How to make the best veggie sandwich
I love a good veggie sandwich. Every bite is filled with so many colors, textures, and flavors that it is beyond delicious. You can create an ultimate veggie sandwich using leftovers from your fridge. A meal or recipe is essential when you’re trying to eat on a budget.
It’s more a “how-to” than a “recipe” because the ingredients are flexible. You’re likely to use a different combination of components than I used. This is because I couldn’t accurately measure some ingredients or calculate their cost. But I bet it was less expensive than $8 for a sandwich of vegetables at a deli.
Below is a recipe with the ingredients I used to make my sandwich. Anyone who wants to try and duplicate it can find this card.
Choose your bread
I recommend hearty, good bread for a veggie sandwich, such as wheat bread, sourdough bread, focaccia, or ciabatta. It should withstand the veggies’ texture without ripping and provide some weight to your stomach compared to light vegetables. If you want to make your bread yourself, no-knead bread and focaccia are great options.
A large tortilla could be used to wrap your sandwich. You could also use a pita pocket, but it may be hard to fit all the veggies without ripping.
The sandwich in the pictures was made with Dave’s Killer Bread Good Seed flavor. This was my first experience with this bread. While it was sturdy enough to make a sandwich, the taste was too sweet and a tad softer than I would have liked.
CHOOSE YOUR BREAD
Sandwich spreads add moisture, flavor, and a bit of fat to the sandwich, giving it a satisfying mouthfeel.
I made a quick scallion herb cream cheese spread, a smaller version of my Cream Cheese Spread. I mixed 2oz. Cream cheese, one green onion sliced, 1/2 tsp of lemon juice, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/8 teaspoon dried dill.
Sandwich spreads that are also suitable include:
Hummus
Guacamole
Pesto
Mayo or a pesto mayo mix
The thick salad dressings like ranch or Green Goddess
Boursin
Marinara
Garlic Aioli
Add Cheese (Optional)
As my spread was technically cheese, I did not add any cheese. It’s incredible how much cheese you can add to a sandwich. Here are some great cheese choices for veggie sandwiches.
White cheddar
Feta
Goat cheese (chevre)
Havarti
Swiss
Fresh mozzarella
PILE ON THE VEGGIES
Here’s where the fun begins! I grabbed an old carrot from my produce drawer and sliced it up with a tomato and cucumber. I also used half of the red bell pepper I had left over the day before. I also added some alfalfa seeds because I like the texture they add to the sandwich. You can also add other vegetables:
Sliced button mushroom or grilled Portobello
Avocado
Coleslaw (this could be used as a combo ingredient for a vegetable spread)
Pickles
Red onion
Roasted red Peppers
Fresh or grilled zucchini
Roasted beets, thinly sliced
Sauer kraut
Jalapeno
Fresh herbs such as parsley and cilantro
Broccoli (chopped Finely)
Slice your vegetables thinly to keep them tightly packed. It’s best to shred or chop hard vegetables like carrots into small pieces. I grated my carrot with a cheese grater, but I would chop broccoli finely.
Top with Extras
A little extra spice will never hurt, especially when so many vegetables are piled on one sandwich. You can add other things to the tomato layer, such as Italian herbs, sunflowers seeds, everything-bagel seasoning, crushed pepper, Furikake, or nutritional yeast. Even a sliced Hard Boiled Egg could be fun!
VEGETARIAN SANDWICH IDEAS
Here are some other ideas for a fun combo of veg sandwiches before we go into the details.
Green Goddess dressing: Spinach, sprouts, and avocado on any bread.
Roasted Veggies: Hummus with roasted peppers, roasted portobellos and zucchini, feta cheese, bagel spice, and any bread.
The “Pizza: Marinara sauce, grilled or roast eggplant or Portobellos, Italian seasonings, salt, Pepper, black olives, red onions, and fresh mozzarella on ciabatta.
Coleslaw Sandwich Creamy coleslaw with tomato, Swiss cheese, Havarti, and salt and pepper on sourdough.
Cucumber Sandwich: Thinly cut cucumbers, Dilly Cream Cheese Spread, Spinach.
Ingredients
Scallion Cream Cheese
2 oz. cream Cheese
Green onion, one sliced
Half a teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 tsp of garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried dill
One pinch of salt
Sandwich
Two slices of hearty bread
Six slices of cucumber
Two slices of tomato
One handful spinach
One carrot, shred
Red bell pepper, 1/2 lb
Alfalfa sprouts – 1 handful
One pinch of salt
One pinch of pepper
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine the ingredients to make the scallion-cream cheese (I used a spoon).
Toast the bread lightly. Spread cream cheese on one side of the bread.
Close the sandwich by piling the vegetables on the bread. Enjoy by cutting it in half.