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This Grinder Sandwich recipe is a hearty meal piled high with meats, cheeses, and a tasty salad and dressing. It’s the ultimate comfort food and is guaranteed to satisfy any hunger cravings.
Featured with this recipe
Turn an ordinary lunch sandwich into something you can find at America’s most famous delis or sandwich shops with this Grinder Sandwich recipe. Piled high with your favorite meats and cheeses, this sandwich also has the added flavors and textures of a veggie salad with a tangy dressing. And it’s easy to make! Serve alongside potato chips, a side of fruit, or pasta salad and you have a meal that’s bursting with flavors and is hearty enough to serve for supper too.
What is a Grinder Sandwich?
A grinder sandwich is also known as a sub sandwich or a hoagie, depending on the region. It’s a type of sandwich made with a long hoagie roll, typically Italian bread, filled with deli meat, cheeses, veggies, and all kinds of condiments. This particular sandwich recipe went viral on TikTok last year, mostly because of its signature “grinder salad” that is piled on top of the meat and cheese. Italian Grinder Sandwiches are especially popular in New England, often served alongside other Italian-American favorites. The great thing about this Grinder Sandwich recipe is how versatile it is; you can change up ingredients based on your favorite flavors and combinations. Grinders are often served cold, but this version is toasted before serving.
Ingredients in a Grinder Sandwich
Yes, this infamous Tiktok Grinder sub calls for a lot of ingredients. But trust me, every single item is worth it when you sink your teeth into the best sub sandwich of your life! Of course, you can change ingredients based on your family’s needs and tastes. But here’s what to start with:
For the Grinder Salad
- Mayo – half a cup of mayonnaise. I like to use the Best Foods brand but you can use your favorite.
- Red wine vinegar – one tbsp or a dash more if you like.
- Italian seasoning – toss in two tsp of dried seasoning
- Pepperoncini peppers – you’ll need about five sliced and patted dry, plus more for topping. Find them in the condiment section or the Italian foods section of your grocery store.
- Iceberg lettuce – chop about half a head of iceberg lettuce or you can buy shredded iceberg lettuce in the grocery store. You’ll need about eight ounces for this recipe.
- Red onion – one-quarter of an onion, sliced thin
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese – one-third cup of freshly grated parmesan. You can find it in the dairy section of your grocery store, next to the rest of the fresh cheeses.
- Salt and pepper – to taste
Herb Butter Spread
- Butter – one-quarter cup, or half a cube of salted or unsalted butter, melted
- Italian seasoning – one additional teaspoon just for the butter spread. So delish!
- Garlic – one teaspoon, or one large clove garlic, finely diced or grated.
Layer the Grinder Salad Sandwich
- Italian Bread – you can find whole Italian loaves in the bakery section at most grocery stores. loaf you can find whole Italian loaves in the bakery section. This recipe makes four huge sandwiches and uses an entire loaf of Italian bread.
- Provolone cheese – four ounces, or as many slices as you like
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese – one-quarter cup of additional grated parmesan cheese. It’s worth it to take the extra effort to grate the parmesan fresh onto the sandwich.
- Deli Turkey – one-quarter pound, sliced thin. Ask the deli counter to slice it extra thin.
- Ham – also a quarter pound of thinly sliced ham.
- Salami – a quarter pound of sliced salami, also found at the deli counter.
- Pepperoni – one-quarter pound. You can get it freshly sliced at the deli or buy a package of pre-sliced meat.
- Tomato – one large sliced tomato
- Salt and pepper to taste
Grinder Sandwich Variations
The best thing about a submarine sandwich, or a Grinder, is how versatile it is. You can literally swap out meats, cheeses, condiments, and veggies for your favorites and nobody is going to tell you it’s wrong! Here are some variations to the classic Italian Grinder sandwich ingredients:
- Prosciutto – this is one of the most popular cured meats, and is perfectly okay to eat raw, so there’s no need to cook it ahead of time.
