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Peach and tomato panzanella with yogurt
youryum.com/recipes/peach-and-tomato-panzanella-with-yogurt · serves 4

Cool yogurt, warm bread, ripe summer fruit

Thick yogurt turns the tomato juices into a cool, creamy dressing for crisp bread, ripe peaches and fresh herbs.

  • Vegetarian
Maren Ashby in her kitchen, in a dark apron, looking away from the camera
By Maren Ashby · Writes and tests everything here
Published 27 August 2026
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Peach and tomato panzanella with creamy yogurt dressing and basil
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Prep
15 min
Cook
10 min
Total
25 min
Serves
4
Per serving
364kcal
Effort
Easy

Yogurt sounds like an odd addition to panzanella until you remember what it is doing: cooling the tomato juice and giving the bread something creamy to hold on to. Use thick Greek yogurt, loosen it with lemon, and do not add too much.

The finished bowl is fresh rather than rich. The yogurt should appear in pale streaks around the bread, not bury the peaches in a white sauce.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Panzanella

Yogurt dressing

Equipment

  • Large baking tray
  • Small bowl
  • Large serving bowl

Method

  1. Toast the bread

    Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Toss the bread with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Bake for eight to ten minutes, turning once, until golden at the edges. Cool for five minutes. It should feel dry where you can pinch it, but not so hard that it splinters when folded through the fruit.

    Yogurt makes the texture less forgiving, so err on the side of a sturdy crust. Soft bread drinks the dressing immediately and leaves the bottom of the bowl thick with dairy. Stale bread is better than fresh here, but do not use pieces so dry that they crumble into dust. Let the toasted pieces cool, loosen the yogurt in a separate bowl and wait until the tomatoes have released a little juice. Then the dressing can coat the bread rather than sitting on it like a paste.

    Hands spooning lemony yogurt dressing over peaches tomatoes and toasted bread

  2. Loosen the yogurt

    Whisk the yogurt, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt and water in a small bowl. It should be loose enough to pour. Taste it: the lemon should be obvious, because the tomatoes will soften it. If it sits for more than a few minutes, whisk it again; yogurt thickens as it rests and can hide in the folds of the bread.

  3. Let the tomatoes work

    Put the tomatoes and onion in the serving bowl. Add half the yogurt dressing and the olive oil, then leave for five minutes. The tomato juice will turn the thick dressing into something lighter.

  4. Add peaches and bread

    Fold in the peaches, toasted bread and basil. Leave for ten minutes, turning once. Use a wide spoon and lift from underneath so the bread does not break apart.

  5. Serve cool, not cold

    Spoon over the remaining yogurt dressing in thin lines and serve. If the ingredients came from the fridge, let the bowl stand for ten minutes first; the peach flavour is much better at room temperature.

Greek yogurt bread peaches tomatoes lemon garlic onion and basil for panzanella
The yogurt should be thick, then loosened until it pours.

Keeping the yogurt light

Yogurt should cool the dressing, not make it thick enough to stand on a spoon. Start with less water than you think and add it until the mixture pours in a thin line. If the yogurt is very tangy, use a little less lemon and add it back after the tomatoes have released their juice. If it is watery, strain it for ten minutes before whisking; the finished bowl will keep its shape for longer.

Full-fat yogurt tastes less chalky.

Labneh can replace Greek yogurt, but loosen it with more water. Kefir is too thin for the dressing on its own, though a tablespoon mixed into Greek yogurt adds a nice sour edge. For a sweeter peach, add a pinch of black pepper rather than sugar. Pepper makes the fruit taste more peachy without turning the bowl into dessert.

Serving it later

Keep the yogurt dressing, toasted bread and fruit separate if you are preparing ahead. Mix them shortly before serving, then leave the bowl on the counter for ten minutes so the flavours are not muted by the fridge.

Make the yogurt pour, not thick

Greek yogurt needs loosening before it meets the tomato juice. Start with lemon and a spoonful of water, whisk until smooth, then add more water only when the last spoon has disappeared. A thick dressing sits on the bread and makes every bite taste of dairy. A pourable one moves through the tomato pieces and leaves room for peach, basil and garlic. Taste before adding salt because the tomatoes will release their own juice as they stand. Keep the yogurt cold while you prepare the bread, but let the finished salad sit for ten minutes before serving so the fruit does not taste muted. If the bowl becomes loose, add bread rather than more yogurt. If it becomes heavy, add lemon and herbs. This version does not travel as well as the plain dressing because dairy warms faster, so use an ice pack for lunch and eat it promptly. The same logic works with thick plain yogurt, but a runnier product needs less water.

Nutrition

Per serving, for 4 servings. Estimated from ingredient weights — it moves with the brands and cuts you actually use.

NutrientPer serving
Calories 364 kcal
Protein 12 g
Carbohydrate 49 g
Fibre 5 g
Fat 14 g

Source: Estimated from ingredient weights, USDA FoodData Central

Questions

Can I use regular yogurt?
Yes, but strain it briefly if it is thin. Extra water makes the panzanella soggy before the bread has seasoned properly.
Can I make the dressing ahead?
Yes. Keep it covered in the fridge for three days and loosen it with another spoonful of water before using.
Can I make this vegan?
Use the tahini dressing version instead. Plant yogurt can work, but its acidity and thickness vary too much for a fixed amount of water.

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