Tomato burrata salad with basil and grilled bread

Name: Tomato burrata salad with basil and grilled bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 18 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 thick slices of good sourdough or country bread about ¾ inch thick; 2 Tbsp olive oil; 1 large garlic clove peeled and halved (for rubbing the toast); 1½ lb ripe heirloom or vine tomatoes cored, sliced ½-inch thick (a mix of colors if you can); 8 oz fresh burrata cheese at room temperature; 1 small bunch fresh basil leaves picked, a few small sprigs reserved whole; really good extra-virgin olive oil; flaky sea salt; freshly cracked black pepper; lemon wedges

Peak-summer tomatoes, torn burrata, fresh basil, and slices of grilled sourdough rubbed with garlic. Twenty minutes of assembly and you've got the kind of lunch that needs nothing else.

by Anna Lind Harper

Tested twice · Published 2026-06-06

A large oval cream-speckled stoneware platter on a white marble counter holding four slices of grilled sourdough bread topped with thick juicy slices of ripe red and yellow heirloom tomatoes, generous pillows of torn burrata cheese with creamy centers spilling slightly, scattered fresh basil leaves of various sizes, a generous drizzle of green-gold olive oil pooling at the edges, flaky sea salt flakes, and cracked black pepper. A small clear glass cruet of more olive oil, a small dish of flaky salt, a halved lemon, and a folded striped cream-and-blue linen tea towel sit beside the platter. Soft summer afternoon light from the kitchen window.

Prep

10 min

Cook

8 min

Serves

Difficulty

easy

This is the lunch I make in July, when the tomatoes at the farmers' market are ripe enough that you can smell them across the table. Thick juicy tomato slices, soft milky torn burrata, fresh basil leaves, a generous pour of really good olive oil, flaky salt, and slices of sourdough grilled in a cast iron pan until they're charred at the edges and rubbed with a clove of raw garlic.

It's barely a recipe; it's more of a list of ingredients arranged on a platter. The work is in the shopping: tomatoes that smell like tomatoes, burrata fresh enough that it still spills creamy curds when you tear into it, the best olive oil you can justify, and bread with a real chewy crust. Twenty minutes of assembly and you've got the kind of summer lunch that needs nothing else.

“Barely a recipe; mostly a list of ingredients on a platter. The work is in the shopping; the joy is in the eating.”

Why this one earns a weeknight

What you'll love about it

01Barely a recipe. Twenty minutes of assembly and the kind of summer lunch that punches far above its weight.
02Peak-summer tomatoes, fresh burrata, torn basil, really good olive oil. The work is in the shopping; the joy is in the eating.
03Cast iron grill pan or grill bread on a charcoal grill outdoors if you have one. Both work; the outdoor grill adds a little smoke.
04Flexible and shareable: serve as a platter for a casual lunch, or plate individually with a green salad on the side. Easy to scale up for friends.

A black cast iron grill pan with raised ridges on a lit gas stovetop, with two thick slices of sourdough bread mid-grill showing deeply golden char lines from the grill ridges. A bare hand with a white linen button-down cuff visible holds stainless steel kitchen tongs and is lifting one slice slightly to show the grilled underside. A small blue gas flame is visible under the grill pan and cast iron grates surround it. A marble subway-tile backsplash sits directly behind the stove, a white shaker base cabinet flanks at the left, and a small clear glass cruet of olive oil with a small ceramic dish of halved garlic cloves sits on the marble counter at the lower-left. — Get the grill pan really hot before the bread goes in. Deep char marks are the point; pale grilled bread is just toast.

Ingredients

For the platter

4thick slices of good sourdough or country bread, about ¾ inch thick
2 Tbspolive oil
1large garlic clove, peeled and halved (for rubbing the toast)
1½ lbripe heirloom or vine tomatoes, cored, sliced ½-inch thick (a mix of colors if you can)
8 ozfresh burrata cheese, at room temperature
1small bunch fresh basil, leaves picked, a few small sprigs reserved whole
the best you can justify, for finishingreally good extra-virgin olive oil
flaky sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
for servinglemon wedges

Method

How I make it

01
Salt the tomatoes.
Arrange the tomato slices on a small plate. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of flaky salt. Let them sit while you grill the bread; the salt draws out their juices and brings the flavor forward.
02
Grill the bread.
Heat a cast iron grill pan (or a regular cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat until very hot. Brush both sides of the bread slices lightly with olive oil. Add the bread to the pan and grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until deep golden brown with charred grill marks at the edges. Work in two batches if the pan is small.
03
Rub with garlic.
While the bread is still hot from the pan, rub the cut side of the halved garlic clove firmly across the top of each slice. The garlic will rub into the crust and disappear, leaving just its perfume on the bread. Set the toasts on the serving platter.
04
Assemble the platter.
Arrange the salted tomato slices over and around the toasts (overlapping a little is good). Tear the burrata into rough pieces with your hands and nestle the pillows of cheese between the tomatoes, letting the creamy centers spill onto the toasts and tomatoes.
Tear the burrata with your hands, not a knife. The rough edges catch the olive oil and the creamy center spills the way it should.
05
Finish and serve.
Tear the basil leaves over the platter (tearing brings out more aroma than chopping). Drizzle generously with your best olive oil. Sprinkle with flaky salt and a crack of black pepper. Serve immediately, at room temperature, with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing.

Near-top-down macro close-up of one assembled tomato burrata toast: a thick slice of deeply grilled sourdough with visible char marks on the crust edges, layered with thick slices of ripe red and bright yellow heirloom tomato, topped with a generous pillow of torn fresh burrata cheese with its creamy white center spilling onto the tomatoes and bread, scattered with whole and torn fresh basil leaves, drizzled with green-gold olive oil that pools on the bread and drips off one edge onto the white marble surface, finished with flaky sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper.

A note from Anna

Bring the burrata to room temperature before serving. Cold burrata seizes up and loses the silky, creamy quality that makes it so special. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to eat. Same goes for the tomatoes: cold tomatoes have almost no flavor, so let them sit on the counter for an hour or two before slicing. If you don't have a grill pan, a regular cast iron skillet will get you toast that's pretty close to grill-pan results.

What to serve with it

Round out the table.

·01
A green salad with vinaigrette
Arugula, olive oil, lemon, shaved parmesan. Mirrors the platter, cuts through the cream.
·02
A glass of chilled rosé
Or a dry Italian white. Cold sparkling water with a lemon wedge is also right.
·03
Stone fruit for dessert
A peach, an apricot, a few cherries. Summer needs almost nothing else.

Storage & reheating

Keeping the leftovers good.

Fridge: This dish is best eaten the day you make it. Leftover tomatoes keep 2 days in the fridge but their texture suffers. Leftover burrata is best eaten within a day; mix it into pasta or spread on toast.

Reheat: Skip the reheat. The bread can be re-toasted in a dry pan for a minute to crisp it back up; everything else goes on cold (well, room temperature).

Make ahead: Slice the tomatoes and let them sit on a plate with salt for up to an hour. Grill the bread up to an hour ahead and keep at room temperature. Assemble right before serving.

Recipe card