Mix & Match Crostini

Learn how to make crostini with this simple recipe! Crispy, delicious, and easy to make, they're the perfect customizable party appetizer.

Crostini platter with toppings

Tell me, who doesn’t love a variety of yummy mix & match toppings on little pieces of grilled bread? Here’s a party idea that you can easily pull off this weekend: grill some bread to make a big batch of crostini, chill some rosé, gather a bunch of toppings (and a bunch of friends)… and you have a fun, casual crostini party!

Crostini with toppings

How to Make Crostini

Crostini may seem fancy, but making them is actually simple. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re thin slices of grilled or toasted baguette that are great for serving with a variety of toppings. To make them, just cut a baguette into thin slices, grill them until nice char marks form, and drizzle them with olive oil, rub them with garlic, and season them with salt and pepper. If you don’t have a grill, don’t worry! You could also toast the bread slices in a 400-degree oven until they’re nice & crispy.

Crostini are the perfect addition to a big party appetizer platter, and I love setting them out with a variety of spreads, jams, fruits, and cheeses so guests can create their own customized snacks!

How to make crostini

Crostini Recipe Topping Recommendations

When you’re making crostini, the combinations you can put together are endless, but I do have a strategy when I assemble my toppings. I choose ingredients that hit on a variety of flavors and textures – sweet, savory, salty, fruity, herb-y, creamy, crunchy – so that each of the bread slices will have an interesting combination of elements.

Here are some of my go-to topping ideas to include in an appetizer spread:

  • Cheeses are great salty, complex elements. You can use soft or hard cheeses. We like to use brie, white cheddar, manchego, gouda, or a sprinkle of crumbled feta.
  • Creamy spreads like cashew cream or bean dip create a nice contrast to the crisp crostini. You could even use wedges of brie or a slather of pesto to fulfill this category.
  • Fresh herbs like thyme, oregano, basil, and mint are one of my go-tos for giving each small bite a punch of interesting flavor.
  • Fresh fruit like grapes, figs, pomegranate, peaches, or even cherry tomatoes add sweet/tart pops of flavor and juicy texture.
  • Crushed toasted nuts like pistachios and pine nuts add toasty flavor and crunch.
  • Jams and chutneys bring their own complex sweet & savory tastes to crostini. I especially like the ones that Stonewall Kitchen makes, and I’ll reach for them when I’m entertaining and I don’t want to make everything myself.

Your guests can, of course, mix and match crostini toppings to their hearts’ desire, but these were some of our favorite combinations:

Strawberry Champagne Jam +  brie +  mint
Hot Pepper Peach Jam + cashew cream + a peach slices + pistachios
– Pesto + Roasted Garlic Onion Jam + cherry tomatoes

Crostini on plates

If you love these crostini ideas…

Then try more of my favorite appetizers like these lettuce wraps, summer rolls, or a big crudité platter!

5.0 from 3 reviews

Mix & Match Crostini

 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This crostini recipe is the perfect base for cheeses, jams, and your favorite spreads and dips. A great party appetizer!
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Ingredients
Cashew Cream Recipe:
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked 3 hours or preferably overnight, rinsed and drained
  • ⅓ cup fresh water, more as needed
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
For the crostini:
  • 1 baguette, sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, cut in half
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • Sea salt and fresh black pepper
To assemble:
Instructions
  1. Make the cashew cream: Place the cashews, water, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a high speed blender and puree until smooth. Chill for 30 minutes or until ready to use.
  2. Make the crostini: Heat a grill or grill pan. Drizzle the baguette slices with olive oil and grill until char marks form, about 4 minutes per side. While the bread slices are still warm, rub both sides with the cut side of the garlic clove and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Assemble crostini ingredients and serve!

This post was created in partnership with Stonewall Kitchen, thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep us cooking!

8 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. fiona Mackay
    10.10.2020

    This gorgeous platter was so quick & easy to assemble. Looked great, healthy and delicious. Went down a storm at my daughter’s 18th Birthday, with a small group of friends – in garden. All social distancing cosily round a roaring fire pit with fairy lights twinkling in the apple tree! Helped make the evening just perfect, during current restrictions which we wanted to do and still celebrate such a special day. Thank you! as didn’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. either!

  2. NdC
    07.23.2016

    Stonewall Red Pepper Jelly and Humbolt Fog cheese. You will thank me.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.31.2016

      ha, thank you 🙂

  3. Amy from yankified.com
    07.22.2016

    I love crostini (appetizers are the greatest things ever) and a bar where you can make you down is genius. Thanks for sharing

    Amy | http://www.yankified.com

  4. Love this idea & love all your products! Thanks for the opportunity to enter the sweepstakes!

  5. I love a good crostini bar and this one looks glorious!!! And Stonewall Kitchen products are awesome!! xoxo

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.