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!
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?
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.
Olive Oil: I like to moisten my halves with some good Spanish extra virgin olive oil.
Then you have the Capicola ham and salami. Ask the person behind the counter to slice them thin.
Thinly sliced mozzarella and smoked provolone…
Start placing the olive salad in the middle and then work your way out.
This is the most beautiful pie I’ve seen in a long time…
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.
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
PrintNew Orleans Muffuletta Recipe
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.
- 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
- Slice the round bread in half and open both sides on a flat surface.
- 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.
- Begin layering thre ham, salami, and mortadella on the bottom half of the bread. Top with cheeses.
- 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.
- Using a bread knife, slice into 4 to 6 wedges.
- 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
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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
caryolyn
I’ve been craving a muffaletta ever since my last visit to new orleans, love that i can make it at home now.
★★★★★
Linda
Must-make. My husband is from New Orleans and he was so excited when I made this
★★★★★
Del
…..go a little heavier on the bottom.
★★★★★
Cynthia G
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.
★★★★
Laura Fuentes
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
Tommy
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.
Laura Fuentes
That’s why I linked it in the post! For the non-locals… Amazon.
Vivian
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?
Laura Fuentes
You can make gumbo or any of my soup recipes here.
HoftHome
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!
Laura Fuentes
The extra layers of olive salad sound like a dream!!
Morty Mortadella
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.
★★★★★
Beryl
Wow, these were huge! We really enjoyed and there are lots of leftovers for tomorrow.
★★★★★
Jimmy
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!
★★★★★
Laura Fuentes
I agree! I’m glad you both enjoy it.
Margie
Great recipe!
Laura Fuentes
Thank you, Margie!
Blanca
thanks for sharing this with us…i will try to make this wonderful Recipe…
★★★★★
Laura Fuentes
I hope you enjoy it!
Lynne
Where do you find the bread?
Laura Fuentes
At the grocery store by the bakery.
Carol
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.
★★★★★
Laura Fuentes
Now, THAT is a genius idea. The press!
Martin Shumsky
I’m 8 I made this for my family, It was great!!!!
★★★★★
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Vickie Hill
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!!!
Laura Fuentes
Enjoy, Vickie!
Marina
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.
★★★★★
Gene Wagner
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.
★★★★
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad you enjoyed this New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe!
Lorraine
Can you freeze muffulettas
Laura Fuentes
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.