This vegan bruschetta recipe is so fresh and delicious 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.
But isn’t bruschetta always vegan you might ask? Yep, it usually is.
The only thing that would make a bruschetta not vegan would be if the bread wasn’t vegan. And bread is very often vegan. Not always, but often.
Especially breads like a French baguette or a ciabatta, these breads are almost always vegan. But nonetheless this is a vegan blog, so I usually preface my titles with the word ‘vegan’. 
How to make vegan bruschetta
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 (spines?) behind.
It’s a bit freaky the words we use to discuss fruits and veg isn’t it? It’s all ‘spines’ and ‘flesh’ and ‘skin’. ?Good thing it doesn’t actually mean anything freaky.
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 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 heap on the topping, drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with some more sea salt and ground black pepper and you have yourself a seriously good appetizer.
Tips for the best vegan bruschetta
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, but if you use something like a sandwich bread, there is no way it will hold up as well when the topping goes on.
Fresh is best. Even though this recipe can hold up for a few hours and still taste great, it’s going to be best when fresh. It’s not the kind of recipe you can really make in advance.
If you do have to make some of it in advance, then you can make the topping a few hours ahead, but don’t add the salt.
The salt draws out the moisture from the tomatoes and if it sits too long it will become watery. So only add the salt when you’re ready to serve on those fresh hot toasty slices of ciabatta.
I hope you’ll love this vegan bruschetta recipe as much as we did! It is:
- Fresh
- Flavorful
- Simple
- Quick
- A perfect appetizer
Enjoy when it’s fresh and juicy and delicious!
More vegan appetizers
Let us know in the comments what you think of this vegan bruschetta and please rate the recipe too. Thanks so much.
Sign up to our email list and be the first to know whenever new recipes are posted to the blog and we’ll send you an awesome 10-recipe ebook as well.
Vegan Bruschetta
Ingredients
For the Tomato Basil Topping:
- 4 Large Tomatoes
- ⅓ cup Fresh Basil Chopped
- ½ tsp Crushed Garlic
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- ⅛ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil Extra virgin
- ½ tsp Balsamic Vinegar
For the 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. The worst thing that could happen is you'd have some leftover toasted ciabatta once your topping is finished. If you have more bread than what can comfortably fit onto an oven tray then you're probably using too much.
- 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. 🙂