Strawberry Bruschetta Recipe

Do you need to make an appetizer that will please a crowd, but you still need to keep the skill level easy? One of our favorite appetizers is bruschetta. This simple dish starts with toasted bread and can feature a variety of delicious toppings, most commonly diced tomatoes and basil. This dish is sometimes referred to as a crostini. Whatever you call it, it always involves little bites of toasted bread. Our favorite part is that it comes together in a matter of minutes, but tastes seriously impressive. If you set out any bruschetta appetizer at your next party, we can guarantee it will be a crowd-pleaser.

Recipe developer and registered dietitian nutritionist, Kristen Carli, MS, RD, brings us this twist on the classic bruschetta recipe by using strawberries and goat cheese, as well as basil. We love this sweeter, fruit-packed rendition of a classic dish. Follow our step-by-step guide below to make this strawberry bruschetta.

To make this delicious strawberry bruschetta, let's start by gathering our ingredients. You will need sliced baguette bread, goat cheese, sliced strawberries, julienned basil leaves, and balsamic vinegar. Be sure to slice your strawberries thinly in order to get them the perfect size to fit on your baguette bread. In terms of equipment, you only need an oven to make this easy appetizer. In a matter of just 8 minutes, this bruschetta will be complete.

Now that our ingredients are assembled, we can get started. Turn your oven to a high broil. Place your baguette slices on a baking sheet. Once the oven is hot, place the baking sheet in the oven. Set a timer for about 2-3 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on these as they can burn very quickly. Once the baguette slices are slightly golden, remove the pan from the oven.

Using a butter knife, spread the top of each toasted baguette slice with goat cheese. Because the baguette slices will still be warm, the goat cheese should spread easily. Goat cheese can be a rather polarizing flavor. If you don't like the taste of goat cheese, you can easily substitute more mild cheeses, such as cream cheese, mascarpone, or creme fraiche. You just want to make sure you choose a cheese that is spreadable.

Once the baguette slices have been spread with the cheese, you can begin topping them. This bruschetta has a few toppings, but the first we'll start with are the strawberries. Remember, these strawberries should be sliced fairly thinly so they can fit better on the small slices of bread. Depending on the size of the strawberries, you may be able to fit one or two sliced strawberries on each slice of baguette.

The next topping we will add to this bruschetta is the basil. This basil should be julienned, which means to slice very thinly. Our favorite way to julienne basil is to stack the basil leaves on top of each other, with the largest basil leaf at the bottom. Then, very tightly roll up the stack of basil leaves. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice this roll until several small, thin strips are created. Sprinkle these evenly on top of the baguette slices.

The last step of this dish involves drizzling balsamic vinegar on top of the bruschetta. For this recipe, we like using balsamic vinegar, but you could substitute balsamic vinegar glaze if you want a slightly sweeter taste. Balsamic vinegar glaze will be thicker and sweeter, while balsamic vinegar will be thinner and very acidic in taste. Whichever you choose, be sure to drizzle it all over the baguette slices. Then you're ready to serve!