Welcome to the ultimate crostini post. This post has:
- 9 fab crostini ideas
- 4 seasonal ideas 🌞🍂❄️🌱
- A quick how-to guide
- A design-your-own crostini recipe
9 crostini topping ideas
Let’s start out with some crostini ideas. Take a little piece of toast, and top it with any of the following combinations:
- Sweet potato, blue cheese, date, sage
- Bruschetta with Sicilian olives
- Nectarine, corn, basil, cheddar
- Ricotta, radish, mint
- Cream cheese, cucumber, salmon, capers, pickled onion, everything bagel seasoning
- Taramosalata, chives, lemon
- Feta, tomato, basil, anchovy
- Brie, clementine, pistachio, honey
- Ricotta, asparagus, parsley, balsamic, black pepper
4 seasonal crostini
summer
- Just-ripe yellow peaches, grilled
- Aged Cheddar cheese
- Lightly toasted pine nuts
- Basil
- Honey
- Sea salt
fall
- Brie
- Whole pecans
- Orange marmalade
- Pomegranate arils
- Orange zest
- Sea salt
winter
- Blue cheese
- Ripe Fuyu persimmons, sliced
- Balsamic reduction
- Ground/chopped pistachios
- Dried mint (optional)
- Sea salt
spring
- Shelled peas
- Ricotta
- Fresh mint leaves
- Nigella seeds
- Lemon zest
- Sea salt
- Fresh lemon juice*
*add immediately before serving or the lemon juice will turn the peas brown)
A quick how to
Toasting the bread
Start by slicing your bread pretty thinly (½ in [13 mm]). After slicing, choose 1 of 3 ways to get it crisp and toasty:
- Grill them: Brush each bread slice with a very light layer of oil on each side. Next, place on the grill for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, with the grill lid open, just until very slightly charred and golden brown.
- Use your oven’s broiler: Place on a sheet pan in a single row. Place under your oven’s broiler, and do not look away or it will burn. This takes less time than using the toaster, but it requires more diligence. Brush with oil afterwards.
- Use a toaster: Use the regular-old toast setting. This is a bit more tedious, but there’s less chance of burning. Brush with oil afterwards.
Prepping ahead
So you want to make crostini ahead of time for a party? Here are two lists: what to do ahead of time and what to do at the last minute!
| AHEAD OF TIME TASKS | LAST MINUTE TASKS |
| 1. slice or break pieces of cheese into chunks | 1. toast the bread |
| 2. grill, roast, blanche, or prep any vegetables | 2. assemble the crostini |
| 3. make any other components, like reductions, candied nuts, etc. | |
| 4. slice the bread |
The cheeseboard rule
When coming up with your own crostini, you can use the cheeseboard rule for inspiration: When confronted with a cheeseboard, what would you put together to make the perfect bite? Whatever that is, put it together on a crostini!
PrintCrostini: 12 topping ideas + build-your-own
Ingredients
- One 10½ oz [300 g] baguette, cut into thirty ½ in [13 mm] slices
- Olive oil, for brushing
- 5 to 7 oz [140 to 200 g] cheese, broken into bite-size chunks or slices
- 14 oz [400 g] seasonal produce
- Something sweet, for topping
- ¼ cup [35 g] nuts or seeds (optional)
- Up to 1 cup [40 g] leafy herbs, or 2 to 4 Tbsp [10 g] woody herbs
- Sea salt (optional)
Instructions
Toast the bread slices (using a toaster, broiler, or grill) until golden brown, brush lightly with olive oil, and set aside on a plate. Top each toast with a slice or swipe of cheese, one or two pieces of produce, a drizzle or swipe of something sweet, a sprinkling of nuts or seeds, and a few herbs. Finish with a tiny pinch of sea salt, if desired.
Notes
For more ideas, see the ideas above this recipe.
Psst… by the way, I wrote a whole cookbook of adaptable recipes like this one. It’s called A Dish for All Seasons!
Check it out for adaptable base recipes + ideas for seasonal (and evergreen!) variations
