New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich
intro
A hearty pressed Italian-American sandwich hailing from New Orleans, loaded with cured meats, cheeses, and tangy briny olive salad on a soft sesame round loaf.
Ingredients
Steps
Mix the olive salad
In a medium bowl, combine 150g chopped green Castelvetrano olives, 50g chopped Kalamata olives, 30g finely chopped pickled cauliflower, 20g finely diced drained roasted red pepper, 3g minced garlic, 30ml extra-virgin olive oil, 15ml red wine vinegar, 2g dried oregano, and 1g freshly ground black pepper. Stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients, then let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature (21C/70F, no heat applied) to allow briny, herby flavors to meld.
Split and hollow bread
Use a long serrated bread knife to slice the 450g sesame-seed Italian round loaf horizontally into two equal 4cm thick halves. Working at room temperature (no heat applied), gently pull out about 50g of the soft inner crumb from both the top and bottom halves over 3 minutes, leaving a 1.5cm thick sturdy bread shell to hold fillings and prevent sogginess. Reserve the removed crumb for homemade breadcrumbs or other uses.
Add olive salad base
Working at room temperature (no heat applied), spoon all ~300g of prepared olive salad, including every drop of accumulated oil and vinegar dressing from the bowl, evenly across the cut surface of both bread halves. Press the salad gently into the bread crumb with the back of a spoon over 1 minute to help the briny liquid soak into the bread slightly without making it soggy.
Layer meats and cheeses
On the bottom bread half (over the olive salad), alternate even layers of sliced meat and cheese over 3 minutes at room temperature (no heat applied), starting with 120g thinly sliced provolone, followed by 120g thinly sliced Genoa salami, 100g thinly sliced low-moisture mozzarella, 120g thinly sliced mortadella, and finishing with 100g thinly sliced sweet or hot capicola. Ensure layers extend all the way to the loaf’s edge so every bite has equal portions of meat and cheese.
Wrap sandwich tightly
Place the top bread half (olive salad side facing down) over the layered fillings to reform the whole round loaf. Press down firmly on the top of the loaf with the palm of your hand for 30 seconds at room temperature (no heat applied) to compact the layers slightly. Wrap the entire sandwich tightly in 2 overlapping layers of plastic wrap, taking 2 minutes to seal all edges so no filling slips out during pressing.
Press to meld flavors
Set the wrapped sandwich on a rimmed baking sheet. Place a second flat baking sheet directly on top of the sandwich, then weigh it down with 2-3 heavy canned goods or a small cast iron skillet totaling 2kg (4.5lbs) of weight. Transfer the setup to the refrigerator set to 4C (39F, no active cooking heat) and chill for a full 2 hours to allow flavors to meld and the bread to absorb the olive dressing evenly.
Slice and serve
After 2 hours of pressing, remove the weights and top baking sheet, then unwrap the plastic from the chilled sandwich. Place the loaf on a wooden cutting board and use a sharp serrated knife to cut the sandwich into 4 equal wedge-shaped pieces over 1 minute at room temperature. Serve immediately chilled, or hold for up to 4 hours in an insulated cooler for transport.
Tips
2.For deeper, more developed flavor, mix the olive salad 1 day in advance and refrigerate it in an airtight container before assembling the sandwich.
3.Use low-moisture mozzarella instead of fresh water-packed mozzarella, as fresh mozzarella releases excess water during pressing that will make the bread soggy.
OMG, I’ve been chasing a good muffuletta since I visited NOLA back in 2019 and this one HITS. The olive salad is perfectly briny, not too salty, and pressing it for those 2 hours makes all the flavors meld so much better than the ones I’ve tried to throw together last minute. Brought it to our neighborhood potluck last weekend and people were begging for the recipe! 10/10, no notes.
Game changer for weekday lunches! I made a big batch on Sunday, sliced it into individual portions, and wrapped them up for the week. The flavor got even better each day as the olive mix soaked into the bread. My kids usually turn their noses up at “fancy” sandwiches but they asked for seconds two nights in a row. So easy even on a busy schedule!
Wait, I was skeptical about the 2 hour press time because I’m super impatient when I’m hungry, but trust the process y’all. That press makes the bread dense enough to hold all the olive salad and cold cuts without falling apart, and every bite has that perfect mix of tangy, salty, meaty goodness. Used a mix of green and kalamata olives for the salad because that’s what I had in the fridge and it worked perfectly.
Has anyone tried making this with gluten free bread? I have celiac and have been dying for a good muffuletta that doesn’t taste like cardboard, but I know the press step is key here and I’m worried GF bread will get too mushy.
Y’all. I moved from New Orleans to Denver last year and have been so homesick for a real muffuletta — not the sad grocery store versions they sell out here. This recipe is dead on for the ones I used to get at Central Grocery, I almost cried when I took the first bite. The only tweak I made was adding a little extra giardiniera to the olive salad because I like the extra heat.
Super easy recipe, but I messed up the first time because I used pre-sliced sandwich bread instead of a whole round loaf. Total disaster, fell apart everywhere when I tried to press it. Second time I grabbed a big round Italian loaf from the bakery, followed the directions exactly, and it was perfect. Great for game day watch parties!
Made this for our family reunion last month and it was the first dish gone! I loved that I didn’t have to stand over the stove cooking for hours — just 20 minutes of prep, stick it in the fridge to press, and it’s ready to go. Sliced it into little wedges so people could grab it easy, and even my super picky great uncle said it was the best sandwich he’d ever had. Will be making this for every gathering from now on.
Love that this doesn’t require a ton of fancy ingredients! I was able to grab everything from my regular grocery store for under $15, and it fed me and my three roommates for dinner with leftovers to spare. Way cheaper than ordering takeout sandwiches, and tastes way better too.
SO good. I’ve ordered muffulettas from half the Italian delis in the Bay Area and this homemade version beats all of them. The olive salad has the perfect ratio of olives, pickled veggies, and oil, no weird extra fillers like a lot of the store-bought versions. Pressing it for 2 hours is such a game changer, every bite is evenly flavored instead of all the fillings sliding out when you take a bite. 10/10, will be in my regular rotation.