Sandwich Cubano {Cuban Sandwich}
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These crispy, gooey Cuban sandwiches were made famous by cafes in Key West and Tampa over a century ago and remain just as popular today!
Sandwich Cubano is a combination of perfectly seasoned and roasted pork, deli ham, and Swiss cheese on crusty bread slathered with yellow mustard and dill pickles for a flavor explosion in every bite!
What makes a Cubano unique is the flavor of the pork. Mojo — a garlic lime sauce — is used in many Cuban recipes. The pork for these sandwiches is roasted in a combination of fresh orange and lime juices, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes.
This glorified grilled cheese sandwich is usually cooked in a panini press, but it can also be prepared on a grill pan using a cast iron skillet as the press — it’s super easy!
Looking for more delicious sandwich ideas? My mouth-watering grilled steak sandwich is piled high with tender beef and dressed with a zesty horseradish aioli. Or, you may enjoy my unique turkey melt with fresh veggies, smoked turkey, and Monterey Jack cheese.
Freaky Friday blog hop
Today is FREAKY FRIDAY, y’all! That may not mean a thing to you, but it’s pretty exciting for me. Freaky Friday is a fun blog project (the brainchild of Michaela from An Affair From the Heart) where a group of food bloggers secretly cook or bake a recipe from another blog they were assigned, then reveal the recipes at the same time on one Freaky Friday morning — that’s TODAY!
Sandwich Cubano: behind the recipe
I’d like to introduce you to Michelle, creator of A Dish of Daily Life blog and today’s delicious cuban sandwich. Michelle is a food blogger and photographer in Connecticut who specializes in easy-to-make healthy recipes that taste great.
She’s mom to three teenagers and seven furry friends, which makes for a very busy household! The whole family is active in sports year-round, from running, soccer, skiing and snowboarding.
Being a sports mom, Michelle is a fan of quick and easy meals — like soup and panini — that are perfect for busy nights after a game or practice. Her Ham, Brie, Apple and Spinach Panini with a homemade honey mustard sounds fabulous!
Please do me a favor and give Michelle some love by browsing around her blog. I promise you’ll find lots of delicious recipes like Mexican Casserole, Summer Pasta Salad, Easy Vegetable Risotto, and Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Broccoli to name a few.
My previous Freaky Friday recipes!
- Pan Seared Scallops with Lemon Butter
- Gourmet Italian Grilled Burgers
- Healthy Greek Coleslaw
- Nikki’s Pasta e Fagioli Soup
- Lemon Garlic Smashed Potatoes
- Peppermint Chocolate Drop Cookies
Key ingredients and substitutions
- Roast pork — Pork tenderloin is the long, narrow, boneless cut of meat alongside the backbone and is the most tender, even with quick cooking. Pork loin is not the same, so you shouldn’t substitute.
- Ham — Use thinly sliced deli ham (or your leftover spiral-sliced Christmas ham).
- Mustard — Plain yellow mustard has just the right amount of tang to pull together the flavors of the pickles and roast pork in this sandwich. If you want a spicier sandwich, you could try a stone-ground mustard.
- Pickles — Traditionally, thinly sliced dill pickles are preferred, but you may use sweet bread and butter pickles instead.
- Bread — An authentic Cubano is made on Cuban bread, a bullet-shaped slightly sweet roll that you can find at Latino bakeries. In lieu of that, a French loaf, Italian loaf, or ciabatta bread from your local grocery works as well.
Special equipment needed
A panini sandwich cooks on a very hot pan with ridges while being pressed down to create gorgeous grill marks. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Panini press grill — Made famous by George Foreman, this electric sandwich maker has removable grill plates for easy clean up. Place the sandwich in the grill, close the lid, and cook until golden.
- Grill pan and iron skillet — If you don’t have a panini press grill, you can improvise by cooking the sandwiches on a cast iron grill pan heated on top of the stove. Then, use the weight of an iron skillet as the press. OR….
- Iron skillet and grill press — Another option for cooking is to grill the sandwich in a cast iron skillet and use a grill press to weight down and press ridges into the sandwich.
How to make a cuban sandwich
STEP 1 | Roast the pork
- Brush a pork tenderloin with olive oil, mix up the spices and gently rub into the pork. Sear the meat in a hot skillet on all sides, then add the lime and orange juices to the pan.
- Finish cooking in a 425-degree oven until the pork’s internal temperature registers 145 degrees.
tips
- For an even more flavorful pork, add a couple of crushed garlic cloves to the skillet as you sear the meat.
- If time permits, rub the pork with the spices and let rest at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before cooking.
STEP 2 | Assemble the sandwiches
- If using Cubano bread, slice each piece horizontally. If using a French or Italian loaf, cut the bread into 7-inch sections, then carve each horizontally. You may also slice the loaf into 3/4-inch pieces.
- Once cool, carve the roasted pork into 1/4-inch slices.
- Spread mustard on the bread, then layer with pork slices, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles.
STEP 3 | Cook and press
- Heat the panini press or grill pan until very hot, but not smoking.
- Brush top and bottom of the sandwiches with olive oil, then place on the hot pan and weight down with an iron skillet or press.
- For the panini press, cook until the cheese is melty, about 3 to 5 minutes. For the grill pan, cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted.
