While I love to down a jar of pickled strawberries with just a fork and sunny spot outside, I couldn't resist an opportunity to make a fun summer appetizer with these gems! Freshly toasted crostini topped with creamy whipped goat cheese, while pickled strawberries, honey, and thyme invite a whole bunch of tang, sweetness, and earthiness to the party. Think summer Friday night vibes, when appetizer basically becomes dinner (my fave kind!).
With a batch of quick pickled strawberries already made (just a few minutes of hands on time & a few hours in the fridge), you can whip up this goat cheese crostini in 20 minutes or less for a unique summer treat that everyone will look forward to come strawberry season!
Key Ingredients & Notes
- Fresh or day-old baguette - Either will work, but for my part, I love to tear into that fresh baguette and save the homemade croutons or crostini for day two or three, once it's gotten a bit tougher.
- Pickled strawberries - These require a a few minutes of hands on time and about four hours in the fridge, so I recommend prepping the morning of, or night before, you plan to use them. For these you'll need fresh strawberries, light-colored vinegar (such as rice or cider vinegar), water, plus more honey, salt, and whole peppercorns. I have a full post about making pickled strawberries (linked above), and have detailed the instructions in the recipe card here as well!
Please see recipe card for full ingredient quantities.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: At least four hours before making the crostini, whip up a batch of quick pickled strawberries. Combine fresh strawberries, vinegar, honey, water, salt, and peppercorns in a widemouth jar and gently shake to mix. Pop in the fridge until ready to use!
- Step 2: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Slice baguette into ½-inch slices, and brush both sides of each piece with olive oil. I love using a silicone pastry brush for this! Line the crostini up on the sheet pan and bake at 375 for about 7-9 minutes, until fragrant, toasty, and golden brown (but not burnt).
- Step 3: While the crostini is toasting, whip goat cheese in a food processor with a bit of olive oil and salt.
- Step 4: Once crostini is done, spread each piece with goat cheese. Top with pickled strawberry halves, drizzle with honey, and finish with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves. Serve immediately!
Sustainability Tips
- Yummy ways to reduce bread waste. I always find that baguettes are best the first day, but then they get a little dried out as days go on... and no one wants to throw away good bread! Luckily, you have options. This goat cheese crostini is a great way to avoid throwing away stale bread, or you can try homemade sourdough croutons, homemade breadcrumbs, or this savory veggie breakfast strata (great for serving guests!).
- Eat seasonally. Strawberry season is short and precious, so it's a fun and special time to really lean into the season with unique ways to enjoy strawberries, pickling strawberries being one of them. When you eat seasonally, you can access more locally sourced foods that don't have to travel far to get to you (and reduce carbon emissions in the process!). Also, you get the opportunity to know and support growers in your community.
- Eat local. Local strawberries aren't always in season, but it can make a huge impact on the environment and growing community to buy local strawberries when they are in season. To find local strawberries, check your local farmers markets, co-ops, gardening friends, CSAs, and strawberry picking farms. Wisconsin strawberry season is sadly only three weeks, LOL. But I cherish it!
Extra whipped goat cheese?! This recipe might yield extra whipped goat cheese, especially if you use less baguette. In my opinion, this is a great problem to have! You could use it as a simple cracker or toast spread, and heap oven-roasted tomatoes on top. You could also melt it into some chili scrambled eggs, and the creaminess of the goat cheese with the spice of fresh chilies? Straight up DELISH.
FAQ
I highly recommend getting the goat cheese in log shapes. It doesn't contain any additives or anti-caking agents used in crumbled goat cheese, so it makes the smoothest whipped goat cheese.
If you can find a local baguette (especially if it's sourdough), you just can't beat the flavor! Fresh or day-old will work, but day-old allows you to enjoy some of the baguette when fresh and toast the rest into crostini once it becomes tougher.
More Strawberry Recipes
Looking for more ways to use strawberries this season? Try these recipes!
Did you make these quick pickled strawberries? Don't forget to leave a star rating 🌟 and comment below, and tag me on Instagram and Pinterest - I love seeing what you made!
📖 Recipe
Crowd-pleasing Goat Cheese Crostini with Pickled Strawberries
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 20-25 pieces 1x
Description
A crowd-pleasing summer appetizer that can easily turn into dinner (you'll just want to keep eating it)! Goat cheese crostini with pickled strawberries is a delightful, unexpected, and bright way to celebrate strawberry season on the beginning of summer.
Ingredients
For Pickled Strawberries:
- 1.5 cups fresh strawberries, halved (see notes)
- ½ - ¾ cup rice vinegar (enough to fill jar halfway)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
- Water, enough to fill rest of jar
For Goat Cheese Crostini
- 20-25 slices of baguette, each ½-inch thick
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 8 ounces fresh goat cheese (log form is best for this recipe)
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- Pickle strawberries. At least four hours before you plan to make the crostini, combine strawberry halves, vinegar, salt, honey, and peppercorns in a jar (see notes for recommendations). Fill the jar the rest of the way with water, place the lid on, and store in the fridge to pickle.
- Bake crostini. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush each side of each piece of bread with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant.
- Whip goat cheese. While the crostini is toasting, add goat cheese, 1 teaspoon of the remaining olive oil (feel free to add fresh if none left), salt, and pepper to a food processor. Process on a high speed for about one minute, pausing to push goat cheese down the sides as needed, until goat cheese is completely whipped and smooth.
- Assemble crostini. Once the crostini is done and cooled for a couple minutes, time to bust out the pickled strawberries! Spread each piece with goat cheese, top with a couple pickled strawberry halves, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. Devour immediately!
Notes
- Jar recommendations. For the pickled strawberries, I love using a 16-ounce widemouth mason jar, though you can use other similarly sized jars if that's what you have.
- Goat cheese. You might have leftover whipped goat cheese, depending on how thick you spread it and/or how many crostini you end up making. Use it up with scrambled eggs, sandwich spreads, toast, crackers, or salads the next day!
- Bake time. Ovens differ, so you might want to check your crostini at 7 minutes to make sure it's not burning. The done signals are that your kitchen smells heavenly of toasted bread, and the crostini are golden brown. As they cool, they'll crisp up nicely. In my oven, 7-9 minutes is the sweet spot!
- Yield. You can really choose how much you want this to yield! I find that a 12-ounce baguette is more than enough to make 20-25 crostini. But you can make more baguette slices, more pickled strawberries, and more whipped goat cheese if desired. If you are deciding how much to buy for a gathering, I find that a 12-ounce (about 20-inch) baguette can get you close to 40 slices of crostini.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Pickle; bake
- Cuisine: Italian-inspired
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 crostini
- Calories: 107
- Sugar: 2.9 g
- Sodium: 262.3 mg
- Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.3 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 4.4 g
- Cholesterol: 5.2 mg
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