Muffaletta with Grilled Olive Salad

Get ready to make New Orleans' favorite sandwich, with a twist. This classic Muffaletta recipe comes alive with a homemade grilled olive salad to give an amazing bite for Mardi Gras and beyond! Lean how to make it with this easy to follow step-by-step recipe.

What is a Muffaletta Sandwich?

Similar to a classic Italian Sub, the Muffaletta sandwich is said to have originated at Central Grocery in New Orleans over a century ago. The traditional sandwich comes with your typical blend of Italian sandwich meats (think Salami, Bologna, Ham). However, what sets it apart is a distinctive olive salad to give a wonderful blend of flavors. The sandwich traditionally comes on a large sesame round and is cut into wedges for individual portions.

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What's better about this recipe?

We make a couple of key changes here to take this classic recipe to new heights.

First, and probably most important, you'll pan roast your olives. This move cannot be understated. Roasting your olives completely changes the flavor, giving a deep nutiness that is both unique and wonderful.

Secondly, you'll bake this bad boy pressed in the oven and serve it hot. This give you jucier meats, warm pillowy bread and melty cheese, a perfect way to eat a sandwich like this.

Lastly, you'll opt for a large ciabatta loaf over the Italian round. Two reasons for this. First - and if we're being honest, the biggest - is practicality. Large sesame rounds are not easy to find. Ciabatta loaves are almost always available in the bakery section at your local grocer. Secondly, the bread-to-meat ratio is great, it presses easily in the oven and gets just the perfect amount of crisp.

These couple of twists delivers a muffaletta that's better than anything you'll find around The French Quarter.

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Mike's Recipe Rundown

• Taste: Both simple and indulgent, a blend of Italian meats and olives offers a slightly salty balance of meats against a deep, nutty olive salad made with garlic, capers and more.
• Texture: Pressed together while cooking to give you a melty, handheld bite. The bread should just offer a touch of crispiness on the outside lending to a soft, warm filling. Unlike some traditional Muffalettas, we run our olive through a food processor (affiliate) to make it more of a mince, we offers a more balanced blend.
• Difficulty - Pretty easy! The most difficult part of this recipe is making the olive salad, but there's nothing really complicated about it. Roast your olives and garlic in a pan, run it through a food processor (affiliate) and mix everything together in a bowl. From there, it's simple sandwich assembly and baking.
• Pros: An absolutely delicious sandwich, there's a reason the Muffaletta is a signature sandwich in a city like New Orleans, rich with culinary history. With some simple twists, we deliver a version that takes it to absolutely new heights with minimal work.
• Cons: This sandwich is a bit of an indulgence, which means it's firmly in the every once in a while bucket of recipes. But whenever Mardi Gras rolls around, it's a recipe I'm sure to make to celebrate!
• Would I make it again? Oh Yeah! This is a great recipe that easily feeds a family, or scales well to feed a crowd. Perfect recipe for feeding friends when watching a big game - especially if the Saints or LSU Tigers are on!

Want to learn pro's tips for awesome recipes? Make pulled pork, mashed potatoes, or a wonderful date night duck breast ramen developed and perfected by professional chefs.

Muffaletta Tips and Tricks

• My local grocer has an olive bar, which many do nowadays. I get my olives from there, that way I have a variety that I can buy in bulk. If you don't have an olive bar where you buy groceries, a variety of kalmatta and green olives from the condiments aisle will do.
• You can adopt your meats slightly to whatever your butcher has, just stick to a mix of these three: one salami, one ham and one bologna-type. I use genoa salami, tavern ham and lebanese bologna. The lebanese bologna offers a smoky touch on it's own, really tying this all together. The more standard choice is traditional mortadella, so you can go that route too. Some folks even add in spicy capicola or even a little bit of pancetta to offer even more variety.
• As I said above, I opt for a large ciabatta loaf here and cut it up into individual portions. There's almost always a fresh one available in the bakery section of my grocery store. You could always make them on individual ciabatta buns as well if that's easier to find.
• Placing weight on top of the sandwich helps to press the sandwich together, which adds a nice touch. I weight mine down with a couple of cast iron pans (affiliate). Alternatively, you can place a baking sheet on top and place anything heavy and oven safe on top to do the same trick.

