Bruschetta with tomato is a quintessential summer food–try it with heirloom tomatoes for an upgrade to the usual. Toasted rustic bread gets rubbed with garlic and piled with the freshest tomatoes you can find.
For many Italians, summer is the season for gathering around the table to eat with family and friends. The days are longer and more relaxed, and preparing and eating food together is an important part of the vacation season. The dishes, including these bruschetta with tomato, are colorful, appetizing, and a little different from the usual fare.–Editors of Phaidon Press
LC Fancy-It-Up Note
We rather prefer these bruschetta as-is, so as to revel in their simple summer flavors. That said, the tomato topping takes well to fancying up, whether you do so with fresh herbs, multicolored heirloom pomodoros, a drizzle of vinegar, white beans, olives, all manner of cheese…
☞ Contents
Bruschetta with Tomato
Ingredients
- 8 slices rustic bread
- 4 cloves garlic halved
- 6 to 8 ripe tomatoes diced
- Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Toast the slices of bread on both sides under the broiler or on a barbecue. Rub them all over with the garlic while they are still hot and put back under the broiler for a moment.
- Arrange the tomatoes on the slices of bruschetta, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
- Serve the bruschetta immediately.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This was so fast and delicious! I kept thinking something was missing, but the four ingredients blended beautifully. We enjoyed the bruschetta with a glass of white wine while waiting for the barbeque grill to heat. I did add more fresh chopped garlic with the chopped tomato. We’ll enjoy this appetizer for more summer evenings to come.
The smokiness of the lightly charred bread is heavenly against the fruitiness of extra-virgin olive oil from Italy and fresh, summer tomatoes. I’d love this with some ribbons of fresh basil mixed in. These taste wonderful, but I feel that as written, the recipe yields too many diced tomatoes for the amount of bread. I would use fewer tomatoes or smaller ones next time. I halved the recipe, using a round rustic loaf from the bakery.
I love bruschetta and make it often when I have fresh garden tomatoes. I have always added basil and was afraid I would miss it. Boy was I wrong. This was still great, even without the basil. Such a simple but tasty appetizer that just screams summer!
The only way to truly mess up this recipe is by not using the best ingredients you can procure. The recipe is simple, and requires only the heat needed to toast the bread—a plus if you live in a climate with hot and sticky summers. Rubbing the toast with garlic is a nice touch, and lends the bruschetta a nice garlicky flavor without it being overbearing. While you can easily jazz it up with some chopped fresh herbs or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, there’s something quite pleasant about its simplicity.
This bruschetta was simple and delicious, just perfect to take advantage of fresh summer tomatoes. It really lets the tomato flavor shine through. I wouldn’t change anything, except maybe trying different types of bread just for variety.
I was on a huge baguette kick a few weeks ago, making not just one loaf but six. Needless to say, there was so much bread in the house! I prefer recipes with only a handful of ingredients and simple techniques. As with this recipe, it’s so easy to chop a few tomatoes, slice some bread, and end up with the perfect melding of summer’s bounty. The combination of the bread’s chewiness with the sweet, juicy pieces of tomato and hints of butter and pepper from the olive oil was simply perfect.
Perfect! Crunchy, snappy, full of fresh tomato flavor, kissed with a hint of garlic and olive oil. A touch of salt and pepper adds to the glory of this wonderfully simple and outrageously delicious bruschetta. You can make this and forget about the rest of dinner—just a salad on the side, and you have a winner! I’ll add the olive oil, salt and pepper to the diced tomato next time and let it sit while I toast the bread instead of piling them all on individually. Maybe a hint of fresh basil will make for an adventure in a different direction.
A very flavourful, simple pleasure. Ripe tomatoes, in season, are key to its success. To enhance this experience, try a slight drizzle of some good balsamic just before serving. I tried both thick and thin slices of bread and preferred the thicker slices.
Originally published August 24, 2010
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The pleasurable and unmistakable taste of summer – fresh bread and ripe, just-picked tomatoes from the farmers market, seriously toasted toast, rub rub rub garlic, chunky diced drippy tomatoes, salt, generously pepper, a lovely olive oil drizzle, devour! Easy, fast, tasty, and soon to be my go-to till the end of tomato season! The rubbing of the bread with the cut garlic nicely nods to pan con tomate and provided sentimental moments of eating tapas late at night in Spain in the still blistering heat of midsummer, and of holidays spent with a dear friend who teaches study abroad in Spain, especially wonderful while we’re traveling nowhere at present!
Elsa, we’re so glad you loved this, and thank you for taking the time to let us know. It never ceases to amaze me how often good food can stir up such wonderful memories.
This recipe for bruschetta is very straightforward and easy to make. In fact, this is probably the most basic bruschetta you’ll ever have, but that’s not to say it lacks flavor. Use fresh tomatoes from your local farmers market and a fruity extra-virgin olive oil, and you’ll have a dish that’s both flavorful on its own and basic enough to act as a canvas for many other toppings or sides. It goes very well with basil, mozzarella, and prosciutto. The only suggestion I’d make is to drizzle the oil before adding the tomatoes to the toast, so the bread can soak up the oil a bit more.
Thanks, Davneet. So happy you enjoyed them.
This is a great basic recipe that’s easy to prepare last-minute for any summer party. I loved the simplicity but felt compelled to chop up the leftover rubbing garlic and add it to the tomatoes along with some fresh basil. Next time, I’ll cool the bread before placing the tomatoes on top, and slice the bread a little thicker than in the picture, just to keep the bruschetta from falling apart when the tomatoes soak through the bread.
Elina, glad you liked the recipe. And good point about the bread.
These are so good. It is making me hungry. I love making bruschetta with home grown tomatoes.
And I love Renee’s suggestions of adding cheese, garlic, or herbs. It kind of mixes everything up.