Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Cuban Sandwich
Roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard pressed in Cuban bread until crisp and molten, the classic cubano.
Cuban · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 10 min
~509 cal · 45g protein · 1g carbs · 35g fat · 0g fiber · 0g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The Cuban sandwich grew up in the cafes and cigar factories of Cuba and the Cuban communities of Florida, a portable lunch for workers that has become an icon. It is built on Cuban bread, a light, crisp-crusted loaf, and layered with two kinds of pork.
Slow-roasted mojo pork, marinated in garlic and sour orange, meets sweet- ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, and yellow mustard. There is no lettuce, no tomato, no mayonnaise: the whole thing is a study in savoury restraint.
It is then pressed flat on a hot plancha until the cheese melts, the bread crisps, and the layers fuse into one. Cut on the diagonal, it is the definitive Cuban lunch, and the subject of a long, friendly feud between Miami and Tampa over the right recipe.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 Cuban bread loaf
12 oz roast mojo pork, sliced
8 oz sliced ham
6 slices Swiss cheese, sliced
1/2 cup dill pickles, sliced
2 tbsp yellow mustard
2 tbsp butter, for the press
Instructions
1
Split the bread lengthwise and spread the cut sides with mustard.
2
Layer on the roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles, then close the sandwich.
3
Butter the outside and press in a hot pan or sandwich press, weighting it down, until crisp and the cheese melts.
✎ Chef’s note
No press? Set a heavy pan on top and lean on it. The point is to flatten the sandwich to half its height so the layers fuse.
4
Cut on a sharp diagonal and serve hot.
Cuban cafe tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Havana. Havana has a Chinese quarter that the rest of the island does not. Contract labourers arrived from southern China from the middle of the nineteenth century, and the Barrio Chino and the restaurants around it left a mark on the capital's cooking you will not find out in the provinces.
🗺️
Cuba. Casabe, the flat round bread pressed from bitter cassava, predates the Spanish entirely and is still made the old way: the tuber grated, the poisonous juice squeezed out, the flour sifted and baked on a hot plate. UNESCO inscribed the practice in 2024 in a joint nomination with the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cuba
Ropa ViejaBeef braised and shredded into a rich tomato-pepper sofrito, Cuba’s national dish, named "old clothes."
Moros y CristianosBlack beans and white rice cooked together in one pot with a cumin-scented sofrito until every grain turns dusky and savory, the everyday soul of the Cuban table.
Tostada Cubana con Café con LecheButtered Cuban bread pressed flat and crisp, cut into batons for dunking into sweet, milky espresso, the quintessential Havana breakfast.
Browse all Cuba recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best made to order. Prep the fillings ahead and assemble just before eating so nothing turns soggy.
Make it a Cuba meal
MojitoDrink
Pastelitos de GuayabaDessert
Arroz con Pollo a la CubanaDinner
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Croque MonsieurFrance
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Pan con ChicharrónPeru
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Cuban Sandwich?
Roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard pressed in Cuban bread until crisp and molten, the classic cubano.
Where does Cuban Sandwich come from?
Cuban Sandwich is a Cuban dish from Havana, Cuba.
Can Cuban Sandwich be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cuban Sandwich recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Cuban Sandwich safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Cuban Sandwich take to make?
About 25 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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