Pan Con Tomate (Spanish Tomato Bread)

If you are looking for an easy recipe to add to your Spanish tapas night, or are wondering how to make Pan Con Tomate, you are in the right place!

Food is a great way to make new memories with the ones you love, get to know someone new, or even learn more about the culture your recipe is from. And tapas are no exception. Hosting a tapas party is a great way to try a couple different small plates or have everyone make something to bring and share. This puts meaning and stories behind each dish and allows you and your guests to share in an experience of trying and enjoying each one. 

Pan Con Tomate is perfect for any tapas night. Taking only 10 minutes to prepare, you can make it last minute when your guests are arriving, or bring it to a party as an easy dish for you to make that everyone will love. 

Pan Con Tomate Ingredients

Pan Con Tomate is a super easy and delicious Spanish tapa that requires only 5 simple ingredients:

• Spanish bread
• Roma tomatoes
• Minced garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt

You can generally find a typical Spanish bread at your local grocery store, such as pan de barra which is a Spanish-style baguette. If you can’t find that, any baguette, ciabatta, or rustic white bread will work well. 

We like to use Roma tomatoes, but you can substitute plum tomatoes instead. Since tomato is the featured ingredient in Pan Con Tomate, you want to make sure you have a flavorful, in-season tomato! If you decide to use a juicer tomato – like a vine tomato – you will need to strain out some of the liquid. Too much liquid in your tomato mixture will make the bread soggy. This can be done using a sieve.

Our recipe uses store-bought minced garlic, but if you prefer the flavor and freshness of mincing your own garlic, we support that 100%. It is always better to use fresh ingredients when possible, however to save some time and effort, we call for the pre-minced garlic. And if you want to use fresh garlic but want to skip the mincing, you can crush the garlic and rub it on each piece of bread instead!

How To Make Pan Con Tomate

Making Pan Con Tomate is really only 3 steps, spread garlic on the bread, toast the bread, then pile on the tomato. But to make sure everything goes smoothly, we’ve broken it down a little more for you here:

1. Slice bread into 4 equal pieces (first horizontally, then vertically) and place on a baking sheet, crust side down.
2. Spoon minced garlic onto each piece of bread, spreading it evenly with the back of the spoon.
3. Grate tomatoes over a bowl, collecting the juices.
4. In the meantime, broil the bread on high for 3-4 minutes or until slightly toasted.
5. Remove bread from the broiler. Top each slice with a healthy portion of grated tomato.
6. Lightly drizzle each piece of bread with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

When you are toasting the bread, make sure that it isn’t too close to the broiler. You want the bread to be crispy, but not burnt. If you want to be extra careful, set your timer for only 2 minutes and check then. For more tips to help you in the kitchen, sign up for our newsletter to receive your free guide to making the most out of any recipe!

Serving Suggestions

Traditionally Pan Con Tomate, or Spanish tomato bread, is served as a tapa, or small plate. Since it isn’t expected to be a meal itself, it is best served alongside other tapas or appetizers. Here are some great tapas for you to try:

• Queso de cabra con tomate, or Spanish baked goat cheese in tomato sauce
• Chorizo potato skewers
• Burrata toast

And if you are looking for any more ideas on how to host a tapas party, check out our post here!

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