Italian Sandwich Summer Rolls
All the flavors you love from an Italian sandwich, shoved tight into a rice paper summer roll! Chewy, crunchy, and deeply flavorful, these “summer” rolls are great all year long! It’s a unique way to get the full flavors of an Italian sub in a perfect little appetizer. It also happens to be gluten free so everyone can enjoy it without worrying!
The idea for Italian Sandwich Summer Rolls
Summer rolls and Italian sandwiches are two of my favorite foods to mash-up with other things, so I am actually surprised I haven’t put them together until now! I recently saw my friend The Vulgar Chef do an Italian sub sushi roll and it made me think of this summer roll version!
Make the salad for the center of the roll
My favorite part of an Italian sub is the toppings. If the toppings aren’t flavorful the whole sandwich will fail. I mixed my favorite toppings, roasted red pepper, lettuce, and banana peppers, in a bowl with some rice noodles to make the filling.
Build the Italian Sandwich Summer Roll
Start with the rice paper. You only need to dip this into the water for a few seconds. As you can see in the photo below, you can still see the pattern on the paper. If the pattern is gone before you start adding the fillings you probably soaked it too long.
Pepperoni, salami, ham, provolone, and then the salad mixture!
Roll up the Italian Sandwich Summer Roll
Make sure you roll it up as tight as you possibly can. As you can see the pattern is starting to disappear because the water is still absorbing into the paper. Don’t worry if you rip the paper at this point because I like to double wrap it. Dip the second paper and wrap it around the first.
Make the salad dressing dip
The dip is inspired by Italian dressing and “sub sauce” I added some oil and balsamic to a bowl with garlic, dried Italian herbs, and mustard. I also added a little soy sauce since this is still a summer roll after all.
Serve the Italian Sandwich Summer Rolls
Cut them in half and line them up on a plate with the dipping sauce. So good!
I like how you can see the meats just enough through the paper. You know what this roll is just by glancing! The summer rolls taste so good, the textures are amazing and the sauce is just what you need to make them taste like a perfect italian sandwich!
Twists on this recipe
You could mix in your favorite toppings to he salad mixture. Some tomato and onion would be great too. Now that I think about it, I meant to add a little shaved red onion. Oops! You could also do this with any sandwich you love. Turkey, roast beef, pastrami? It all sounds good to me!
To lean more about making authentic summer rolls, check out this recipe.
For more of my unique summer rolls, check out my shrimp scampi rolls, shrimp avocado corn rolls, and these teriyaki mango rolls!
Italian Sandwich Summer Rolls
Ingredients
Dip
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari for Gluten Free)
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 clove garlic crushed or grated
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Filling salad mixture
- 1 romaine heart shredded as thin as possible
- 2 ounces vermicelli rice noodles soaked in boiling water until tender
- 1/4 cup banana peppers drained and chopped
- 1/4 cup roasted red peppers drained and chopped
Rolls
- 12 rice paper wrappers
- 12 slices pepperoni
- 12 slices salami
- 6 slices ham
- 12 slices provolone
Instructions
- Mix all the dip ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside until ready to use. It will probably separate and you will need to whisk it again just before using.
- Chop the rice noodles a bit if they are too long. Add all the salad filling ingredients to a bowl and toss to combine.
- Prepare a wide bowl filled with room temperature water.
- Dip one rice paper into the water. Top two pepperoni slices, two salami slices, one ham slice, and two provolone slices. Add some of the salad mix to the middle.
- Roll up the rice paper and tuck in the sides to form the summer roll. Dip a second rice paper and use it to double wrap the roll.
- Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
- Slice the rolls in half and serve with the sauce.
Fabulous! My guests ate them so fast I should have made triple. Easy, unique, unbelievably tasty – the dip is killer. I’m bitter that I only got one. Thank you!
My son forwarded this recipe to me after it was a hit with his family of 5. I was skeptical because I don’t crave salami or pepperoni but I made it anyway to see what he was so hyped about. Oh my gosh, I loved it! It was so darned tasty. Thanks for the great recipe.