10 Foods To Make Sandwiches Out Of - Other Than Bread

Ah, the humble sandwich. A favourite snack, if ever there was one.

But whoever said sandwiches had to be made with bread was a liar and a fool, for there are so many other incredible food bookends out there.

Ever made a bacon sandwich with hash browns? You’ll want to, now…

Plantains
You might not have cooked much with plantains - but they’re delicious. They look a bit like bananas, but bigger. But they’re starchier, with a light savoury flavour, at least while they’re still green. You can peel them, slice them up and fry them to make tostones, or you can cut them in half lengthways to make a pretty good sandwich.

Fry the plantain slices for a couple of minutes first, then dip them briefly in cold water with chopped garlic in it. Squash the slices down to flatten sightly and then fry them a second time until cooked. Crispy, tasty and good with leftover pulled pork.

Lettuce
How you make a sandwich with lettuce depends quite a lot on the kind of lettuce you have. Large, frilly leaves are good for wrapping things - like a burger or veggies and tuna. Cup-like little gem leaves are a bit more sturdy and can take being piled up with fish, meats, noodles and veggies. Quick and easy - and healthy, too.

Meat
It had to be done. A kind of inside-out sandwich, with the meat on the outside and the veggies and cheese in the middle.

These burgers are made from minced turkey seasoned with some dried herbs and garlic salt and cooked thoroughly before cooling. Once they’re cold, you just sandwich everything together.

Low carb? Yes.

Low flavour? Nope.

Cucumber
A good one for the kids’ packed lunches, this. A couple of slices of fresh, crisp cucumber with a spoonful of tuna mayo sandwiched in between.

Don’t add too much filling though, or it’s likely to squish out of the sides when you pick it up and take a bite. Other fillings that would work with cucumber include salmon, chicken and cream cheese.

Hash Browns
Bacon. Brown sauce. Hash browns.

That’s all you need to create a tasty, crispy, salty-smoky breakfast sandwich.

An egg’s a bit big to fit in there as well (unless you have a tiny quail’s egg handy) but you won’t miss it.
You can pile in some other breakfast foods too. Some sliced, cooked mushrooms or sausage would work well. Baked beans will get messy.

Mushrooms
Using a couple of roasted or grilled mushrooms as the bun in a burger works for two really good reasons.

The first is that flat mushrooms are about the size of burger baps and they don’t fall to pieces very easily. The second is that once they’re cooked, all that savoury umami flavour from the mushroom trickles into the burger.

Cool the mushrooms first before assembling your burger - and you’ll need a load of napkins. Cooked mushrooms get a bit juicy. But it’s all good.

Cookies
A sweet option for you now.

You can make ice cream sandwiches with brioche, croissants or hot cross buns of course - but sandwich a scoop of your favourite ice cream between a couple of cookies and you’ll get crumbly, crisp textures as well as the soft, cold ice cream.

The cookies are also sturdy enough not to get soggy as the ice cream melts.

Tomato
Here’s a summery lunch - a breadless cheese and tomato sarnie.

Take a big beef tomato and slice it across its width a couple of times.

Fill the tomato slices with sliced mozzarella and a spoonful of pesto sauce. It slices into wedges pretty well, and the flavours of mozzarella, basil and tomato were all made for each other.

There’s no reason why you couldn’t try grilling one of these, too, but it’d get a whole lot more messy to eat.

Pear
Curious as to whether a ripe pear would work as the base for a sandwich, I layered up goat’s cheese, walnut pieces and some leaves and drizzled with some honey. And yep, it worked.

Other flavours that would work with pear include bacon, prosciutto, Stilton cheese and rocket.

Banana
Love the flavours of a traditional PB&J sandwich? Then make it bread-free (and super gorgeous) by using a banana as the base. It’ll satisfy your sweet cravings too.

Just peel the banana, slice it up and sandwich the slices with peanut butter and raspberry jam. Also try fillings like almond butter, chocolate chips and dulce de leche.

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Do you have any breadless sandwich ideas? Share them with us in the comments below.