Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks

Jan 30, 2025 | Recipes

A platter of Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks is seen from above. The platter overflows with fresh, colourful vegetables, olives, salami and cheese and is surrounded by a bowl of sundried tomato dressing and prosciutto wrapped breadsticks.
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This isn’t your average salad.  This show stopping Antipasti Salad has it all:  vibrant veggies, delicious salami, briny olives, creamy bocconcini cheese – and the best part, crisp and salty prosciutto wrapped bread sticks!  Piled onto a bed of romaine lettuce, and topped with sundried tomato vinaigrette, this colourful salad is ready to impress!
A serving platter full of Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Breadsticks is seen from above
In this Antipasti Salad, organized sections keep the tomatoes, onion, artichokes, fennel, peppers, cucumber, olives, salami and bocconcini in their own corners.  This arrangement is not only beautiful, but it allows each person to serve themselves a customized salad that features just the ingredients they like.  I like to call these types of dishes “DIY  (Do It Yourself) Dinners”, where each person builds their own plate, just how they like it.  DIY Dinners make things easier on the cook, especially when feeding a large crowd, and are a dream come true for picky eaters.  For other beautiful salad ideas, check out these other Style and Grace recipes!
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Antipasti or Antipasto?

This salad gets its name from the first course in a full Italian meal, the antipasto.  This appetizer course can consist of one featured dish, such as marinated fava beans, or it can be an elaborate platter of assorted cured meats, cheeses, vegetables and olives.  The word antipasto is singular, and might refer to that simple platter of fava beans.  When many different items are offered, it is referred to in the plural, antipasti.  Since this salad is loaded with a selection of delectable items, from which everyone may pick and choose, we’re calling it Antipasti Salad.  No matter what you call it, this salad is a celebration of colours, textures and flavours, making it a great all-in-one weeknight dinner or a festive side dish for a dinner party.

What goes in Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks?

  • Romaine Lettuce:  One head of romaine lettuce will give you more than enough for this salad.  Romain lettuce forms a crisp base and its sturdy leaves hold up well under the weight of the other ingredients.
  • Baby Arugula:  Arugula is a popular leafy green with a ton of flavour.  With an intense, peppery, slightly spicy flavour, it adds a welcome bite to this salad.  In other parts of the world, arugula is also known as rocket/roquette.
  • Fennel, Red Bell Pepper, Cucumber and Red Onion:  These veggies provide crisp texture, vibrant colour and a mix of delicious flavours.
  • Grape tomatoes:  You can use red grape or cherry tomatoes, but since I used red bell pepper, I like to mix up the colours by using orange or yellow tomatoes.
  • Black Olives: For visual contrast, use black olives.  Kalamata olives provide a rich flavour, but any good quality olive will work.  If you prefer your olives without pits, look for pitted olives or use an olive pitter to get the job done.
  • Artichoke hearts:  If you felt like cooking and preparing fresh artichokes for this salad, that would be lovely, but finding fresh artichokes year around can be a challenge and preparing them is quite the process.   I usually buy canned artichokes, packed in water, for this recipe.   Avoid marinated artichoke hearts since the marinades can be quite strong and can compete with the Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette in this recipe.
  • Salami:  Salami adds a salty, savoury, chewy element to this salad.  Look for the smaller, dry cured salamis at Italian grocers or better general grocery stores, and slice it thinly.
  • Bocconcini cheese:  Bocconcini cheese is a fresh Italian cheese made from cow’s milk that features a mildly tangy-sweet flavour, and a creamy texture.  Most bocconcini cheese balls are already bite-sized at about 1″ in diameter.    If you can only find larger bocconcini, they can be sliced or quartered into a manageable size.  If you can’t find bocconcini at all, slices of fresh mozzarella are a fine substitution.  Cubed regular mozzarella will work as well.
  • Bread Sticks: A big part of what makes this salad so enticing are the prosciutto wrapped breadsticks.  Look for crispy breadsticks in the deli section of your grocery store, or in the cracker aisle.  You should count on at least one breadstick per person, but given their popularity, making extra is a good idea.
  • Prosciutto:  Sometimes called prosciutto crudo, prosciutto is an Italian dry-cured ham.  It is essentially a raw ham that has been cured with salt and dried.  You may see it labeled as Prosciutto di Parma, Prosciutto di San Daniele, Prosciutto Toscano or the like, indicating the region the prosciutto is from.  The flavour may vary slightly from region to region, mainly due to variances in the pig’s diet, but any type will work in this recipe.  Avoid prosciutto cotto, which is cooked ham, and something entirely different.  Ask the butcher to slice the prosciutto thinly.
  • Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette:  Tying this salad together is one my most popular recipes, Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette.   I usually serve the dressing alongside,  but you can drizzle it over the top if you’d like

Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette

 

Bursting with flavour, this bright and tangy Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette is just the thing to tie together all the flavours in this antipasto salad.  Made with oil-packed sun dried tomatoes and a handful of pantry ingredients, this dressing comes together quickly.  Keep a jar of this versatile vinaigrette on hand for waking up salads, drizzling over grain bowls, slathering on sandwiches or tossing with pasta salad!

