Italian Sub Burger

A whole Italian sub sandwich, with a layer of smash burgers! Smash burgers are nice and thin, so they can easily be layered up with the capicola, ham, pepperoni, and salami. I made this originally with a thicker burger patty but updated the recipe recently with thin patties. It was a real upgrade!

The inspiration for this recipe

For the past several months, my feeds have been inundated with Italian Sandwiches. It’s hard enough for me to not crave an Italian sub under ordinary circumstances, but when I have to also look at them all day, forget it! I started concepting a burger-Italian sub mash-up, and realized thin smash burgers would be perfect. When you add the fresh veggies, oil and vinegar, and banana peppers, it’s next level!

Smash the burgers on the grill

These balls of meat are about 2.5 ounces each. Put them on the grill and season with salt. After a minute or two, flip them and smash!

Add onions and cheese

While the burger is flat and sticking to the grill, add some onions and salt. Then scrape it off the grill, flip, and top with provolone.

Time to build the Italian Sub Burger

Mayo and “deli dressing” on the bread first. You know the oil, vinegar, and herb mix? I usually buy it, but it’s easy to make too. Here is a recipe if you want to try it. You could also just use Italian salad dressing. There is already provolone on the burgers, but I wanted to add another small layer to the bread. This will also help insulate the bread from getting soaked through from the burgers.

Add the burgers and meats to the Italian sub

The thin smash burger patties first, then I added capicola, salami, ham, and pepperoni. I went lighter with the meat than I would have if I was making an Italian sub because there is plenty of meat from the burger itself, and I was worried about closing the sandwich properly.

Add the veggies to the Italian sub burger

Tomato, pickles, banana peppers, lettuce, and finally more deli dressing. In the winter I usually do roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes, but I made this in September when tomatoes are still perfect.

Roll and serve

Something I always say about sub sandwiches, hoagies, or cheesesteaks – if you want it to feel like takeout, you need to wrap it up! This Italian sub burger was full to the point of almost exploding. If I did not wrap it up tight, it would have fallen apart when I took a bite.

Twists on this recipe

You could serve this on a bun instead of as a sub sandwich. I would just use all the Italian sub ingredients as toppings, and drizzle on some oil and vinegar. Personally I think the sub version is more fun.

If you like unexpected burger toppings, check out my maple cotton candy burger, or this crazy egg salad burger – don’t knock it until you try it!