Classic New Orleans muffuletta recipe scaled down to serve one person. Layers of meats, melted cheese, and olive salad piled high onto sturdy Italian bread.
This authentic New Orleans muffuletta recipe is a scaled-down version of the muffuletta recipe I use for parties and large gatherings. Our muffuletta is packed with meats and our homemade olive salad which is traditionally found on the original muffulettas at Central Grocery in New Orleans.
If you're looking for other authentic New Orleans recipes, you might like to try our single-serving jambalaya, shrimp creole, or seafood gumbo recipes.
Jump to:
- What Is A Muffuletta?
- Where Did The Muffuletta Originate?
- Why This Recipe Works
- Ingredients
- Ingredient Notes: The Bread, The Olive Salad, And The Fillings
- How To Make A Muffuletta
- Expert Tips
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
- More Single Serving Authentic New Orleans Recipes
- Recipe
What Is A Muffuletta?
A Muffuletta is a deli sandwich filled with ham, pastrami, pepperoni or salami, and provolone cheese. The key ingredient in a Muffuletta is the olive salad which is the sandwich's signature trait.
The word muffuletta means soft and spongy bread. The spelling varies based upon which region in Sicily you're from and can be spelled muffuletta, muffeletta, or muffaletta.
Where Did The Muffuletta Originate?
Although Italian, the muffuletta didn't originate in Italy. It is the creation of Sicilian immigrant, Salvatore Lupo who arrived in New Orleans in the early 1900s and opened Central Grocery. He developed this sandwich for his customers, many of whom were farmers who would order bread, sliced cold cuts, olives, and cheese. Since they would eat standing, Mr. Lupo decided to put all of those ingredients together in a sandwich to make it easier for his customers to enjoy.
Growing up in New Orleans, my family and I visited Central Market often and I have many fond memories of sharing a muffuletta with my parents. This single-serving recipe is my version of this legendary muffuletta.
Why This Recipe Works
- Incredibly delicious: The flavors are perfect in this mini muffuletta recipe. Layers of ham, pastrami, pepperoni, and provolone cheese are piled high on a small loaf of sturdy bread. But the key ingredient, in my opinion, is the traditional olive salad. Green olives, black olives, and carrots are put in a food processor and finely chopped. Then, we stir in olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese to pull it all together.
- Easy to make: Assembling a muffuletta is as easy as making a sandwich. Double or triple the ingredient amounts to make additional individual muffulettas.
- The perfect muffuletta bread: The bread you use in a muffuletta is extremely important. When making a large muffuletta, I use a loaf of French or Italian bread but when making a single muffuletta I like to use a ciabatta roll (or two rolls if they happen to be small). Whichever type of bread you use, make sure it's sturdy enough to hold all of the ingredients together.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes: The Bread, The Olive Salad, And The Fillings
See below for ways to use leftover ingredients.
Muffuletta Bread
The perfect bread for a muffuletta is hard to find outside of New Orleans. A Sicilian sesame loaf is a large, wide loaf covered with sesame seeds. Since I no longer live in New Orleans and can't easily find this bread I use either french or Italian bread. When making small muffulettas, soft ciabatta rolls, focaccia, or sourdough make excellent substitutes. You may like to use our french bread recipe to make a small loaf of french bread and use a part of it to make your muffuletta.
For this mini muffuletta recipe, I'm using two small ciabatta rolls (as shown in the photos). I can often find larger ones that are great for using to make a single muffuletta but the ones I purchased were much smaller, so I've divided the ingredients between the two rolls.
The Olive Salad
The olive spread recipe is a take on Central Grocery's olive salad mix which is an essential element of a true muffuletta sandwich. Our small batch olive salad contains pitted green and black olives, a medium carrot, grated Parmesan cheese, and olive oil. It comes together easily in a food processor. If you'd like to make a little extra to use later, just double or triple the ingredient amounts.
The Cold Cuts
Most muffuletta sandwiches are made with 3 types of deli meat along with cheese. I use ham, pastrami, pepperoni, and provolone. Feel free to use slices of salami, mortadella, prosciutto, capicola, or coppa instead of one or two of the ones we use in our recipe. You can use mozzarella or swiss cheese instead of provolone if necessary.
Heated or Unheated
I prefer to enjoy my individual muffuletta heated but the choice as to whether or not to heat yours is entirely up to you. To heat, brush a little bit of melted butter over the top of the bread and wrap the muffuletta in aluminum foil tightly. Bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes.
How To Make A Muffuletta
See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Gather the ingredients together and read through the recipe and the ingredient notes. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Make the olive salad: Place the green olives, black olives, and a chopped carrot in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
- Assemble the sandwich: Slice the bread horizontally and on one half, layer the meats, then the cheese, and then top with the olive salad. Place the other half of the bread on top.
Pro Tip: For this recipe, I used two small ciabatta rolls and each roll measures approximately 4 inches x 2 inches. If you use a single roll that is larger than 4 inches x 4 inches, you may need to increase the amount of filling accordingly.
- Place the muffuletta on top of a sheet of foil. Brush the top of the bread with melted butter.
- Heat the sandwich: Wrap the muffuletta in aluminum foil and place it on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any possible spills.
Note: As mentioned above, since my rolls are small, I'm making two mini muffulettas.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Remove the sandwich from the oven and before unwrapping, gently push down on the top of the sandwich.