- Chicken
- Roast Beef
- Mozzarella cheese
- Swiss cheese
- Banana peppers
- Red Pepper flakes – a little goes a long way, but if you like an extra spicy kick, add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the Italian dressing.
- Fresh oregano, chives, parsley or basil. Any fresh herbs would taste delicious.
- Use a hoagie bun, focaccia roll, or other type of bun for the sandwich.
- Crunchy lettuce or other types of lettuce – romaine, arugula or mixed greens are all options.
- Cherry tomatoes
Steps to the Best Italian Grinder Sandwich Recipe
- First, assemble the Grinder Salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Then in a separate bowl, combine the melted butter, dried Italian seasoning, and garlic.
- Slice the Italian loaf in half length-wise, and brush the seasoned butter over the top half and bottom halves of the bread. If you want less bread, you can scoop out a little bit with a knife before brushing on the butter mixture.
- Turn the oven on to broil and toast the bread halves for just a couple of minutes until the edges are slightly golden and crisp.
- Take the bread out of the oven and layer meats the meats and cheeses on the bottom halves. Make sure to top it with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Pop it back into the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Now it’s time to add that famous Grinder salad. Use salad tongs to place a good amount of salad onto the top of the cheesy layer.
- Add more sliced pepperoncini, tomatoes, or additional onions, add the top layer of bread, and serve.
If you want to mellow the flavor of the red onions a bit, place the onion in a bowl of iced water for about ten minutes, then add to the salad mixture.
Frequently Asked Questions
This popular sandwich is primarily made of a variety of deli meats with provolone cheese and a creamy salad mixture piled high on thick Italian slices of bread.
The term “grinder” has a couple of origins. One theory has the name coming from Italian-American slang for a dock worker, among whom the sandwich was popular. Others say that it was called a grinder because the bread’s hard crust required much chewing.
The basic components of a hoagie, a sub, or a grinder are the same: bread, meat, cheese, toppings. The term” hoagie” refers to a type of sandwich that was popular among Italian workers on Hog Island in Pennsylvania. A “grinder” comes from a slang term for dockworkers who were fans of a similarly structured sandwich; and the “sub” describes a long sandwich that resembles a submarine.
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How to Make a Grinder Sandwich
Grinder Sandwich
Video
Ingredients
Grinder Salad
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 5 pepperoncini peppers sliced and patted dry, plus more for topping
- 8 ounces shredded iceberg lettuce
- 1/4 red onion sliced thin
- 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Herb Butter
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic
Grinder Sandwich
- 1 Italian loaf you can find whole Italian loaves in the bakery section
- 4 ounces Provolone cheese sliced
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 pound turkey
- 1/4 pound ham
- 1/4 pound salami
- 1/4 pound pepperoni
- 1 slicing tomato
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Optional: to take away some of the bite of the red onions, place sliced red onion in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes.
- Combine Grinder Salad ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Combine melted butter, Italian seasoning, and garlic in a small bowl. Slice the Italian loaf in half length-wise and brush the butter mixture over each side.Optional: scoop out a little bit of the bread on the top side before brushing with butter mixture.
- Turn the oven on to broil and toast for 2-3 minutes, or until the edges crisp up a little. Remove from oven. On the bottom slice place turkey, ham, salami, and pepperoni. On the top side place provolone and parmesan cheese. Place back in the oven until the cheese is melted.
- Using tongs, place the grinder salad on top of the cheese. Add more sliced pepperoncini peppers if desired. Place the tomato slices on top of the meat. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper.
- Place the two halves of the sandwich together, slice, and serve!
Notes
- This makes 4 large, hearty sandwiches! You can cut them thinner to make more servings if desired.
- Make this sandwich your own! Switch up the meats and cheeses or add extras like roasted red peppers or some balsamic glaze.
- Buy your meat from the deli counter for the most delicious sandwich.
