Classic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich
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A Classic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe is the quintessential New Orleans Sandwich. Stacked tall with hearty meat and cheese, I top it with a salty olive salad. It’s the perfect sandwich for a crowd of hungry football fans!
I updated this post from an earlier version dated September 9, 2012. My blog was a baby then at six months old! I made new photos and simplified the recipe instructions.
Classic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich
The Muffuletta is a sandwich that consists of an olive salad (the key ingredient), cheese, ham, and salami. Traditionally, it’s made on a round loaf of bread. (However, I find them easier to serve on an oblong loaf.) You can find them all over New Orleans, but Central Grocery claims to have invented this sandwich. The record has it, in 1906, the owner of Central Grocery, an Italian immigrant, began making this sandwich for local workers.
You can serve Muffuletta hot, cold, or at room temperature. Literally, it’s good however you serve it!
It’s totally fine to purchase the olive salad (This is Central Grocery’s original olive salad and this is Boscoli brand olive salad that I’ve used that is cheaper.). When I started making this sandwich 25 years ago I couldn’t always get olive salad so I developed a recipe for it. I included it below and it’s pretty dang close to the original.
What does Muffuletta mean?
The muffuletta is both a type of round Sicilian sesame bread and a popular sandwich that originated among Italian immigrants in New Orleans, It is made with Italian bread, cold cuts, cheese, and olive salad.
As well, a couple of ingredients you may not be familiar with. Kalamata olives are large, dark brown olives with a smooth, meaty texture, named after the city of Kalamata in Greece.
Capers come from a prickly bush called Capparis spinosa that grows wild across the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. The taste of a caper is reminiscent of the lemony tang and brininess of green olives but with a unique floral tartness.
Mortadella is Italian luncheon meat made of finely ground heat-cured pork, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat. Traditionally, it has a black pepper flavor. You can substitute German bologna or regular bologna.
What you’ll need for your Muffuletta
The full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post. You can save a tree and save the recipe to your personal and private recipe box right here on Call Me PMc. This way you’ll never misplace it as well as help the planet. 😍
As well, for your convenience of the more uncommon ingredients, I highlighted and linked to the product so that you can see exactly what I used. You are not obligated to purchase them if you just want to open and look at them. Of course, you can easily add them to your grocery cart if you do want to purchase them.
- Hoagie rolls. You can also use one large round loaf or one large oblong loaf.
- Italian giardiniera. Giardiniera is pickled vegetables and is with traditional pickles at the store.
- Peppadew peppers. These are small red peppers. They come in hot or mild, get whichever you like best.
- Pitted green olives
- Kalamata olives.
- Capers.
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Lemon juice
- Hot sauce. You’ll need a vinegar-based sauce such as Cholula or Louisiana hot sauce.
- Olive oil
- Mortadella.
- Black Forest ham.
- Capicola – or salami.
- Provolone cheese, sliced
- Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- Baby Arugula. Not traditional but very good on a muffuletta.
If you like a New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich, you’ll enjoy these recipes
- Sweet Tea Brined Chicken Cheddar Sandwich
- Brie & Fig Grilled Cheese
- Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese
- Egg in a Hole Grilled Cheese
- Boy Scout Campout Bacon Hash Brown Breakfast Sandwich
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary based on the products used.
Last But Not Least…I love hearing from you, so please comment and rate after you make this delicious sandwich if you don’t mind. Please, also, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and tag me with a photo of your creation.
Classic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe
Items in blue & underlined below can be clicked for more detail or to purchase.
Ingredients
- 1 round loaf Italian bread or any dense bread if you can't find Italian
- ½ pound cotta salami sliced
- ½ pound ham sliced
- ½ pound pepperoni sliced
- ½ pound provolone cheese
Instructions
- Split the bread in half.
- Layer in this order on the bottom half of the bread: cheese, ham, pepperoni, and salami.
- Spoon ½ to 1 cup olive salad, evenly, on top of salami. Replace the top with bread. Wrap in aluminum foil and press tightly together and let sit 30 minutes to an hour. You can also heat it in the oven if you prefer. Heat at 350° for 15 minutes then rotate and heat another 15 minutes.
- This will keep the salad and sandwich from falling apart so much when you try to eat it.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
You lost me at arugula on a muffuletta. Never. Olive oil is essential in olive salad. Unlike most competitors, Central Grocery’s has real olive oil. Check their YouTube presentation and it will provide you with great information on the original, the order and exact ingredients needed. Your’s is a great start but it’s not a real Central Grocery’s muffuletta, however, it’s a good Italian sandwich recipe. Thank you
Respectfully, I didn’t say it was Central Grocery duplicate.
Hi! Is the salami the hard salami or cotto? Thank you! I’m going to make this for sure! Mmmmmm!
Hi Mary, it’s supposed to be cotto. I can’t always get cotto where I live and substitute hard, but cotto is better if you can get it. Hope you enjoy it.