Padma Lakshmi Just Shared an Easy Anti-Inflammatory Snack, and We Can't Wait to Make It

If you’ve followed Padma Lakshmi for any length of time, you know that she lovespeanut butter pomegranate toast—pom toast for short. In a new Instagram post, Lakshmi upgrades her original Pom Toast to Pom Toast 2.0—the gussied-up version.

In the post, Lakshmi explains that she’s hungry and wants toast, but is not in the mood for peanut butter, “So I just got what I had in my fridge.”

What she had on hand included sourdough bread, goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, chopped dill, cayenne pepper and balsamic vinegar.

After she toasts the bread, Lakshmi schmears it with goat cheese and sprinkles pomegranate seeds all over the top. “You want to kind of press down on them so the cheese locks the pomegranates in place,” she advises.  

She then tops the toast with a dusting of chopped dill and cayenne and a light drizzle of “really good balsamic vinegar.”

Is Pom Toast 2.0 Healthy?

While Pom Toast 2.0 sounds delicious, is it healthy? 

We can safely say yes, Lakshmi’s Pom Toast 2.0 is a healthy snack option. For starters, most of the ingredients are nourishing foods with anti-inflammatory properties. This means that they help reduce chronic inflammation in the body, which ultimately helps reduce disease risk. 

While it’s unclear whether Lakshmi uses whole-grain sourdough, using whole-grain will up the nutritional value of your toast compared to sourdough made with refined white flour. Whole-grain bread provides more fiber and nutrients than bread made with refined all-purpose flour. 

Whether made with white flour or whole-grain flour, sourdough uses a fermentation process for leavening instead of yeast (read the label to make sure it’s true sourdough, as some add yeast to speed the process up). The fermentation process does more than just help the bread to rise—it also helps make calcium, phosphorus and iron more available for the body to use. 

Sourdough also has some other impressive health benefits. Like other fermented foods, it’s good for your gut and can aid in improved digestion. The antioxidants and other compounds in sourdough may even slow down aging by reducing blood pressure and stabilizing blood sugar.

Similar to other types of cheese, goat cheese provides protein, vitamins, minerals and probiotics, making it good for your gut. If you steer clear of cow’s milk, goat’s milk may be a good alternative. Compared to cow’s milk, goat’s milk is lower in lactose and has a different protein structure and fatty acid profile, making it easier to digest for many people, per a 2021 review in Nutrients.  

Lakshmi uses pre-peeled pomegranate seeds, which saves a ton of time. And those tiny arils pack a nutritional punch. Loaded with fiber, they’ll help you poop and improve digestion. Their ruby-red color hints at their antioxidant properties, which help reduce inflammation and disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. There is also evidence that pomegranate can play a role in stabilizing blood sugar. 

Herbs and spices have been used for centuries not only to flavor foods but also for their medicinal properties. The cayenne pepper Lakshmi uses in Pom Toast 2.0, for example, contains capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the pepper’s spicy hot kick. But that’s not all capsaicin does. It’s also been shown to improve heart health and reduce your risk of dying—in other words, if you get sick, you’re less likely to die from it compared to someone who doesn’t eat capsaicin-containing foods. Capsaicin may also aid in fat metabolism, helping you maintain a healthy weight. 

Cayenne pepper can be rough for someone with acid reflux, as it can make symptoms worse. If that’s the case, leave it out or use another spice that doesn’t bother you. Or if you’d just like to switch the direction of Pom Toast 2.0 and go a little sweeter route, try a sprinkling of cinnamon. It’s been linked to more stabilized blood sugar and lower blood pressure. 

And what about that drizzle of balsamic vinegar? All vinegars are fermented, so you’ll get some gut benefits with it. Because balsamic vinegar is made with grapes, you get some of the health benefits of grapes, as well, including the antioxidant quercetin. This powerful plant chemical has been linked to reduced inflammation and may help lower blood pressure, reduce complications of diabetes, lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s, reduce pain and inflammation associated with arthritis and more, per a 2020 review in the journal ACS Omega.

If the thought of straight-up balsamic vinegar makes your lips pucker, try drizzling its sweeter sister, balsamic glaze, over your toast. Balsamic glaze is one of the stars in several of our Caprese recipes. You still get that unique musty flavor of the balsamic with just a hint of sweetness. 

The Bottom Line

Pom Toast 2.0 is not only tasty but good for you, too. If you’re not crazy about some of the ingredients, make it your own. If goat cheese is too pungent for you, swap it out for another creamy, spreadable cheese, like Gournay or a vegan cream cheese. If you don’t have pomegranate seeds—or don’t feel like peeling one—use another fruit, like sliced grapes. Sprinkle chia seeds over the top for added fiber and healthy fats. Get creative and make it your own.