2-minute Toasted Bread With Olive Oil And Salt (Easiest Side Dish!)

The easiest side dish

Barely a week goes by without me making these extremely simple olive oil toasts. Just toasted bread, good quality olive oil, and chunky salt, these are an after-thought of a side dish for those days when even boiling a pot of rice or mashing potatoes feels like too much.

We also comfortably serve it to guests. They often remark on what a good idea it is!

The best part is that this ‘fancy’ toasted bread takes literally 2 minutes to throw together, and goes with almost everything. We always make it to go on the side with this popular one pan baked chicken and chorizo with cherry tomatoes and this amazingly delicious Greek baked chicken and potatoes, but it honestly works with whatever else you’re serving. Soups, casseroles, grilled meat, meatballs – it goes with all of these and much more.

I think we originally got the idea for this when I was living in Greece. While the idea isn’t a traditionally Greek one (to my knowledge!), several restaurants served it to us on the side.

We’ve been hooked ever since. I hope you find it helpful, too!

About the ingredients

You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.

You need just 3 ingredients:

• Good quality sliced bread: I’ve used MANY different kinds of bread to make these toasts. It really depends on your preferences, or what you happen to have. Try sourdough, ciabatta, or just your favorite bakery bread.
• Good quality extra virgin olive oil (non negotiable!): Here’s some information on how to choose a good olive oil, in case you’re interested.
• Freshly ground salt (any kind you like, really, but on the chunkier side is good). Examples are Kosher salt, sea salt or Maldon salt.

I always have some suitable bread in the freezer – already sliced. That way I can grab as many slices of bread as I need and toast them straight from frozen.

How to make olive oil toasts

Step 1: Just before you’re going to serve your meal, pop some bread in the toaster.

I like my bread to be on the well done side so that it’s nice and crispy. Mr. Scrummy prefers it lightly toasted.

Step 2: When it’s toasted to perfection, simply drizzle over some olive oil and scatter over some salt. Add optional fresh herbs.

Step 3: Serve while still warm.

How much olive oil and salt? Well, really that’s up to you!

Variations

These days I mostly just use whatever nice bread I have to hand, some good quality oil and some freshly ground sea salt.

But over the years I’ve made this 2 minute side dish in many different ways:

• I’ve added a sprinkle of fresh herbs such as fresh oregano, parsley, basil or thyme.
• I’ve used Greek style pitta bread instead. Simply cut the pitta bread in quarters and toast, drizzle and sprinkle as normal. If you like you can add a sprinkle of paprika and/or lemon juice too.
• I’ve sliced a clove of garlic in two and rubbed the bread with the cut side of the garlic before toasting it. The easiest garlic bread imaginable!

Serving ideas

Here are some of the meals from Scrummy Lane that we ALWAYS serve this easy side dish with:

• Our favourite easy tuna salad
• An easy pasta dish such as spinach ricotta stuffed shells
• Our favourite Greek baked eggplant or these ‘gigantes plaki’ or Greek giant beans (you can easily make these meals vegan by skipping the feta cheese)
• Any kind of soup (try Greek lentil soup or ‘fakes’ to stick with the Mediterranean vibe)
• Greek baked chicken and potatoes (I always serve this with a Greek salad and tsatziki too)
• Baked chicken and chorizo with cherry tomatoes (this is a firm family favourite that we make time and time again both for guests and for ourselves) or this equally delicious Mediterranean stove top chicken casserole
• Greek oven baked fish
• Brussel sprouts and chicken with honey balsamic sauce
• Amazing sheet pan chicken tikka

Honestly, the possibilities for this side dish are endless. The olive oil toasts go perfectly with ANY kind of soup, meat or veggie casserole, salad, and more.

Love this idea? You’ll probably like this Spanish pan con tomate too! Either pan con tomate or these easy olive oil toasts would go brilliantly with a perfect authentic Spanish omelette!