- Unwrap and enjoy hot.
Expert Tips
- Make Ahead: You can make the olive salad ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Assemble the sandwich up to two days in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to enjoy it.
- Gently press down on the heated sandwich before eating. This is an important step because it allows the olive salad's juices to absorb into the bread.
- Recipe doubles well: If you'd like to make another muffuletta, just double the ingredient amounts. The olive salad can stand on its own as a flavorful spread, consider making a double batch of the olive salad and enjoy it with pita chips.
- For this recipe, I used two small ciabatta rolls and each roll measures approximately 4 inches x 2 inches. If you use a single roll that is larger than 4 inches x 4 inches, you may need to increase the amount of filling accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
The authentic muffuletta recipe I use when I want to make a muffuletta for a party or for tailgating is Isabel's Famous New Orleans Muffuletta Recipe.
Yes, the olive salad is an essential part of a muffuletta. If you leave it off it will not be an authentic muffuletta sandwich.
This small muffuletta is a hearty meal in itself but I love to enjoy crispy potato or kettle chips and an ice-cold beer with mine.
Many people say the most important part of a traditional muffuletta sandwich is the meat but I actually think it's the olive tapenade. If you'd like to eliminate the meat from this sandwich and make a vegetarian muffuletta, roast vegetables and use them instead of the meats. Consider using quartered red bell peppers, broccoli florets, and/or diced eggplant instead. To roast, place the vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle them with a little bit of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Roast the vegetables at 425°F for 20 to 25 minutes.
Leave the Parmesan cheese out of the olive spread or use vegetarian Parmesan or nutritional yeast instead.
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this mini muffuletta recipe, you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
- Olives: Roasted Garlic, Olives, and Feta, Greek Salad, Portobello Mushroom Pizza, Nachos, Smoked Salmon Platter
- Carrots: Coq au Vin, Split Pea Soup, Chicken Tortellini Soup, Carrot Cake, Carrot Souffle, Roasted Carrots
- Parmesan cheese: Chicken Piccata, Chicken Parmesan, Vegetable Lasagna, Baked Chicken Tenders, Hot Spinach Dip, Alfredo Sauce
- Deli meat: Chicken Cordon Bleu, Egg Wrap, Pizza, Pizza Bowl, Crustless Spinach Quiche, Italian Pasta Salad
- Cheese: Roasted Potato Crustless Quiche, Breakfast Sandwich, Frittata, Ham and Cheese Scones, Beer Bread
- Olive oil: Pad Thai, Chili Mac, Mushroom Casserole, Salmon Rice Bowl, Chickpea Curry, Cowboy Caviar
More Single Serving Authentic New Orleans Recipes
- Crawfish Etouffee
- Gumbo
- Jambalaya
- Shrimp Creole
- Pralines
- Bread Pudding With Whiskey Sauce
- Crawfish Beignets
- Red Beans and Rice
- Bananas Foster
- Crawfish Pasta
- King Cake
For more information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page.
For examples of the dishes used at One Dish Kitchen, please visit our Store page.
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Recipe
Mini Muffuletta
See the post above for expert tips,
FAQs and ways to use leftover ingredients.
Equipment
- aluminum foil for wrapping the sandwich
Ingredients
For the olive salad
- 8 pitted green olives
- 6 pitted black olives
- 1 medium carrot , peeled and rough chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin olive oil is recommended)
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
For the muffuletta
- 1 (4x4-inch) ciabatta roll (or use 2 rolls if your roll is small)
- 2 slices ham (2-ounces/48 grams)
- 2 slices pastrami (2-ounces/48 grams)
- 5 slices pepperoni (.5-ounce/15 grams)
- 2 slices provolone cheese (1.5-ounce/40 grams)
- ½ tablespoon butter , melted
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients together and read through the recipe and the ingredient notes. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
Make the olive salad
- Place the green olives, black olives, and a chopped carrot in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Assemble the muffuletta
- Slice the bread horizontally and on one half, layer the meats, then the cheese, and then top with the olive salad. Place the other half of the bread on top.
- Place the muffuletta on top of a sheet of foil. Brush the top of the bread with melted butter.
- Wrap the muffuletta in aluminum foil and place it on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any possible spills.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Remove the sandwich from the oven and before unwrapping, gently push down on the top of the sandwich.
- Unwrap and enjoy hot.
Notes
- Make Ahead: You can make the olive salad ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Assemble the sandwich up to two days in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to enjoy it.
- Gently press down on the heated sandwich before eating. This is an important step because it allows the olive salad's juices to absorb into the bread.
- Recipe doubles well: If you'd like to make another muffuletta, just double the ingredient amounts. The olive salad can stand on its own as a flavorful spread, consider making a double batch of the olive salad and enjoy it with pita chips.
- For this recipe, I used two small ciabatta rolls and each roll measures approximately 4 inches x 2 inches. If you use a single roll that is larger than 4 inches x 4 inches, you may need to increase the amount of filling accordingly.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Gina says
I have always loved and made this. I get the genuine New Orleans bottled spread on Amazon. I have only made it cold which I prefer. I weight the sandwich down on a tray in the fridge with heavy cans. Nice to read your version.
J.Hegyi says
Good recipe.