 

A jar of Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette sits on a wood table surrounded by bright red tomatoes and salad greens

 

 

Serving suggestion iconSERVING SUGGESTIONS

Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Breadsticks can be a meal all on its own.  Filled with veggies, meats and cheese, it’s a satisfying lunch or dinner.  This salad also makes a delightful first course to an Italian feast.  I often serve it as a side dish to roast chicken, along with an herb and garlic orzo.  If you bring it to a potluck or barbecue, you’ll be sure to wow the crowd!

Drink pairings iconDRINK PAIRINGS

With this mix of flavours on the plate, there are several wines that would compliment this salad.  The wine should be acidic enough to cut through the fattiness of the meat and cheese, but fruity enough to compliment the lively and sweet flavours of the tomatoes, peppers and olives.  Your safe bet is a Sauvignon Blanc.  With its green, vegetal flavours, it’s a classic match for salads.  I love it with the artichokes, and it compliments the fennel, romaine and arugula beautifully.  A well-chilled rosé with a good amount of acidity would work nicely with this salad and might just be the thing if you’re eating it al fresco on a warm summer day.  I want to make a bold suggestion, though.  Try this salad with a Lambrusco.  If you’re not familiar with Lambrusco, it’s a sparkling red wine from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.  If you are familiar with Lambrusco and you’ve heard bad things about it, ignore all that.  Once upon a time, mass producers of cheap wine ruined Lambrusco’s reputation and in some circles it still hasn’t regained respect.  This is a shame, because good Lambrusco is really, really good.  And it’s really, really good with this salad, complimenting the savoury richness of the meats, cheeses and the unbelievably delicious sundried tomato vinaigrette.  If you’re leaning in the direction of a cocktail, a Limoncello Spritz, a dry martini, a Caesar or a Bloody Mary are all good choices.  For a non-alcoholic option, lemonade is delicious.

A trio of individual white plates is seen from above. Each plate has a personalized serving of Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks drizzled in Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette.
A platter of Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks is seen from above. The platter overflows with fresh, colourful vegetables, olives, salami and cheese and is surrounded by a bowl of sundried tomato dressing and prosciutto wrapped breadsticks.

Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Bread Sticks

Style and Grace
Sarah Gallienne
This show stopping salad has it all: crisp greens, vibrant veggies, satisfying salami, salty olives and creamy bocconcini cheese. Topped with a delicious sundried tomato vinaigrette and prosciutto-wrapped bread sticks, this salad is sure to impress!
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Course Salad
Cuisine Italian

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
  • 2 cups baby arugula
  • 1/2 cup very thinly sliced fennel (about 1/2 small fennel bulb), plus fennel fronds reserved for garnish
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup yellow or orange grape tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1/4 cup very thinly sliced red onion
  • 1/2 cup black olives
  • 1 398ml/13.5oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and cut in half (or cut in quarters if large)
  • 75gr/2.6oz thinly sliced, small dry cured salami
  • 200gr/7oz cocktail bocconcini, drained and patted dry
  • 6-8 crisp bread sticks (or more, at least one for each serving)
  • 6-8 thin slices of prosciutto, (or more, at least one for each serving)
  • 1 recipe for Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette (see link to recipe above)

Instructions
 

  • On a large rimmed serving platter, make a bed of the chopped Romaine lettuce. Working with one ingredient at a time, arrange in piles the arugula, fennel, red pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, black olives, artichoke hearts, salami and bocconcini. Tuck the the piles in tightly, allowing the ingredients to overlap each other slightly. Chop the fennel fronds and sprinkle over the salad to garnish.
  • Wrap one end of each bread stick with a slice of prosciutto. Arrange at least one prosciutto wrapped bread stick per person, around the edges of the salad platter. Serve with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette on the side.
Keyword Antipasto, Prosciutto, Salad

RECIPE NOTES

  • Antipasti Salad is wonderfully flexible!  Tailor it to suit your tastes by including just the ingredients that you like.  Make it vegetarian friendly by omitting the salami and prosciutto, or by serving the meat on the side.
  • This is the perfect “make-ahead” dish for easy entertaining,  Assemble the salad on the platter up to 8 hours in advance, then cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to serve.  Wrap the breadsticks in prosciutto and add them to the salad just before serving to make sure they stay crispy.  Store the dressing separately, in a covered container in the fridge, and serve the dressing in a dish alongside the salad.
  • Any leftover salad without dressing can be covered and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days.  Store the dressing separately in the fridge, in a covered container or jar.
A single serving of Antipasti Salad with Prosciutto Wrapped Breadsticks is seen from above, drizzled in sundried tomato vinaigrette. More breadsticks can be seen in the background.

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