Muffuletta

By The New York Times

Updated Feb. 22, 2022

Muffuletta
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Liza Jernow.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(525)
Comments
Read comments

Here is The Times’s take on a classic New Orleans sandwich, built between slices of light, airy sesame bread, and layered thick with olive salad and cold cuts. It is among the best picnic sandwiches on the planet.

Featured in: Trunk Food

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 6 to 8

    For the Olive Salad

    • 1cup roughly chopped pitted green olives, preferably Bella di Cerignola
    • 1cup roughly chopped pitted Kalamata olives
    • ¾cup thinly sliced celery
    • ½cup roughly chopped peeled roasted red peppers
    • ⅓cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
    • ¼cup celery leaves, torn
    • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1clove garlic, minced
    • 2tablespoons red wine vinegar
    • ½teaspoon dried oregano
    • Pinch.of freshly ground black pepper

    For Assembly

    • 1(8- to 9-inch round, 4-inch tall) loaf crusty Italian bread
    • 4ounces soppressata, thinly sliced
    • 8ounces provolone, sliced
    • 4ounces Italian deli ham, thinly sliced
    • 4ounces mortadella, thinly sliced
    • 4ounces sweet coppa (cured Italian pork), thinly sliced
    • 4ounces hard salami or bresaola, thinly sliced
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

564 calories; 33 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 20 grams sugars; 26 grams protein; 1838 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the olive salad by combining all ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside to marinate.

  2. Step 2

    Assemble the muffuletta by slicing the loaf of bread horizontally into 2 large pieces, with the top piece ⅔ the size of the bottom piece. Hollow out the top piece by removing the soft bread inside, leaving ½ inch of bread near the crust. Spread half of the olive salad on the bottom piece. Begin layering the meats, starting with the soppressata and adding ¼ of the provolone between each layer of meat except for the last.

  3. Step 3

    Spread the remaining olive salad on the last layer of meat and top with the hollowed bread. Press down lightly and let sit at least 10 minutes. To serve, slice into 6 or 8 wedges. It will keep for several hours in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic.

Ratings

4 out of 5
525 user ratings
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Comments

Graydon Wilson

In New Orleans, there is a vigorous debate about muffalettas between the traditionalist and revisionist camps. It's traditionally a cold sandwich, tracing its origins to the early 20th century Italian dock workers, who didn't have much time for lunch and needed something they could just grab & go. Central Grocery made up dozens in the morning and wrapped them in paper, having them ready. The revisionists like to warm the sandwich to the point that the bread is almost toast. They're both good.

Dan

Chop a couple of anchovies into the olive salad. You won't regret it.

Greg Horesovsky

We made this for Fat Tuesday and it did not disappoint. The ingredients were easy to find and it was a very easy prep. Used an Italian boule for the bread. Took the advice of others on this site and added about 6 chopped anchovy filets to the olive salad and WOW did it make a difference. We also opted to warm ours by wrapping in foil and baking in a 350 °F oven until the cheese melted, then unwrapped and bake a little longer to crisp the bread. This is a keeper!

Annie

I’ve been making muffuletta with the no-knead bread recipe that gained popularity on this site years ago. I split my aged bread dough in two and bake it in round cake tins, make the sandwiches and return those to the tins and press them. Then they go into the cooler and we eat them for lunch during the week while working on the road.

Jan R

One of the (several) secrets of Central’s Muffaletta is that there is a high quality ham & swiss layer right in the middle, sandwiched between two layers of salami. There are other meats, too, but that combo is right in the middle. The swiss is really high quality, deeply flavorful. None of the recipes that skip the swiss layer do it for me.

TonyL

It’s one of those things that would cost over $20 in ingredients to make therefore I would probably just buy the sandwich at a really good deli.

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