You know I'm no stranger to making super meaty, cheesy dishes vegan. I mean, have you seen my list of BBQ recipes?! There were some freakin' tasty things I ate before I went vegan, like po' boys and a stacked cubano sandwich. If you haven't had one, it's got a classic combo of layered meats, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. For episode #2 of my epic summer sandwich series, I decided I better get cookin' and whip up a vegan cubano sandwich we can all feed our faces with!
If you've got your copy of the hot for food cookbook, you've probably flipped past (or even made) my saved by seitan recipe. It's making an appearance on this cubano as one of the mind-blowing vegan meat layers! The second veg-friendly meat is 'pork' made with hearts of palm. The rest is pretty straightforward. Bring these vegan cubano sandwiches to your end-of-summer festivities and let the good times roll.
Don't forget some extra pickles on the side to munch on! Are you one of those "are you gonna eat that pickle spear" friends, or do pickles make ya wanna barf? I'm definitely here for extra crunchy dill goodness wherever possible!
Oh, and exciting news! Vegan Comfort Classics: 101 Recipes to Feed Your Face was recently featured in OriGym's article on the Best 27 Vegan Cookbooks. Read it here. Thanks for all the love, y'all!
vegan cubano sandwich
Ingredients
saved by seitan (halved from hot for food cookbook, vegan comfort classics)
- 1 ½ C vital wheat gluten
- ⅛ C nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ C vegan beef-flavored bouillon stock (or vegetable stock)
- ⅛ C vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoon tomato paste
vegan roast palm 'pork'
- 2 x (14 oz) cans hearts of palm, drained and hand pulled into shreds
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 4 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- vegetable oil
sandwich
- 4 vegan french rolls
- 4 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise, divided
- 4 to 6 garlic dill pickles, sliced thin
- 6 to 8 slices vegan swiss cheese or mozzarella, divided
- 4 tablespoon yellow mustard, divided
- 3 tablespoon vegan butter, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 350°F.
- To make the seitan, in a large bowl add vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, onion powder, sea salt, celery salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried basil, ground mustard and ground pepper.
- In a separate bowl add your stock, vegetable oil, soy sauce or tamari, apple cider vinegar and tomato paste. Whisk to make sure it’s well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until a dough forms.
- Knead the dough on a clean surface, folding the dough over itself several times so you can feel the gluten forming. Form the dough into a rectangular log about 3.5 x 5-inches. Transfer the dough onto a large piece of heavy duty foil on a baking sheet. Tightly wrap the log and twist the ends. You may need 2 sheets of foil to make sure it’s covered completely and there are no tears in the foil.
- Bake for 90 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating overnight. To use, slice thinly with a knife or on a mandolin.
- To make the vegan roast palm ‘pork’, take the drained hearts of palm and using your hands, pull the hearts of palm into thin shredded pieces about ⅛ to ¼-inch thick. Then add liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, brown sugar, granulated garlic powder, chili flakes, smoked paprika and sea salt. Toss to coat all the pieces evenly.
- Heat up a cast iron pan or a non-stick pan over medium heat. You may need to pan fry the hearts of palm mixture in 2 batches. Add some vegetable oil and the hearts of palm mixture. Pan fry for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly charred in places and warmed through. Set aside.
- To assemble your sandwiches, spread 1 tablespoon of vegan mayonnaise on the bottom of the french roll, then add about 80 g of sliced seitan, some vegan roast palm ‘pork’, pickle slices, 2 slices of vegan cheese and spread some yellow mustard on the top half of the french roll.
- To grill your sandwiches, put 1 teaspoon of vegan butter in a cast iron grill pan set to medium-high heat. Place 2 sandwiches onto the grill pan and weigh down the top. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until the tops have golden grill marks and the cheese is melted. Add more butter when flipping the sandwiches and turn down the heat slightly if needed. Repeat with the last batch of sandwiches. Slice sandwiches in half and serve immediately!
Paige
What brand of vegan Swiss cheese do you like best?
Lauren Toyota
follow your heart or violife - smoked gouda is especially good!
Marissa
Made this with jackfruit instead of hearts of palm and it was amazing
Lauren Toyota
awesome! so glad you liked it!
Courtney Farmer
This was fantastic!!!! Hit the spot perfectly with simple classic toppings. I made a vegan cheese and some rolls and my husband and I were totally satisfied. As written this recipe is a new staple for us, and I already know I will be using the hearts of palm and seiten again for other recipies in the future. Thanks for another awesome one - you have become a household name over here!
Lauren Toyota
so happy you loved it!! Thanks for sharing 😀
SUSAN GORDON
I made this, today, and it was terrific. I was too lazy to make my own seitan, so I used Bridge brand and I sliced it really thin and pan fried it. The hearts pf palm pork came out great.
Edwina McEachran
Thanks for this recipe Lauren! We started making in lockdown in UK last year and loved it! We use this slightly modified seitan recipe for donner kebabs and feels like we're having a greasy takeaway (in the best way possible)
Lauren Toyota
that's amazing and I'm so happy to hear that!
Kupa
That may be a sandwich but it is not anywhere near a Cuban sandwich
Roast pork
Ham
Salami
Swiss cheese
Pickle
Lettuce tomato shredded
Always mayo & mustard
Moi
No lettuce and tomato! Salami is only on the Tampa Cuban. Anyways. Obviously this is a vegan version so ingredients are different. Btw, if you are going all out making that seitan then might as well make Cuban bread from scratch! Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Er ic
(2) 800ml cans of hearts of palms or (2) 14oz cans of hearts of palm?
Lauren Toyota
yes 14 oz cans, like regular cans
Lisa
This rating is from my husband - the sandwich looked too meaty for me to even taste - LOL.
He LOVED it! He said - I don't know why this tastes so good, but it does!
I have a Cuban bread recipe that I used - complete with palmetto fronds for the top. I followed the rest of your recipe except used real mayo and real Swiss cheese since we aren't completely plant based (still use cheese and some dairy items).
I know I'll be making this again for him.
Such fun to make items from scratch and not rely on mass produced products that may have ingredients I don't want or need, and at a much better price point. Thanks so much for taking the time to create and share this!
Lauren Toyota
so happy to hear it was a hit! Thanks for leaving a comment 😀
Lisa
Oh - forgot to mention, while I did follow the recipes for the seitan 'ham' - I studded the loaf with cloves to give it that holiday ham feel to it.
And to the person that mentioned lettuce...uh, no. Never have I ever seen a Cuban with lettuce. At least not in Florida, which is the Cuban sandwich with which I am familiar.
Shane Dalton Gray
I’m going to give you an above average rating, as the most difficult and time consuming parts of this recipe are adeptly covered by you. However, you lost two stars thanks to a few specific, but important details.
First off, 1/8 of a cup is not a thing in typical imperial measurement sets. Which, for a vast majority of people, will need to be eyeballed. If you’re going to go against conventional imperialism measurement, you might as well just measure everything metrically.
Second, and honestly this one may just be my stove (consider this a bonus; my first point is worth the loss of two starts) in half the suggested time, with my stove set to mid high, my sandwich burnt. Which means I spent hours (an additional day added considering the rest period for the seitan) cooking and constructing a sandwich for one simple instruction to be… excessive. Moving forward, obviously I won’t be cooking the sandwich that long or that hot, but I urge you to do the same as well. Coat both sides of each puce of the bread with mayo and/or butter, and cook on medium (not medium high- no idea what this persons stove looks like, but it must be confusing) for the same amount of aforementioned time and you’ll be good. Or better yet, if you have a panini press or a George Foremen-esque grill, go with that.