Frequently asked questions
Purely personal preference here, but I always serve the Cubano while it’s still warm from the griddle. That being said, the sandwich was created as an easy to carry lunch for Cuban workers, so they probably ate it cold, or at room temperature.
From my research, the original Cuban sandwich recipe did not include mayonnaise or other condiments, like lettuce and tomatoes. However, there are several restaurants in the Florida Keys and Miami that have variations with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and even salami included.
Take a look at all of our 2021 Freaky Friday Spring Edition Recipes:
- A Dish of Daily Life – Smoky Chicken Street Tacos
- An Affair from the Heart – Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas with Cilantro Lime Butter
- An Affair from the Heart – Blueberry Mojitos
- Aunt Bee’s Recipes – Easy Chile Relleno Casserole
- The Carefree Kitchen – Glazed Lemon Cookies
- The Culinary Compass – Easy Candied Pecan Recipe
- Devour Dinner – Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf
- The Foodie Affair – Keto Broccoli Salad
- The Fresh Cooky – Bowtie Pasta Recipe
- Hostess at Heart – No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
- House of Nash Eats – Roast Beef Sliders
- Lemon Blossoms – Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars
- Lemoine Family Kitchen – Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Life, Love & Good Food – Sandwich Cubano
- Off the Eaten Path – Grilled Vegan Guacamole
- Or Whatever You Do – Blackstone Mexican Style Street Corn
- The Speckled Palate – Lemon Bars
- Take Two Tapas – Pepperoni Pizza Pinwheels
Sandwich Cubano {Cuban Sandwich}
Ingredients
Cuban Pork
- 1 ⅓ lb. pork tenderloin
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Sandwich Cubano
- 16- oz. French or Italian loaf
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- Sliced Cuban pork
- 1/2 lb. thinly sliced deli ham
- 1/2 lb. sliced Swiss cheese
- 1/3 cup dill pickle slices
Instructions
Cuban Pork
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Brush the pork tenderloin on all sides with the olive oil
- In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle evenly over the pork and rub in gently.
- In a large oven-safe skillet over medium high heat, sear the pork for 2 to 3 minutes on all sides, until lightly browned.
- Pour the lime and orange juices into the pan and rightly cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Transfer the skillet to the oven and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature registers between 145 – 160 degrees.
- Remove the roasted pork to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before carving into 1/4-inch pieces.
Sandwich Cubano
- If using Cubano bread, slice each piece horizontally. If using a French or Italian loaf, cut the bread into 7-inch sections, then carve each horizontally. You may also slice the loaf crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces for smaller sandwiches.
- Spread the cut side of the bread with mustard. For each sandwich, pile on the pork, deli ham, and Swiss cheese. Top with pickles and another slice of bread.
- Brush the outsides of the sandwiches with olive oil.
- Cook the sandwiches in a preheated panini press for until each side is golden and the cheese is melted, about 3 to 5 minutes. If using a grill pan, cook for about 3 minutes using an iron skillet or grill press to weight down the sandwiches. Flip and cook another 3 minutes, or until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. Serve warm.
Notes
- For an even more flavorful pork, add a couple of crushed garlic cloves to the skillet as you sear the meat.
- If time permits, rub the pork with the spices and let rest at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before cooking.
Nutrition
Life Love and Good Food does not claim to be a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information shared on this site is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
About Sheila Thigpen
Recipe Developer, Food Photographer, Food Writer
Sheila Thigpen is the publisher of Life, Love, and Good Food — a Southern food blog — and the author of Easy Chicken Cookbook and The 5-Ingredient Fresh and Easy Cookbook. After 20+ years in the publishing industry, she retired in 2018 to focus on her own creative endeavors full time. She and her husband live near the beautiful Smoky Mountains and have a precious little granddaughter who has stolen their hearts. As an influencer, Sheila has collaborated with brands like Creamette, Kroger, HERSHEY’S, Hamilton Beach, Garafalo Pasta, OXO, Smithfield, Valley Fig Growers, and more.
This is my favorite sandwich on earth! I love this recipe!
Oh Yum! This is going on my menu this week. I love all the flavors in this sandwich.
This sandwich is utterly dreamy! Who could say no to these ingredients and a pressed sandwich like this?!
You can never go wrong with Cuban sandwiches! Everything about this looks incredible.
I can’t get over how crispy this bread is and how that garlic lime sauce still lingers long after I have eaten the last bite! My family has already requested these for dinner tomorrow night again!
These sandwiches are so, so good! The flavors are so unusual with the savory meats, spicy mustard and pickles, and toasted bread! Love the interesting textures as well!
Absolutely perfect sandwich! Layers of huge flavors that work so perfectly together.
So much to love about this delicious, cheesy, flavorful sandwich! I have a tenderloin in the freezer, taking it out to make this next week!
When we were in Key West this past February I had the most amazing Cuban sandwich and I seriously dream about it! Making them went straight to the top of my must makes list and seeing this recipe just sealed the deal for me!!
This is one of my absolute favorite sandwiches! I will eat it warm, cold, for lunch, for dinner…and I never get tired of it! There is a now a local deli here that serves a good one, and I picked it up for lunch the other day. I wish I could find Cuban bread locally. LOVE your cast iron pan idea!
This sandwich looks incredible! I love that you even roasted your own pork for it.