you wrote just recently about the Agave controversy. You mentioned that the Stevia plant is a good source for sweetener, and I was just wondering if Truvia (a sweetener derived from the Stevia plant) is all natural. I stay away from sweeteners like aspartame, xylitol, etc., and I noticed some questionable ingredients on Truvia’s label. Erythritol? Rebiana? Are those safe ingredients? Do you have a recommendation for a brand of Stevia sweetener I can buy? Thanks!

  3. You shouldn’t feel guilty about your posting efforts for one second, my dear boo-face! You are more prolific than anyone has a right to expect. That dressing does sound incredible, btw.

    I would write more but I’m going to go ahead and bleep myself out. 🙂

  4. I love Panzanella! You’ve inspired me to whip some up for the fam this week.

    You are so right about posting. It just needs to happen “organically” to be authentic and inspiring. I’ve stopped being a slave to a schedule for my blog. =)

  5. Good work, Gena. But I am more impressed with the dressing b/c I love dressing with OJ in them. I am a sweet girl, though, you know that about me 🙂 so I always do OJ, Agave, EVOO, other spices depending on what I feel like but I need to try to blend it w/ an avo. I hate to take out and dirty the Vita just for dressing (whisk whenever possible for me!) but I may need to get over the extra dishes 🙂

    Posting…you know I post daily and yes, it is a CHORE some days. There are not enough hours in the day many days and I am not sure why I just don’t let a day go and not put up a fresh post. I suppose it’s fear of disappointing others but I really need to honor myself and get over that. So far though, no such luck and I post whether I have the time or not. And if I don’t have the time, unfortunately, it’s my family time or sleep that suffers. Which is wrong, wrong, wrong. I know this. Thank you for addressing it in this post.

    And so jealz of your meetups with Diana. I would LOVE to meet both of you!!

    🙂

  6. Salad looks great…and the dressing! Sounds perfect for this time of year ; )

    I agree with you about posting, Lori and I are always trying to find time. And then we feel guilty that we did not post, we talk about it for hours. But it happens!

    Have a good night!!

  7. Gorgeous! I just photographed and wrote the recipe for mine. It’s such a hearty, “manly” salad. Can I get a fist bump on that? 🙂

  8. That dressing – YUM! I’ve never thought of combining avocado and orange before, however reading it now makes me think it’s an ideal combo. Another winner.

    I think you do a great job of balancing your simpler posts (recipes, food porn etc.) with your more thought-provoking ones. Some days you challenge us to dig deep, other days you reward us with yummmy foods or inspire us to be a little ambitious in the kitchen. While some of your deeper posts have been among my favorites, the variation in depth allows me to muse over the heavier topics for a few days while still getting to hear your voice regularly on the lighter days. I love the vigor that ensues in the comments section associated with the deeper posts, however I’m not sure if that fervency would exist to the same degree if we were challenged with equal heaviness on a daily basis! In other words, in my opinion the balance is great! Kudos to you, my friend 🙂

  9. Totally relate to the guilt feelings when I haven’t posted for a while but I totally believe that REAL life is more important to me, and the posts will come when the posts will come. And it’s better for us (the readers) to hear from you when it is more timely for you! 🙂

  10. Oh yes, bloggers guilt gets us sometimes, doesn’t it?! I have to step back and realize that those who read my blog need me to live a life in order to write about it…even if it is just work and food…at least we are living…and eating well!

    The salad looks delicious and it has been years since I’ve had a panzanella..the gena-fied version sounds like one I would much prefer! The orange and basil dressing sounds heavenly as well.