Italian Hero Sandwich
A delicious Italian Hero sandwich stuffed with hearty meat, provolone cheese, fresh and flavorful veggies, and dressed with a red wine vinaigrette and a touch of Mediterranean oregano. This sandwich offers authentic Italian flavors and a perfect easy to make lunch idea!
With this recipe, you are getting a lovely hero layered with lots of meats, cheese, and veggies. With the layers of authentic Italian meats, provolone cheese, all your favorite veggies, red wine vinaigrette, and Mediterranean oregano, it is like your tastebuds are taking a vacation.
Serve with Air Fryer Fries or Sweet Potato Fries or some chips and Dill Dip!
What is in an Italian Hero Sandwich?
What makes this Italian, or special from any other sub sandwich, or hoagie? Well it is the ingredients that when combined are reminiscent of the Mediterranean, and are Italian at their roots. Let’s take a look.
Red Wine Vinaigrette:
- Red wine vinegar
- Parsley leaves
- Dijon mustard
- Thyme leaves
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Hero Rolls
The roll is an important component. I went to my local bakery and asked for a whole wheat Italian Hero Roll, or hoagie roll, or sub roll. But you can use whatever roll you like best. I toasted mine in the oven for a few minutes to help crisp things up. But this step is not necessary, it just helps to keep the sandwich from getting soggy, and adds some texture.
Cured Meats
Authentic Italian flavors come from delicious meats like:
- Capicola
- Mortadella
- Genoa Salami
- Prosciutto
How The Meats Are Made
Last year I was visiting Italy and got to learn all about the ways they create their delicious meats.
- Capicola is a cured pork. It is hand-trimmed, smoked, and slow roasted, and is seasoned with some traditional Italian spices, black pepper and paprika.
- Mortadella on the other hand is seasoned and cured with the same traditional Italian spices, but also with garlic, and cracked pepper.
- Genoa Salami (Fun fact: Christopher Columbus is from Genoa) is prepared in the old world traditional way: dry cured with a hint of garlic and a touch of wine.
If you can’t find these meats, use whatever cured meats you can find, or ask at the deli counter for someone to cut them for you.
The Rest
- Beefsteak tomato
- Pickled pepperoncini peppers
- Lettuce: Ideally you would use an iceberg lettuce that is finely shredded. I didn’t have it, and don’t always love iceberg, so I opted for romaine, and left it as leaf. It was awesome, so pick whatever works best for you here.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. This is a key part of finishing the sandwich and adding extra flavor.
Now excuse me, I think I may have to go and make another!
Other Great Sandwiches
- Easy Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
- Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich
- Best and Easiest Chicken Salad Sandwich
- Baked Chicken Parm Sandwiches
- Reuben with a Twist
Italian Hero Sandwich
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ½ tablespoon parsley leaves finely chopped
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon thyme leaves finely chopped
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Italian Hero Sandwich:
- 4 Italian hero roll wheat or white
- 12 slices Genoa salami
- 12 slices Mortadella
- 12 slices Capicola
- 12 slices Prosciutto
- 8 slices Provolone cheese
- 8 slices Beefsteak tomato
- 2 tablespoons Pepperoncini peppers pickled (banana peppers)
- 1 cup iceberg lettuce shredded or leaf lettuce of choice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons oregano Diced, or if dried, reduce to 1 teaspoon
Instructions
Vinaigrette
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients, except for the olive oil.
- Whisk together.
- Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking the entire time to allow dressing to emulsify.
- Taste, and season with salt and pepper.
- Set aside.
Assemble
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Slice the hero rolls in half, and place on a sheet pan, toast in preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- Layer the salami across the bottom of the roll, followed by the mortadella, prosciutto, provolone and tomato slices.
- Add the pepperoncini peppers, and the lettuce across the top.
- Drizzle with the red wine vinaigrette, and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Colleen says
Just could not /would not ever trust Subway again after the big scandal this past year about their chicken only being 50% meat. I even remember once going there and the girl behind the counter cut her finger on the knife while slicing a bun. She just carried right on making the sub with the same knife she just cut her finger with! I said to her..um..you can’t do that! I could tell she didn’t have a clue why I was telling her that! Just a kid with no food prep experience. I told her she had to get another knife..but gee…?
aleks says
yes, definitely. food hygiene is really important in restaurants.
kate says
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