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Easy and the best Crostini recipe with sour cream, smoked salmon, caviar and dill. Slice and toast Italian bread and assemble with Crostini toppings for the best appetizers.
Crostini Recipe
What is crostini?
Crostini is an Italian appetizer made of toasted bread with a variety of toppings such as cheese, smoked salmon, caviar, fruit slices, cured meats and/or vegetables.
This amazing appetizer is crisp, light and absolutely delightful to eat, just like blinis.
They are especially popular as a finger food or an appetizer, served at parties or special occasions.
Crostini Bread
Authentic Italian crostini are made from traditional and crusty Italian bread.
If you can’t find Italian bread, you can certainly use store bought French baguette or homemade baguette as the base of crostini.
It’s important that you choose a bread that is crusty and has a bite to it.
To make crostini, use a bread knife to slice the bread into 3/4 to 1-inch pieces.
Brush olive oil on the crostini bread with a brush and lightly toast in the oven. The bread is now ready for toppings.
How To Make Crostini
You don’t have to go to expensive restaurants for these amazing appetizers. Homemade recipe is better and much cheaper.
First, slice and toast the bread with an olive oil mixture seasoned with salt and black pepper.
The next step is to assemble the topping ingredients and spread on top of each slice of toast. It’s that easy!
Crostini Toppings
You can use a variety of ingredients as toppings. You can mix and match the following ingredients for new dimensions in taste and presentation.
- Use sour cream, creme fraiche or cream cheese as the base. For a more intense flavors, you can use blue cheese or ricotta cheese.
- Cure meats such as prosciutto, salami and pepperoni.
- Seafood such as smoked salmon, shrimp, crab, fish roes and caviar are popular toppings.
- Fruits such as sliced pear, fig, peach, apple,
- Vegetables such as tomatoes (including cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes), broccoli or celery
- Walnuts, pine nuts and sliced almonds.
- Crab dip.
- Dills, basil leaves and sage are popular as the final touch to the toppings.
I made smoked salmon crostini, with sour cream, caviar and dill as the toppings. They are absolutely delicious!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Helpful Tips
For the best results, follow my tips below:
- Make the bread and toast in the oven ahead of time, up to a day in advance. Keep them covered or store in a plastic bag.
- Assemble the toppings for the crostini appetizers one hour or thirty minutes before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you sure can. For the freshest taste, make the toast one day in advance or the day before serving.
Cover them up or store them in a plastic bag.
I don’t recommend freezing as it’s not ideal to reheat them after freezing.
You can keep the leftovers in the refrigerator by wrapping or covering them up with plastic wrap.
Each crostini is only 48 calories.
What To Serve With This Recipe
Serve this dish with other appetizers. For a dinner party or special social occasions, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
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Crostini
Ingredients
Crostini Toasts:
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 loaf crusty Italian bread , or French baguette sliced into 30 pieces, 3/4-inch (1.5cm) thick
Crostini Toppings:
- 8 oz (230g) sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 – 6 oz (125g-175g) smoked salmon, sliced into 30 pieces
- 1 oz (30g) American paddlefish caviar
- dill, for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Make the crostini toasts by mixing the olive oil with salt and ground black pepper. Brush the olive oil mixture on one side of the toast. Arrange the baguette slices on two large rimmed baking sheets.
- Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets. You can make the crostini bread one day in advance; keep it in a plastic bag for storage.
- Crostini Toppings: Combine the sour cream, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to mix well. Spread the sour cream on each piece of toast. Top with sliced smoked salmon, caviar, and garnish with dill. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
You are so creative and you can decorate in a kitchen.
I have made a lot of your recipes and I’m just a 11 year old kid.❤
Hi Olivia, you are awesome, you are just 11 years old!! Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
so easy to make and my absolute fav now
Very good it is nice to see a recipe that is nice and simple and right.I use sundried tomatoe feta and it is very nice stick w/virgin olive oil.Absoutely refreshing in the summer days.Thanks for the recipe.
Crostini is the perfect solution! They look perfect and there are so many topping options!
Quick! Easy! Yummy! Instead of rolling the bread in the cheese I just placed little piles of it on the bread. It seemed easier and worked okay.
You’re a fantastic cook!
That’s really remarkable.
I think that you meant ”Pear” not ”Bear” for a suggested topping Lol ?
Looks very good.
Thanks for your sweet comment!