The Best Chopped Sandwiches On TikTok
It is commonly believed that the sandwich was invented in the 18th century by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Because he did not want to leave the table while gambling, he requested that someone bring him beef between two slices of toast. Or did he? The oldest use of the word sandwich is found in a 1762 diary entry. Three years later, the story of the gambling earl was written down by Pierre-Jean Grosley.
Whether or not the Earl of Sandwich actually had any influence on the food item's naming or popularity isn't known, but popular it became. What child in the United States didn't grow up with peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches?
BLTs and po' boys rose to prominence in the early 20th century in the U.S., but sandwiches really took off after Otto Rohwedder introduced the bread slicer in 1928. People have allowed their sandwich imaginations to run wild ever since.
With the introduction of the Internet and social media, when one person has a great idea for a new sandwich, they can easily share it with the world, like with the TikTok chopped sandwich trend. A chopped sandwich is exactly what it sounds like: ingredients are all chopped together, then sandwiched between two slices of bread or onto a roll. While the possibilities are practically endless, we've gathered some of the most innovative new combos and tastiest classics to be found on the platform.
Chopped Italian sub
A classic Italian sub has salami, pepperoni, ham, cheese, tomato, onion, and lettuce layered on a sliced baguette and drizzled with a simple dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar. No one can say exactly where this style of submarine sandwich, hero, hoagie, or whatever it is called in your neighborhood, originated. But the first person to chop all of the ingredients together before scooping them onto the bread (and filming the result) is believed to be TikTok user @big_erics_bbq.
To make your own chopped Italian sub, all you need is a solid cutting board (you don't want to ruin your kitchen counters, after all) and a large, sharp knife for chopping. It's easy to make a mess when chopping all of these ingredients together, so a large chopping surface that will help contain everything is ideal.
The chopped Italian sub is perfect for sack lunches, picnics, road trips, or any time you are on the go and need a quick, hearty, and tasty bite to eat.
Chopped Cubano
The Cubano, also known as a Cuban sandwich, is popular in the U.S. but especially so in Florida. This is particularly true in the Miami and Tampa regions, where large populations of Cuban immigrants have settled and created their own unique culinary traditions. The basic construction of a Cuban sandwich consists of layers of ham, Swiss cheese, and slices of dill pickle, as well as a generous helping of mustard. Sometimes salami is included, as well as additional condiments. The assembled sandwich is flattened and typically cooked using a flattops, grill, or sandwich press.
The most key ingredient of a Cubano, the one that sets this sandwich apart from all the other ham and cheese combos, is the use of Cuban bread. Long and crispy on the outside like a baguette, but soft on the inside, Cuban bread is a specialty of South Florida Cuban communities. It can be difficult to find elsewhere, so French-style bread is often substituted.
When making a chopped Cubano, you could skip the grilling, especially if you don't plan on eating the sandwich right away. However, grilling the sandwich after you have scooped the chopped ingredients onto the bread is downright transitive. The process melts the cheese, warms the ham, toasts the bread, and offers the fullest experience of this signature Cuban sandwich.
Chopped poutine sandwich
Speaking of iconic foods that are associated with a specific country, next up we have the chopped poutine sandwich. You may be wondering why this is here, as poutine isn't a sandwich in its original firm. But we said this chopped sandwich trend is all about letting your imagination run wild, and that is precisely what TikTok user @gulasgrub did when he created the chopped poutine sandwich.
The concept is so simple that we think it's a wonder we haven't seen this before. Start with crispy hot French fries, then add a handful of squeaky cheese curds and a ladle of hot gravy. Chop them all together and scoop the delicious mixture onto a slice of bread.
Other toppings can be added if you're feeling creative, such as a few slices of crispy bacon, which @gulasgrub does in his TikTok. There are also several different varieties of poutine you could play with here, like ones that use butter chicken, pizza, or mushroom. Consider substituting conventional fries with ones made from sweet potato. Because poutine is best eaten warm, this is another chopped sandwich that would greatly benefit from being grilled oe cooked on a stovetop.
Chopped muffuletta
The muffuletta, also sometimes spelled as muffaletta, is a sandwich that is unique to New Orleans. It was reportedly invented in 1906 by Lupo Salvatore, who was attempting to sell to local Sicilian immigrant workers in his store, the Central Grocery in the city's French Quarter. Salvatore had noticed that his customers were buying loaves of muffuletta bread, sliced meat, cheese, and olive salad for their lunches. It only made sense to sell these ingredients together as a premade sandwich.
