Porchetta Sandwich

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These porchetta sandwiches are crusty, meaty, and positively packed with flavor.

Servings:
4

This delicious Porchetta Sandwich recipe piles slices of the rich and flavorful Italian roast onto crusty rolls along with a homemade salsa verde and peppery arugula. To make the sauce, you’ll combine a finely chopped shallot with herbs like parsley, chives, and oregano, then whisk in olive oil, vinegar, and Dijon mustard until emulsified. This recipe calls for filone rolls, which is made from a type of yeasted Italian bread dough. Swap in the crustiest rolls you can find to hold up against the moist meat and oil-based sauce. Both the porchetta and sandwich recipe are courtesy of chef Justin Smillie.

porchetta-sandwich

All About Porchetta

Porchetta is a rich and succulent Italian roast made with either pork loin and belly (or both, like in the recipe linked above). To make it, the pork belly is scored, then sprinkled with a fragrant blend of herbs, garlic, fennel, and lemon. It's then rolled around a butterflied pork loin and tied up with kitchen twine into a cylinder. The whole thing is roasted low and slow until the fat is rendered and the pork is perfectly cooked and moist. It can be served in slices, but we love it as the star of a sandwich.

Porchetta Sandwich Ingredients

  • Porchetta: Making porchetta may seem intimidating, but as long as you have the ingredients and the right recipe, it's a fun and delicious challenge to take on when you have the time. You can also purchase a ready-to-cook porchetta roast online or at specialty grocers or butcher shops. Be sure to use both the meat and crackling on your sandwiches for the best texture.
  • Rolls: Look for the crustiest rolls you can find for this recipe, like sturdy sourdough or ciabatta. Avoid anything too soft or buttery, like brioche, as the juices from the meat and sauce may cause it to become soggy quickly.
  • Salsa verde: The herby, garlicky salsa verde provides the perfect foil to the sliced porchetta. If you're left with extra, save it for drizzling on grilled steak, shrimp, chicken, or fish. It'd also be delicious spooned over roasted or grilled eggplant, squash, or carrots.
  • Arugula: A handful of peppery arugula lends crunch and freshness to this sandwich. Instead of arugula, you could swap in a bitter green like frisée or radicchio.

Tip

If you have trouble locating Chardonnay vinegar for the salsa verde, you can swap in a basic white-wine vinegar, Champagne vinegar, or red-wine vinegar instead.

Ingredients

For the Salsa Verde

  • 1 shallot, very finely chopped

  • 6 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

  • 3 tablespoons minced chives

  • 3 tablespoons Chardonnay vinegar

  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

  • ½ teaspoon coarse salt

  • ¾ cup olive oil

  • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

  • Juice of 1 lemon

For the Sandwich

Directions

  1. Make the salsa verde:

    In a medium bowl, mix together shallot, parsley, chives, vinegar, oregano, and salt; whisk in olive oil until emulsified. Stir in mustard and lemon juice; set aside.

  2. Assemble sandwiches:

    Cover split sides of rolls with salsa verde. Place 3 porchetta slices and some of the crackling on one half of each of the rolls; top with arugula and sandwich together with remaining roll half; serve.

Storage

Cooked porchetta can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days. We don't recommend storing the assembled sandwiches as the bread will become soggy the longer the sandwiches sit.

What to Serve With Porchetta Sandwiches

These porchetta sandwiches are delicious on their own, but to round out the meal, you can serve a bitter green salad or a side of roasted radicchio, both of which would counter the richness of the meat. The sandwiches would be equally delicious alongside some crispy polenta fries or baked potato chips.

More Sandwich Recipes to Try:

Updated by
Esther Reynolds
Headshot of Esther Reynolds
Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and freelance writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.

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