If I had to pick one lunch recipe to eat for the rest of my life, it would be a Burrata Sandwich with Mortadella! The combination of cool, creamy burrata cheese with silky smooth, melt-in-your-mouth mortadella, my pistachio pesto, and chewy ciabatta bread is ethereal. It’s like this harmonious blend of taste, texture, and color all at once!
If you’re not familiar with mortadella, it’s an emulsified Italian pork sausage that is studded with pork fat and pistachios. Perhaps not the best description, but my god the flavor! It’s hands down my favorite Italian cold cut, and I like it sliced extra thin.
You could certainly use another Italian meat here, but I’m telling you, go for the combo of burrata and mortadella with fresh pesto. It is beyond delicious!
For more easy sandwich recipes, try my California Club Sandwich, Crispy Chicke Panini with Pesto, or this light, yet satisfying Green Goddess Sandwich next!
What You’ll Need
First, make sure you’ve got a soft bread with a crusty exterior. I really like ciabatta here because it can hold up to the ingredients, but isn’t difficult to bite into (again, soft center with a crisp exterior).
Because we’re using so few ingredients, it’s helpful if they’re high-quality: thinly sliced mortadella, fresh burrata cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, pistachios, and homemade pesto.
If you love pistachios as much as I do, try my homemade pistachio pesto. If not, you can use any variety you like. A few of my personal favorites are walnut pesto, arugula pesto, and ramp pesto.
Quick Variations
If you can’t find burrata cheese, use fresh mozzarella (hand ripped or cut into slices) or straciatella cheese. The latter is the creamy, milky filling inside burrata cheese and I always grab a container whenever I see it at the store!
While mortadella is pretty irreplaceable in my opinion, you could certainly use another Italian cold cut. Prosciutto, thinly sliced ham, or salami are all delicious choices.
Bread: French baguette, ciabatta rolls, sourdough, or focaccia are all wonderful options!
The Best Sandwich You’ll Ever Make
This is actually really easy to prep at home, you just have to toast the bread first.
- Slice the bread in half, then scoop out a little of the top bread — just trust me, this is how you’ll keep it assembled neatly. Plus, you can use the scooped out bread to make homemade breadcrumbs! Drizzle with olive oil, then toast until crispy.
- Add the meat and cheese. To the bottom piece of bread, add folded over slices of mortadella, then add ripped balls of burrata cheese right on top. It can be helpful to use a fork to mash the cheese down a bit.
- Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and top with chopped pistachios, then spread the top piece of bread with pesto.
- Press the sandwich firmly together, then cut into bite-size pieces. Enjoy now or save for later!
If enjoying later, it’s fun to wrap the sandwiches up in parchment paper. Perfect little grab-and-go lunch for a picnic!
Ari’s Best Tips!
- When possible, make fresh pesto! In my experience, it’s infinitely better than store-bought.
- Make sure the mortadella is verrrry thinly sliced. Creates a rich, silky smooth texture.
- Be sure to season the burrata with salt! This makes all the difference in the world.
- I know it sounds sacrilegious to say, but scooping out a bit of the top bread helps to make room for the filling while keeping it all from falling apart. Just trust me!
Make-Ahead & Store For Later
This burrata and mortadella sandwich is best fresh –– right when the bread is crispy and the room temperature cheese sort of melts-in-your-mouth.
However, if you’re less concerned about the texture of the bread, you can easily make it in advance. If using fresh burrata cheese, this can be prepped up to 1 day in advance. If using sliced mozzarella instead, you can make this up to 2 days in advance.
Wrap tightly first in parchment paper, then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until needed, then allow to come to room temperature before enjoying. No, the texture won’t be exactly the same, but it’ll still be delicious. Do not freeze.
Other Picnic Staples
This is pretty much the only sandwich I want at a picnic ever. If I had to fill in the gaps to make a complete meal (but isn’t a sandwich with meat and cheese a complete meal?!), I’d consider adding a few of the following, all of which are easy and can also be prepped well in advance:
- No Cook Curried Chicken Salad (With Rotisserie Chicken!)
- Make-Ahead Greek Orzo Salad with Feta
- 10-Minute No-Cook Broccoli Salad Recipe
- Light & Fresh Tuna Salad with Dried Cranberries
- My Perfect Pecan Chicken Salad (With Rotisserie Chicken)
And let’s be honest, it ain’t a picnic without a little bubbly!
I mean, look at it! Bet you want to dive right in. Or maybe… maybe that just me.
If you make my Mortadella Sandwich recipe, please let me know by leaving a review and rating below!
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Burrata Sandwich with Mortadella & Pistachio Pesto
Ingredients
For the pistachio pesto
- 2 cups tightly packed basil leaves
- ¼ cup toasted pistachios, unsalted
- 1 medium lemon, zested, about 2 tsp, and juiced, about 2 Tbsp
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ⅓-½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the sandwich
- 1 loaf ciabatta, or 4 small ciabatta rolls
- 1 lb pistachio mortadella, very thinly sliced (½ lb = 2-3 big sandwiches, 1 lb = 4-6 big sandwiches)
- 12-16 oz burrata cheese, see note below
- Flaky sea salt
- 2 Tbsp high-quality extra virgin olive oil or truffle oil
- ⅓ cup pistachios, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Toast the ciabatta. Preheat an oven to 375F. Cut the ciabatta in half lengthwise. I realize this is controversial, but feel free to scoop out some of the bread from the top side of bread to make room for the filling. Reserve for homemade breadcrumbs! Drizzle 2-3 Tbsp olive oil on the inside, then place on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast for 6-8 minutes, or until the bread is crisp.
- Make the pistachio pesto. Place 2 cups basil leaves, ¼ cup pistachios, 2 tsp lemon zest, 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, and 1 chopped garlic clove in the bowl of a food process. Process until finely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in ⅓ cup of extra virgin olive oil. Transfer to a bowl, then stir in ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Add remaining olive oil if you want a thinner consistency, stirring until well mixed. Taste, then adjust seasoning with Kosher salt and black pepper as needed.
- Assemble the sandwich. Place a generous layer of thinly sliced pistachio mortadella on the bottom piece of bread. Next, take each ball of burrata and stretch it open. Place in even portions on top of the mortadella. Sprinkle the burrata cheese with flaky sea salt, then drizzle the sandwich with 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or truffle oil) and ⅓ cup chopped pistachios. Spread a generous layer of pistachio pesto on the top piece of bread.
- Slice then serve! Place the top piece of bread on top. If not eating right away, I like to wrap the sandwich in parchment paper before slicing (it holds it all together better). Otherwise, slice into smaller, individual sandwiches (or slice each ciabatta roll in half), then enjoy!
Notes
- Bread: Instead of ciabatta, you can use focaccia, bastone, baguette – whatever you like! I recommend something that isn’t too crunchy so that it’s easier to bite into.
- This recipe was written with a 16 oz ciabatta loaf, which I then cut into 6 hefty sandwiches. For a party, or as part of a larger spread, I’d cut the same loaf into 8+ smaller sandwiches.
- Burrata: Burrata cheese is typically sold in either 8oz or 16oz containers. The former should have 2 balls of burrata, while the latter has 4 balls of burrata. I like to go heavy on the burrata cheese – because why not?! – but if you want less, use less! It also really depends on how large the loaf of bread is, ya know? Use this recipe as a guideline.
Nutrition
Photography by: Megan McKeehan
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