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Authentic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe

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What would living in New Orleans be without a good muffuletta? I’m not sure, but I do not want to find out.

This New Orleans Muffuletta is one I love to make for parties and entertaining. It’s always a crowd-pleaser!

muffuletta cut into quarters and stacked

Ready to dive in? Jump to the part of this post you are looking for by clicking one of the links below.

  • What is a Muffuletta Sandwich?
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Recipe

🥪 What is a Muffuletta Sandwich?

What exactly is a muffuletta? A muffuletta is a deli sandwich topped with fresh olive salad. It’s also made on a 9″ round italian bread. The “locals” are very particular about where they buy their muffulettas. Personally, I love the ones from Central Grocery by the French Market.

Since I live in suburbia, going to Central Grocery to pick up one of these is not an option -a ninety mile round trip would make it a very expensive sandwich!

🍞 Ingredients

The key to a good muffuletta is the quality of the ingredients in it. Most importantly, where your olive salad is made being the biggest factor.

A funny story: I went to the store to purchase olive salad and they were out of “my” brand. I purchased one that said Muffuletta Olive Salad (warning! warning!) and brought it home. When I opened the glass jar, it tasted funny… I looked at where it was made… and it said made in Chicago. What?! (nothing against Chicago).

Off I went again to my local Winn-Dixie and purchased a New Orleans brand. Whew! Seriously, it’s not the same.

Let’s go through some of the key ingredients so you too, can make your own at home. Shall we?

  • Round Loaf Italian Bread
  • Olive Salad
  • Capicola or Deli Ham
  • Genoa Salami
  • Mortadella
  • Sliced Mozzarella
  • Provolone Cheese

Recipe Video

See the entire process, step-by-step in this quick video.

🗒️ Instructions

The Bread: 9-10″ round Italian bread.

Round muffuletta bread

Olive Oil: I like to moisten my halves with some good Spanish extra virgin olive oil.

two halves of muffuletta bread topped with olive oil

Then you have the Capicola ham and salami. Ask the person behind the counter to slice them thin.

salami and other meats spread out on round muffuletta bread

Thinly sliced mozzarella and smoked provolone…

meat and cheese spread out on muffuletta round bread

Start placing the olive salad in the middle and then work your way out.

muffuletta sandwich with olive salad on top

This is the most beautiful pie I’ve seen in a long time…

muffuletta pie open face

Oh.my.goodness. The combination of the salty meats, the smoked cheese, the strong olive oil flavor and the crunch of the olive salad… Please. refrain from licking or biting your screen. Your device will not like it.

We like to quarter our muffulettas and eat them for lunch (ok, anytime is good too). If you want, you can toast the whole muffuletta, prior to cutting, in your oven for a few minutes to give the bread a little crunch and melt the cheese.

Oh lordy. Yes, I am finished. You may proceed to print the recipe and make your own. Me? off to lick my fingers.

You can purchase the Olive Salad on Amazon here.

muffuletta cut in half

How to Freeze and Reheat Muffulettas

You can freeze muffulettas once fully assembled by wrapping the entire stuffed bread round in plastic wrap, then place it in a zip bag and freeze it for up to 30 days.

To enjoy it, remove the plastic wrap and thaw it overnight or on the counter for an hour. Wrap it in foil and warm it up in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes until heated through.

😋 Recipe

Print

New Orleans Muffuletta Recipe

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★★★★★

4.9 from 18 reviews

This muffuletta sandwich recipe is made in the authentic New Orlean’s style! Flavorful and delicious, your muffuletta can be prepared in minutes so you can enjoy it any time of day.