Since you're already chopping ingredients for the olive salad, why not take a small extra step and chop everything together? Grab a variety of sliced Italian meats, such as soppressata, salami, mortadella, prosciutto, and capicola (though feel free to mix and match). Sliced provolone is usually the cheese of choice. Both olive salad and giardiniera are classic additions and can be made fresh or purchased ready-made from a store.
Rather than slather this on a slice of muffuletta right away, it's worth waiting a little bit. Allow the ingredients to marinate together, enhancing the unique flavors found in this distinctly New Orleans classic. If you want a side, forgoing the bread altogether also makes for a nice chopped salad.
Chopped Caprese sub
The light and refreshing Caprese salad is quite possibly one of the most well known salads in the world. It was named for the isle of Capri, where it may or may not have been invented. In Italy, the Caprese salad is also known as insalata Tricolore, or tricolor salad, because it contains the three colors of the Italian flag: green, white, and red.
The ingredients are basic but go together beautifully. Simply alternate slices of mozzarella and fresh tomato, then dot the plate with whole leaves of sweet basil. Drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil, add a sprinkle of salt to bring out more flavor, and there you have it: a Caprese salad. Some people also add a bit of balsamic vinegar for a hit of sweetness and acidity.
To turn this simple salad into a sumptuous sub, take those slices of mozzarella and tomato and get to chopping. Cutting up the basil leaves will release the herb's flavor and its aroma, too.
Left as-is, the Caprese salad sub is a terrific vegetarian meal. However, a combination pizza and sub shop in Somerville, Massachusetts called Mortadella Head created the chopped turkey caprese that may also be worth a try. It is made with sliced turkey, prosciutto, provolone, tomatoes, lettuce, basil, salt and pepper, a house vinaigrette made from olive oil and red wine vinegar, and pesto mayonnaise all served on a baguette.
Chopped BLT
While on the subject of classics, we have to talk about the BLT. Yes, you may stick with the bacon, lettuce, and tomato when crafting this sandwich, but you can also easily mix it up. There are more combinations of BLTs than one could possibly count, and they are all so easy to chop. If you need inspiration, just search TikTok for #choppedblt.
For starters, why stop at sandwich bread? Try a baguette or a hoagie roll. Bonus points if it's toasted. Mayonnaise is an expecially nice addition to the chopped BLT because it helps the ingredients adhere to one another. A fried egg and avocado are other popular BLT additions that also happen to meld beautifully with the chopped version.
A BLT is very similar to a club sandwich, which, at its core, is a BLT with the addition of mayonnaise and sliced turkey or chicken. It's difficult to say which sandwich came first. But as far as chopping goes, a slice of turkey or chicken is a proven tasty sandwich mate, and so you wouldn't be wrong to add it to your own chopped BLT.
Chopped Caesar sub
The Caesar salad is another one of the most famous salads in the world. While there is some dispute over which individual first mixed the salad, there is little doubt as to where and when it happened: in Tijuana, Mexico in the 1920s. And no, it isn't named for Rome's Julius Caesar. Instead, it was given the title after Italian immigrant Cesare Cardini, who is said to have assembled the salad one fortuitious day.
Today, many variations of the Caesar salad abound, and you are more than welcome to use any of them to make your chopped Caesar sub. But, if you want to stick to the original recipe, gather crisp romaine lettuce, a bottle of Cardini's Original dressing, fresh Parmesan cheese, and a lemon. Caesar salads also include croutons, but in this case, the bread can stand in for them.
Mortadella Head, the pizza and sandwich shop that served the chopped Caprese salad sub mentioned above, also makes a Caesar salad sub that is punched up with prosciutto and a fried chicken cutlet.
Chopped Greek sandwich
There are actually a few different ways this chopped sandwich has popped up on TikTok. First, there is the version that takes its cue from Greek salad, with all of its bright colors and flavors of the Greek islands. It may surprise you to learn that traditional Greek salads do not contain lettuce. Instead, what you need are tomatoes, a cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, chickpeas, feta cheese, and, of course, Kalamata olives for their signature briny taste. Top it all off with a vinaigrette. Just be sure to remove the pits in the olives before chopping your ingredients and scooping the mixture onto your bread or into a pita.
If you are more interested in a chopped salad inspired by Greek flavors, go wild with the lettuce as well as any combination of the ingredients listed above. TikTok user @gulasgrub created a chopped sub sandwich with chicken souvlaki, tomatoes, onion, homemade tzatziki, and crispy French fries to round out this complete meal in one sandwich. Of course, if you don't like the idea of French fries in a sandwich, you can always enjoy them on the side as you would with a normal gyro. And you can't go wrong with a nice warm pita to wrap it all up in.
