A delicious Italian grilled bruschetta with mozzarella that will make your summer BBQ special!
Grilled Bruschetta with Mozzarella
Bruschetta, if served properly, is one of the most delicious and simple food you will ever eat. It tastes of summer and it perfectly captures the flavor of sun-ripened tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and olive oil.
FREE MEAL PLANNER
Download this 1-page weekly printable meal planning template! Plus a special offer just for you when you subscribe!
How to Make Bruschetta
There are plenty of variations of the traditional recipes, and they all taste delicious. Today I will share with you one of my favorite versions, a bruschetta with mozzarella, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and olives.
But only one bruschetta is considered the traditional Italian bruschetta, and it has 6 very simple ingredients:
- Bread
- Fresh tomatoes
- Basil
- Garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
But if you want to eat the best bruschetta ever, every ingredient needs to be perfect!
Bread
It has to be Italian bread, and ideally durum wheat bread. It might not be easy to find in your area if there aren’t Italian bakeries near you BUT this is the real deal.
And if you want an excellent bruschetta, the bread needs to be grilled on your BBQ. Bruschetta needs a smoky flavor, and it won’t be perfect without it!
But I promise we’ll still be friends if you don’t have a BBQ around and instead of grilling your bread, you will simply toast it. I have done that a few times when I am really craving a quick lunchtime bruschetta!
Fresh Tomatoes
Ideally, you will need sun-ripened Italian tomatoes for this. But any tasty ripened tomatoes will work. Just make sure they are red and juicy.
Basil
Just use fresh basil here, the dry stuff won’t work!
Garlic
Again, it needs to be fresh and you don’t have to chop it and mix it with the tomatoes. For the perfect bruschetta, you need to rub the garlic on the grilled bread!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
You need the most delicious extra virgin olive oil from Italy.
Extra virgin olive oil is so good for you, it’s full of good fats and antioxidants. Made from the very first pressing of olives, extra virgin is the most flavorsome as it’s not been diluted and has had minimal processing. If you want to maximize its benefits, use it raw on your food.
When you make your bruschetta, just drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on it and let it sink in the bread for a few minutes. Delicious!
Salt
What is there to say about salt? It has to be sea salt, make sure of that!
And here is the most asked question about bruschetta:
How do you Pronounce Bruschetta?
The original bruschetta comes from Italy, and if you want to know how to pronounce it correctly, to make all your Italian friends proud of you, you should pronounce it as brusketta, with hard K.
You should NEVER pronounce it as “broo-shetta”. In Italian, every time you see a letter combination of CH you should pronounce it as a hard K.
A few examples are:
- gnocchi
- chianti
- chitarra
Italians are great friendly people, but you shouldn’t mess around with their words, especially if they have anything to do with food!
And if you would love to find out more tips about Italy, you should really read this.
My Perfect Grilled Bruschetta with Mozzarella
Although I love the original bruschetta recipe, I tried many variations over the years, and if you are looking for something a bit more special, this grilled bruschetta with mozzarella is the real deal.
It has all the same ingredients as the original Italian bruschetta with the addition of:
- Mozzarella
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Black olives
- Dried oregano
As I mentioned above, the perfect bruschetta uses durum wheat bread, but for this option, I decided to use a whole grain multi-seed bread.
The Perfect Grilled Bruschetta with Mozzarella
Ingredients
- 4 slices multi-grain bread - or just pick your favorite
- 2 handfull sun-ripened tomatoes
- 1 fresh mozzarella
- 6 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 1/2 cup (80g) black olives
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- A handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 garlic clove
- Extra virgin olive oil
- A pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Chop the tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces, and put them in a bowl. Add the chopped basil leaves, a pinch of sea salt, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, the dried oregano, and mix.
- Cut the fresh mozzarella into thin slices.
- Grill the sliced bread for a couple of minutes on each side on a hot barbecue for the best bruschetta, but you can also toast it in a griddle pan or in a toaster.
- Rub each bread slice with a cut clove of garlic, then drizzled with some good extra virgin olive oil.
- Top the bread with the chopped tomatoes mix, a couple of slices of mozzarella, black olives and another drizzle of olive oil.
- Serve while still warm for the tastiest bruschetta you have ever had.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @gatheringdreams on Instagram. I want to see it!
Share Your Thoughts