  • Author: Laura Fuentes
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Lunch

Ingredients

  • 1 10″ round loaf Italian bread 
  • 1 cup Olive Salad
  • ¼ lb Capicola or deli ham (4–6 slices)
  • ¼ lb Genoa Salami (6–8 slices)
  • ¼ lb Mortadella (4–6 slices) 
  • ⅛ lb Sliced Mozzarella (3–4 thin slices)
  • ⅛ lb Provolone (3–4 thin slices)  

Instructions

  1. Slice the round bread in half and open both sides on a flat surface.
  2. Brush both inner sides of the bread with oil from the Olive Salad or extra virgin olive oil, go a little heavier on the bottom.
  3. Begin layering thre ham, salami, and mortadella on the bottom half of the bread. Top with cheeses.
  4. Next, add the olive salad from the center out and spread it, leaving about a half-inch around the edge. Place the top half of the bread over the olive mixture, and press down to let the bread absorb the olive salad juices. 
  5. Using a bread knife, slice into 4 to 6 wedges. 
  6. Optional: place the whole sandwich, before slicing, on a large baking sheet, and toast/warm-up in a 350F preheated oven for about 5 minutes. 

Equipment

olive salad

Buy Now →

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 sandwich slice
  • Calories: 689
  • Sugar: 2.5g
  • Sodium: 2162.5mg
  • Fat: 44.2g
  • Saturated Fat: 14.4g
  • Carbohydrates: 45.1g
  • Fiber: 4.6g
  • Protein: 29g
  • Cholesterol: 78.6mg

Keywords: muffuletta, muffuletta recipe, muffaletta sandwich, muffuletta sandwich, muffuletta New Orleans

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @MOMables on Instagram and hashtag it #momables

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Reader Interactions

Comments

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. caryolyn

    March 13, 2023 at 3:09 pm

    I’ve been craving a muffaletta ever since my last visit to new orleans, love that i can make it at home now.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Linda

    January 01, 2023 at 7:38 am

    Must-make. My husband is from New Orleans and he was so excited when I made this

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  3. Del

    October 18, 2022 at 12:46 pm

    …..go a little heavier on the bottom.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Cynthia G

    March 02, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    Your recipe is wonderful. Brings back Central Grocery (one of my favorite things about New Orleans). I looked at the Boscoli olive salad and saw that it was mostly canola oil with a small amount of olive oil. Apparently there is another version that is 100% olive oil – however the person who mentioned it said it was 128 oz. size. I love olive salad, but not that much. Maybe you haven’t bought it since they changed. Since the Central Grocery brand has soybean oil it doesn’t seem much better. Would it work if I drain all the oil out of the jar and replace it with good olive oil? Thanks for your help.

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      March 07, 2022 at 3:36 pm

      Thank you for trying my recipe. You are correct that the bostoli olive salad is not 100% olive oil; but unfortunately, I have not been able to find an olive salad sold online (since my audience is from all-over the world) in a smaller jar. A 128oz size is huge!! lol

      Reply
      • Tommy

        October 14, 2022 at 6:17 pm

        Making muffulettas now ham , mortadella, salami, provolone, swiss. I use central grocery ouve salad I found at Rouses grocery. I’m in New Orleans. I think you can find the olive salad on line. It’s the best.

        Reply
        • Laura Fuentes

          October 25, 2022 at 1:52 pm

          That’s why I linked it in the post! For the non-locals… Amazon.

          Reply
  5. Vivian

    November 04, 2021 at 6:40 pm

    I plan to make this at home. I got the salad and bun from Rouses. My question is is there a good soup I can make to go with it?

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      November 09, 2021 at 8:36 am

      You can make gumbo or any of my soup recipes here.

      Reply
  6. HoftHome

    March 29, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    Instead of step 6, I heat the olive salad and both bread halves in a frying pan so that everything gets warm to the touch. The bread soaks up a lot of the olive oil so have extra on hand. The warm bread & meat adds a nice contrast to the still cold ham, salami, & cheese!

    Also, this recipe calls for a single layer of olive salad. I add warm olive salad directly on the bottom bread half, top that with all the meat, another warm olive salad layer, top that with all the cheese, then a third warm olive salad layer. Yes, it’s super-sloppy & just the way I like it!

