This easy vegan bruschetta is made with ripe, juicy tomatoes and fresh basil for a fresh and delicious Italian inspired appetizer.
This vegan bruschetta recipe is so fresh and flavorful and makes a perfect appetizer.
It’s also quick and easy while looking pretty gourmet and impressive. So it’s a good recipe to bring out if you have some guests you want to impress.
It’s a simple mix of fresh chopped tomatoes, basil, crushed garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, served on olive oil brushed slices of toasted ciabatta. It’s so simple and so delicious.
How To Make Vegan Bruschetta
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Chop tomatoes in half and then use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds. You just want to scoop out the seeds and watery parts, and leave the middle parts behind.
You can throw away the watery seeds of the tomatoes, or you can throw them into a stew or soup or whatever you like.
Then you chop up the tomatoes and throw them into a mixing bowl. Add chopped basil, crushed garlic, salt, black pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Toss together and then leave to sit for around 10 minutes for the flavors to really blend together, and get started on your bread.
Take around 12 slices of ciabatta and brush each side with olive oil.
Place onto a parchment lined tray and place under the grill for 10-15 minutes, turning over half way, until lightly toasted.
Then spoon the topping onto the toasted ciabatta.
Then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper. And your appetizer is ready to serve!
Recipe Success Tips
Don’t forget to scoop out those watery tomato seeds. You need the topping to be juicy but not wet or it will make your bread soggy. Adding salt and letting it sit for 10 minutes or so allows the tomatoes to soften and get juicy without being watery. And of course you add olive oil so it all comes together beautifully.
Use a good quality olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is the best tasting olive oil for this dish.
Use a sturdy bread. I really like ciabatta for this as it’s very sturdy. It needs to be able to hold up to a nice juicy topping without becoming soggy. Toasting the ciabatta also helps with this. Other breads that will work well are sliced baguette, or other sturdy French or Italian bread.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this vegan bruschetta as an appetizer before some delicious vegan Italian dishes such as vegan pesto pasta, lentil ragu, vegan eggplant parmesan, vegan baked ziti or vegan lasagna.
Make Ahead & Storing
Make ahead. You can make the topping a few hours ahead and keep it stored in the fridge. Then you can simply toast the ciabatta right before serving and spoon on the topping.
Storing. Once the topping is added to the toasted ciabatta slices, it should be served right away. The topping can be stored separately for a few hours (covered) in the fridge.
More Delicious Vegan Italian-Inspired Recipes
- Vegan Garlic Bread
- Vegan Carbonara
- Vegan Alfredo
- Vegan Mushroom Risotto
- Vegan Vodka Pasta
- Vegan Zuppa Toscana
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Bruschetta
Ingredients
Tomato Basil Topping:
- 4 Large Tomatoes
- ⅓ cup Fresh Basil Chopped
- ½ teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil Extra virgin
- ½ teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
Ciabatta:
- 12 Slices Ciabatta
- Olive Oil Extra virgin, to brush onto the bread, and more for drizzling
Instructions
- Slice the tomatoes in half and then use a teaspoon to scoop out the watery seeds and either use these for something else or discard them. Then chop up the tomatoes and add to a mixing bowl.
- Add in the chopped basil, crushed garlic, sea salt, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Toss together and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes for the flavors to blend together perfectly while you prepare your ciabatta.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) using the grill function.
- Slice the ciabatta and brush each slice with olive oil on both sides.
- Place the ciabatta slices onto a parchment lined baking tray. Place into the oven and under the grill for around 5-7 mins each side until lightly browned and toasted. Keep an eye on it the whole time as ovens will differ and you might need less time.
- When the ciabatta is toasted, place onto a plate, heap on some tomato and basil topping and then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and add a sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper on top and serve.
Notes
- The size of your ciabatta loaf may not be the same as ours, so just eyeball it with the amount of topping vs the size of your slices.
- Ciabatta works great for this as it is nice and sturdy so is able to hold the topping without getting soggy. If you don’t use ciabatta then make sure you use a similar type of bread that is equally sturdy.
Love that its a light meal. Great taste as well!!!
Incredibly good recipe! I had to exchange the basil for parsley since we only had that, but this worked as well.
Easy to make recipe, and extra thanks for the advice about removing the watery seeds.
Very delicious!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the great review, and so glad to hear it was good with parsley! 🙂
I made this again, this time with basil. Still very tasty :-)!
Yay! Thanks for updating us, so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Delicious Starter for any meal!
Absolutely! Thanks Anna. 🙂