This balsamic bruschetta dip is an easy, vibrant appetizer perfect for casual weeknight dinners and party snacks. Made with just 5 ingredients, this tomato bruschetta dip is fresh, juicy, and packed with amazing flavors.
We love to make this fresh bruschetta dip in summer because it uses all the delicious in-season tomatoes that summer offers. Plus, it has fresh basil, one of the few herbs I can seem to keep alive in my herb garden. Pile it high on freshly toasted French bread, and it’s a summer favorite for everyone to enjoy all year.
This dip is simple, economical, and healthy, just like my yogurt dip, green onion dip, and avocado cilantro dip. It is also vegan, gluten-free, whole30, and paleo-approved.
The best part – it takes just 10 minutes to make this dip. Make a large batch for a party, and let everyone spoon it on toasted bread. It’s perfect for Super Bowl or Memorial Day get-togethers!
Table of Contents
What Is Bruschetta?
By definition, Bruschetta (pronounced brew-SKET-tah) is an Italian starter, or antipasti, that consists of toasted bread and topped with something as simple as olive oil and salt or topped with tomatoes, beans, meat, and even cheeses.
Bruschetta is usually served as a finger food that can be finished in one or two bites.
This bruschetta dip is similar to Trader Joe’s Bruschetta sauce, but it is a little more chunkier. If you want to make it saucy, you can dice the tomatoes smaller or pulse the ingredients in a food processor.
Ingredients
Authentic Italian bruschetta dip is made with the 5 main ingredients, so let’s see how to make it!
Tomatoes: Use juicy, ripe tomatoes at room temperature to make bruschetta. I prefer to use Roma tomatoes, but you can use other varieties, such as beefsteak tomatoes. When making this in non-summer months, consider using cherry tomatoes for their concentrated flavor.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Use your best extra virgin olive oil to make this bruschetta dip.
Minced Garlic: I recommend using freshly minced garlic for the best fresh flavors.
Balsamic Vinegar. Use good-quality aged balsamic vinegar. Its intense sweet and sour flavors pair perfectly with the fresh tomato and basil flavors.
Fresh Basil: You must use fresh basil to make the best tomato bruschetta dip.
Salt and Pepper: for seasoning.
Recipe Tips
Quality Ingredients: As this bruschetta dip is made with just a few ingredients, the quality and freshness of the ingredients really matter. Ensure that you use ripe tomatoes and fresh (not dried) basil. Use the best quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Mince the garlic: This might sound silly to call a trick, but it is. You don’t want to have large clumps of garlic in your bruschetta, so mincing it is critical. It also adds a more intense garlic flavor when you mince it; you don’t want to miss that in this dish.
Seed the tomatoes: This isn’t necessary, but I find that the bruschetta looks prettier when served and tends to be less watery when I remove the seed and membranes as I dice it.
Chiffonade the Basil: This means cutting the basil into ribbons, and it’s a lot easier than it sounds. Details are included below.
Let it rest: The best balsamic bruschetta is one that has rested for about 15-20 minutes before serving so the tomatoes can soak up all the flavors. The dip is best served the same day, so it looks fresh and the color is bright.
How to Chiffonade Basil?
This might sound fancy, but really, all we are doing is making it easy to slice the fresh basil into thin ribbons. I promise it is not hard, but it adds a little extra to fresh bruschetta. You are already going through the trouble of making this with all the fresh ingredients; you might as well do them justice.
- Wash and pat dry your fresh basil.
- Stack the basil leaves on top of each other so they nest into each other.
- Roll the stack of basil leaves tightly like you would roll up cinnamon rolls.
- Hold the rolled-up basil leaves and make small slices across the roll of basil leaves like you would cut into cinnamon rolls.
- Continue slicing until you’ve cut the entire roll of basil leaves. That’s it!
How to make Bruschetta Dip?
Now, let’s make an easy balsamic bruschetta.
Step 1. Cut the basil and dice the tomatoes.
Step 2. Add the diced tomatoes and basil to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Step 3. Let the balsamic bruschetta rest.
How to Serve?
Enjoy this bruschetta dip over toasted slices of your favorite French bread. If you want a more delicious flavor, I highly suggest trying this to top on toasted garlic bread and eating this as a garlic bread bruschetta. Trust me; you’ll thank me later.
If you don’t want it over bread, you can also serve it up with your favorite crackers.
You can also use this bruschetta dip in pasta or salad recipes such as pesto orzo salad. It is also great to top on pizza!
Variations
This tomato bruschetta dip is delicious on its own, but there are so many ways to enjoy it.
- There are many variations of bruschetta – with onions, mozzarella, olives, parmesan, etc.
- Add some burrata cheese and make this a burrata bruschetta. Goat cheese is really delicious with it too!
- Want to enjoy it some more? You can add some to the top of some grilled chicken with an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar for an easy bruschetta chicken.
How to Store?
If you want to make this ahead of time, I suggest prepping the ingredients and storing them separately. I find this bruschetta dip does not last longer than about a day. I tend to make this the day I plan to serve it.
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Bruschetta Dip (Easy 5-Ingredient Recipe)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
- 6 Roma Tomatoes , diced, about 1 1/2 pounds
- 3-4 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/3 cup Fresh Basil , Thinly sliced
- French bread or crackers, for serving
Instructions
- In a medium bowl,
- Dice the tomatoes using a sharp knife. Drain any excess juice and transfer the tomatoes to a medium bowl.
- Chiffonade the basil leaves: Stack them together, then roll and slice them to ribbons. Transfer to the bowl with tomatoes.
- Add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
- Toss the ingredients gently and serve topped on your favorite bread or crackers.
Meet, I love your recipes and have tried many with great success. When I saw your bruschetta recipe, I just wanted to run by you how I have made this in the past. The ingredients are all identical but I use to spread it all out on a foil or parchment lined tray and roast it in the air fryer (or even the regular oven depending on the quantity and when I got Roma tomatoes very cheap in the summer). Then I would store this mixture in the frog and if it was too much, I would divide some and freeze for later. It went well as a bruchetta topping like you show, and also on a homemade pizza as the base instead of tomato sauce. Thank you again for all your wonderful recipes.
Hi Freny – Those are great ideas for how to use lots of tomatoes and make a delicious bruschetta and pizza sauce. Thanks for sharing!