Chopped hot dog sub
Yes, "hot dog" is a broad category that comes with seemingly countless subheadings. If you are feeling skeptical, stick with us anyway, because TikTok has some terrific suggestions for chopped hot dog and hot dog-adjacent sandwiches.
First, there are the classic regional hot dogs to consider, such as the Chicago dog, Coney Island hot dog, Fenway frank, and Cleveland Polish boy, any of which would be fun to play around with to create a sub sandwich. We think the hot dogs containing chili sound especially tantalizing. And don't forget about cheese!
Hot dogs are basically an American style of sausage. If you follow them to their roots in Europe, so many more sandwich options open up before you. TikTok user @gulasgrub created a chopped sandwich inspired by Germany that uses bratwurst as well two other kinds of sliced wurst, sauerkraut, mustard, and more.
In another chopped sandwich that takes inspiration from the Netherlands, he uses rookwurst, a kind of Dutch sausage. The Netherlands already has a culinary practice known prakken, which means mashing different foods together on your plate. Considering there are multiple kinds of Dutch sausages, this is one cuisine you could go to town on when it comes to making a chopped sandiwch.
Chopped full English breakfast
Breakfast sandwiches are everywhere these days. There's the BLT, of course, but just about any fast food restaurant that is open in the morning has some sort of egg, cheese, bacon, and/or sausage combination on a bagel, biscuit, or English muffin. And sure, you could chop those ingredients together, and they'd probably taste excellent. But maybe you're here to get a little wild with it. Have you considered a sandwich made from a full English breakfast?
A lot goes into a full English breakfast. While there is no set list of items, expect to find fried eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and toast. Sometimes you will also find black pudding, potatoes, or, if you are in Scotland, you'll likely find haggis and oatcakes. This leaves you with plenty of options for sandwich making. Although baked beans aren't a common breakfast item in the United States, in a chopped sandwich, they provide some liquid to better bind the ingredients together. You can also add some classic British brown sauce.
A full breakfast of any culture is generally meant to be hearty and give you the energy you need to make it through the day. We're pretty sure a sandwich made from a full English breakfast will keep you going strong for hours.
Chopped turkey sub
After that brief trip around the world in sandwiches, it may seem pretty boring to land on a plain old turkey sub, but it's a classic for a reason. Versatile and made with easy-to-find ingredients that are assembled to your liking, you can't really go wrong with a chopped turkey sub.
According to TikTok user @hey.itsjo, Farmer in the Deli makes the best chopped turkey subs in Brooklyn. For a take on their sandwich, try a honey turkey and Swiss with lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet peppers, mayonnaise, a few grinds of black pepper, and a splash of vinegar. Or how about a maple turkey with pickles, onions, cheese, mayonnaise, oil and vinegar, jalapeños, and mustard? Or Cajun turkey? Or a chopped turkey club?
If you aren't feeling that fancy, you can simply chop together cuts of deli turkey, shredded lettuce, slices of tomato, sliced cheese, a hefty scoop of mayonnaise, and a final dash of salt and pepper to help bring out the overall flavor. Scoop this mixture onto a hoagie roll, grab a bag of potato chips, and you will surey have a satisfying and tasty lunch that we hope you had fun creating.
Chopped ham and cheese
With the previously-mentioned Cuban sandwich as well as the turkey sub, we have already hinted that there are tons of options when it comes to craftubg something as seemingly simple as a ham and cheese chopped sandwich. France is an excellent country to draw inspiration from when looking to soup up a ham and cheese sandwich. There is the grilled croque monsieur and its variant, the croque madame, as well as the extremely popular jambon-beurre, or ham and butter, which may also be topped with cheese to make a jambon-fromage. To make a French-inspired chopped sub, TikTok user @gulasgrub used French ham and cheese, slices of tomato, what appears to be arugula, and a French dressing. If you want to get even more French, then you can easily use a baguette or croissant for the bread.
Working out of what appears to be a Jersey Mike's kitchen, TikTok user @thatcrazysubguy creates an impressive ham and cheese chopped sub with provolone, thinly sliced ham, prosciuttini, cappacuolo, salami, pepperoni, bacon, shredded lettuce, sliced onion, oil and vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, chipotle mayonnaise, and cherry pepper relish. The pig products may substantially outweigh the cheese in this one, but at its heart, this is still a ham and cheese sandwich (if a seriously hefty one).