    In my younger days I could eat a whole muffuletta in one sitting: those days are long gone!

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      April 06, 2021 at 2:59 pm

      The extra layers of olive salad sound like a dream!!

      Reply
  7. Morty Mortadella

    March 02, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    Wow. I had to substitute good ol’ bologna for the mortadella as there was no mortadella at our local deli. The deli manager told me there is a shortage of mortadella because of the pandemic. It is one of the most complex Italian meat coldcuts to make. Hope it makes a reappearance soon. This is a wonderful sandwich nonetheless. Excellent.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  8. Beryl

    August 25, 2020 at 2:36 am

    Wow, these were huge! We really enjoyed and there are lots of leftovers for tomorrow.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  9. Jimmy

    August 18, 2020 at 4:48 am

    It’s a great recipe for New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich. Easy to follow to make for my son. he loves it much. thank you for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      August 21, 2020 at 6:19 pm

      I agree! I’m glad you both enjoy it.

      Reply
  10. Margie

    August 15, 2020 at 11:47 am

    Great recipe!

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      August 21, 2020 at 6:21 pm

      Thank you, Margie!

      Reply
  11. Blanca

    August 15, 2020 at 11:24 am

    thanks for sharing this with us…i will try to make this wonderful Recipe…

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      August 21, 2020 at 6:21 pm

      I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply
    • Lynne

      October 14, 2021 at 10:59 am

      Where do you find the bread?

      Reply
      • Laura Fuentes

        October 14, 2021 at 3:03 pm

        At the grocery store by the bakery.

        Reply
  12. Carol

    July 01, 2020 at 10:55 am

    Great recipe! Made it yesterday a couple hours before dinner, wrapped it in saran wrap and weighted it down to flatten it, then cooked in my George Foreman grill, all of I know takes it from a true muffaletta to a muffaletta/panini hybrid, but it was GOOD! To finish up my New Orleans (I’m in Chicago) menu. I also made oyster stew and had some leftover corn salad which I realized was kinda like maque choux.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      July 20, 2020 at 7:00 pm

      Now, THAT is a genius idea. The press!

      Reply
  13. Martin Shumsky

    June 10, 2020 at 6:05 pm

    I’m 8 I made this for my family, It was great!!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      June 16, 2020 at 3:43 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!

      Reply
  14. Vickie Hill

    February 08, 2020 at 5:45 pm

    I have been wanting a great New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich. I just saw your recipe and I was so excited. I have to go buy all the ingredients and make it. I will let you know how it turns out. Thank you for sharing your recipe with the public. Have a Blessed Day! God Bless!!!

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      February 10, 2020 at 1:22 pm

      Enjoy, Vickie!

      Reply
      • Marina

        August 12, 2021 at 12:55 am

        I tried this last year. My family loved it. My son said “ mom it can’t get better then this” this is really Good!” So I thank you very much for sharing and now I share your recipes to my niece. Love it.

        ★★★★★

        Reply
  15. Gene Wagner

    December 20, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    I have used several different olive salads for use on salads & sandwiches, I noticed a new olive salad at Rouses Grocery I hadn’t seen before & decided to try it. Actually it is Central Grocery Olive
    Salad, made by them & it’s TERRIFIC.

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Laura Fuentes

      December 26, 2019 at 4:04 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed this New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe!

      Reply
      • Lorraine

        September 16, 2022 at 1:19 am

        Can you freeze muffulettas

        Reply
        • Laura Fuentes

          September 22, 2022 at 3:08 pm

          Yes, you can freeze muffulettas once fully assembled by wrapping the entire stuffed bread round in plastic wrap, then place it in a zip bag, and freeze it for up to 30 days. To enjoy it, remove the plastic wrap and thaw it overnight or on the counter for an hour. Wrap it in foil and warm it up in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes until heated through.

          Reply
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