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What you need to make a Muffaletta with Grilled Olive Salad

Equipment wise you'll want a large frying pan (affiliate) for pan roasting your olives, along with a food processor (affiliate) to chop it all fine. A large mixing bowl (affiliate) is then all you finish making your olive salad.

I weigh my sandwich while cooking with a couple of cast iron pans (affiliate). You can also use any large baking sheet (affiliate) and top it with something oven safe and heavy to help do the trick.

As for ingredients, you'll want:

• 2 cups mixed olives
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp capers
• 4 oz diced pimentos
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 loaf ciabatta bread, large
• ½ lb provolone cheese, sliced
• ⅓ lb genoa salami, thinly sliced
• ⅓ lb sliced ham, thinly sliced
• ⅓ lb bologna or mortadella, (I used lebanese bologna)

How to make a Muffaletta with Grilled Olive Salad

Step 1: Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add mixed olives and cook for 3 minutes, until olives begin to soften. Add in garlic cloves. Cook, while stirring, until olives and garlic turn a light golden brown.

Step 2: Transfer olives and garlic to a food processor (affiliate). Add in fresh parsley. Run until mixture is finely chopped, about 3 seconds.

Step 3: Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl (affiliate). Add olive oil, capers, diced pimentos and dried oregano. Stir to combine well. Set aside and let cool. Preheat oven to 400°.

Step 4: Lay aluminum foil down on a large baking sheet (affiliate) and grease lightly (I used olive oil). Place bottom half of ciabatta bread down and spread half the olive mixture overtop. Top (in order) with half the provolone cheese, salami, ham, lebanese bologna, remaining provolone cheese and the rest of your olive salad.

Step 5: Wrap the sandwich in foil and weigh down by placing cast iron pans (affiliate) on top. Place in center of oven and bake until heated through bread is slightly crunchy, about 25 minutes. Remove, unwrap and cut into four equal squares.

To serve: I suggest serving this warm, as the cheese is maximum melty, the bread is soft and the meat is at maximum flavor. If you're more of a traditionalist, let it cool to room temp and serve it then.

Check out this video on how to make a Muffaletta [1 minute]

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Muffaletta with Grilled Olive Salad

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• Author: Mike
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups mixed olives
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley
• 4.5 oz capers
• 4 oz can diced pimentos
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 loaf ciabatta bread, large
• ½ lb provolone cheese, sliced
• ⅓ lb genoa salami, thinly sliced
• ⅓ lb ham, thinly sliced
• ⅓ lb bologna or mortadella, (I used lebanese bologna)

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Instructions

1. Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add mixed olives and cook for 3 minutes, until olives begin to soften. Add in garlic cloves. Cook, while stirring, until olives and garlic turn a light golden brown.
2. Transfer olives and garlic to a food processor. Add in fresh parsley. Run until mixture is finely chopped, about 3 seconds.
3. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add olive oil, capers, diced pimentos and dried oregano. Stir to combine well. Set aside and let cool. Preheat oven to 400°.
4. Lay aluminum foil down on a large baking sheet and grease lightly (I used olive oil). Place bottom half of ciabatta bread down and spread half the olive mixture overtop. Top (in order) with half the provolone cheese, salami, ham, lebanese bologna, remaining provolone cheese and the rest of your olive salad.
5. Wrap the sandwich in foil and weigh down by placing cast iron pans (affiliate) on top. Place in center of oven and bake until heated through bread is slightly crunchy, about 25 minutes. Remove, unwrap and cut into four equal squares.

Equipment

food processor

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cast iron pan

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large baking sheet

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Notes

I suggest serving this warm, as the cheese is maximum melty, the bread is soft and the meat is at maximum flavor. If you're more of a traditionalist, let it cool to room temp and serve it then.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Category: Main Course
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: Cajun

Keywords: Muffaletta, New Orleans Sandwich, Italian Sandwich