Air Fryer Italian Sandwiches + Grinder Salad
Crispy, buttery bread layered with ham, pepperoni, salame + provolone cheese- topped with a zesty grinder salad
Creator: Leslie Stokes
Every mom needs one or two quick + easy meals in her back pocket for those busy week nights when she is just too drained to cook.
For me, those nights are quiet often.
Life has been so busy lately and one night I was just not in the mood to cook dinner, so I went in the fridge and simply said “ya’ll are having sandwiches for dinner”. I came up with these and my family has been hooked ever since. In fact. we have actually made sandwich night a “thing” and I’m totally fine with it. lol
What is a grinder Salad?
Grinder Salad is just a fancy way of dressing up a sanwhich. There is just something about chopping up everything and tossing it in mayo + seasonings that makes it taste so much better! It reminds me of getting a sandwich “mike’s way” at Jersey Mike’s- I always add pepperonchini’s!
For all of my Healthy-ish mamas-
I usually try not to eat gluten and I also T-R-Y to cut carbs at dinner, so I like taking the bread off of my sandwich and throwing in a bowl with the grider salad.
I usually make these on hawaiian sweet rolls, but this time I tried it on pretzel rolls. Although I liked the flavor, I do prefer these on hawaiian rolls.
Ingredients:
- hawaiian rolls
- ham
- salame
- pepperoni
- shredded lettuce
- red onions
- pepperonchini’s
- tomato
- salt + Pepper
- parlsey
- garlic powder
- mayo
- butter
Air Fryer Italian Sandwiches + Grinder Salad
Equipment
- air fryer or oven at 400°
Ingredients
- 1 package of hawaiin rolls or any kind of rolls/hoagies you like
- 1/4 lb ham
- 1/4 lb pepperoni
- 1/4 lb salame
- 6 slices provolne cheese
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp parsley
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- tomato slices for topping
For the Grinder Salad
- 1 bag shredded lettuce or about 3 cups
- 1/4 of a red onion- thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pepperoncinis + 1/8 cup of the juice
- 1/4 cup mayo
- salt + pepper to taste
Let's Make It
- Preheat the air fryer or oven to 400°
- Cut the rolls in half and spread a thin layer of mayo over the top and the bottom.I usually use hawaiian rolls for this recipe, but I tried some pretzel rolls this time. I liked them, but honestly, they are better on hawaiian rolls.
- Layer on the ham, pepperoni, salame + cheese.If using hawaiian rolls, I like to add the cheese to the bottom so that way it's easier to pull the tops off the sandwiches to stuff with the salad.
- Place just the bottom half of the sandwiches into the air fryer to melt the cheese and heat up the meat for about 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl- melt the butter and add in the salt, parlsey, garlic.
- Pull them out and add the top half of the buns on and the top with the melted butter. Place back in the air fryer for another 3-5 minutes.
- While the sandwiches are cooking- add the lettuce, onions, pepperonchinis, juice, mayo, salt + pepper into a bowl and stir until combined.
- When the sandwiches are browned and crispy, pull them out and add the grinder salad to the middle lay of the sandwiches and top with tomato!
