These Ham and Cheese Game Day Sandwiches are crazy flavorful, highly addictive and easy sandwiches for a crowd.
The Super Bowl is the second biggest food holiday behind Thanksgiving and these football sandwiches are great for a tailgate party, leftover ham idea, or even a weeknight dinner.
These ham and cheese sandwiches kick classic football fare up a notch with French rolls, smoked cheese, garlic bread, and a bit of jalapeño for an added kick. You can make these vegetarian and vegan-friendly if you don’t mind swapping out an ingredient or two. Prep time for these game day sandwiches? 10 minutes–the majority of the time spent on this recipe is just waiting for them to bake!
How To Make Game Day Sandwiches
To get started making these football Sandwiches, first slice off the top of your buns and hollow out the middle. This will help the fillings stay in the sandwich. Pressed for time? Don’t want to fiddle with all those individual buns? You can opt to make one giant sandwich instead, serving slices of it as needed.
Making the individual sandwiches does have an advantage–you can keep them warm in the oven and serve them on your own time. One giant sandwich might sit out for a bit, but if you have enough guests over for your football party, that might not even be an issue as these sandwiches can go FAST.
Once you have your bread ready, complete your sandwiches with thinly sliced red onion, sliced jalapeños and a slice of smoked gouda. Then top it all off with a generous amount of off-the-bone deli ham.
Depending on how you like your sandwich, eating “meat side up” or “meat side down” are choices, but if you want the fillings to be more evenly spread through the sandwich, you can layer all ingredients instead.
Mix together melted butter, grated parmesan, minced garlic and chopped parsley.
Place the sandwiches on pieces of foil, then brush them liberally with garlic-butter mixture. Wrap them up and bake!
Best Ham For Sandwiches
There are many types of ham and each type has its own distinct flavor. For ham sandwiches the best type is a flavorful, high quality ham such as a smoked ham or Black Forest ham. Black Forest is a bit of a redundant suggestion since it is a type of smoked ham that is cry-cured with salt and spices.
Honey, peppered, maple and other types of ham will change the flavor a bit but if you’re using quality ham you can’t go wrong with these sandwiches. These sandwiches are also perfect to make with leftover ham from the holidays or any other occasion.
Vegetarian And Vegan Alternatives
Game day shouldn’t exclude the vegetarians and vegans among us, which is why you could consider this recipe swapping out vegan butter and replacing the ham with portobello mushrooms. A thinly sliced portobello mushroom marinated in balsamic vinaigrette makes a tasty replacement for ham, but don’t expect the ham flavor. This is an ingredient swap rather than an attempt to mimic the flavor and texture of off-the-bone deli meat.
If you use portobello mushrooms to replace the ham, try to slice the mushrooms to match the shape and thickness of the ham you’re using in the non-vegan version; consistency in size means consistency in cooking.
Ham & Cheese Game Day Sandwiches
Ham, smoked gouda, red onion and jalapeños are tucked inside buns then baked with butter, garlic and parmesan! Game day just got AWESOME with these game day party sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 6 French rolls
- 1/2 pound deli ham
- 6 slices smoked gouda
- 1/4 red onion, sliced
- 1 jalapeño pepper, sliced (optional)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Cut the very top off the French rolls (see video for visual).
- Hollow out the inside until you have just a shell left.
- Layer with ham, followed by red onion, jalapeños and cheese.
- Place top of bread back to cover.
- Make crosswise cuts into buns, leaving bottom of loaf intact.
- Place buns onto individual sheets of foil large enough to wrap them in.
- Melt butter, then stir in garlic, parmesan and parsley.
- Spoon onto buns, taking care to spread it out and ensure that some seeps between the slices. Wrap each tightly with foil.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until sandwiches are very hot and heated through.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 425Saturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 67mgSodium: 941mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 15g
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