Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Philly Cheesesteak
Thin-shaved ribeye and melted cheese piled into a soft hoagie roll, Philadelphia's greatest sandwich.
American · easy · serves 2
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~877 cal · 67g protein · 50g carbs · 43g fat · 4g fiber · 8g sugars · 20g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The cheesesteak is Philadelphia's most famous contribution to the American table, invented in the 1930s when, as the story goes, a South Philly hot dog vendor named Pat Olivieri threw some beef on his grill and put it in a roll. It quickly became a city institution.
Thinly shaved ribeye is griddled and chopped, then piled into a soft, sturdy Italian hoagie roll and blanketed with melted cheese, whether sharp provolone, American, or the famously divisive Cheez Whiz. Fried onions are the classic addition.
Ordering it has its own shorthand (wiz wit for Whiz and onions), and rival shops inspire fierce loyalty. Messy, savoury, and unpretentious, the cheesesteak is working-class Philadelphia in a roll, best eaten standing up and leaning forward.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-, egg- and pork-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 2
12 oz ribeye steak, very thinly shaved
4 slices provolone (or Cheez Whiz)
2 hoagie rolls
1 large onion, thinly sliced
to cook oil
to taste salt
to taste pepper
Instructions
1
Get a griddle or heavy skillet properly hot with a film of neutral oil.
✎ Chef’s note
Neutral oil, not butter or olive oil. Pat's use soybean oil precisely because it adds nothing of its own and lets the ribeye taste of itself.
2
Cook the onions first until soft and browned, then push them to one side.
✎ Chef’s note
Onions first, always. They season the griddle and the meat cooks in what they leave behind.
3
Lay the shaved ribeye (or portobello and seitan) flat on the hot surface and cook it 2 to 3 minutes, turning it once or twice.
✎ Chef’s note
Ribeye sliced properly thin is the whole sandwich, and a good butcher will do it for you. Pat's do not chop it to bits on the griddle; they lay it flat and flip it once or twice. Frantic chopping is a tourist-strip habit rather than the original.
4
Mingle the meat and onions, then add the cheese: slices go into the hollowed roll first and the meat on top of them, while Whiz goes over the meat.
✎ Chef’s note
That order is not fussiness. Sliced provolone or American laid in the roll melts under the weight and heat of the meat; Cheez Whiz is poured over the top instead. American cheese is as common in Philadelphia neighbourhoods as Whiz is on the tourist corners.
5
Scoop it all into the rolls in one motion and eat immediately, leaning forward.
✎ Chef’s note
The roll matters nearly as much as the meat: a long soft hoagie roll with a thin crust, hollowed a little in the middle. In Philadelphia that means Amoroso.
South Philadelphia tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). The cheesesteak started without cheese. It began around 1930 as a plain steak sandwich at a hot dog stand in South Philadelphia; the cheese was added later by somebody else, and Cheez Whiz later still, so the sandwich everyone argues about is a run of additions rather than a single invention.
🗺️
United States. Between 1910 and 1970 some six million Black Americans left the South, and the cooking went north with them. The rib tips and hot links smoked in barrel pits on the South Side of Chicago, and the home cooking that acquired the name soul food around 1964, are both products of that migration rather than of the cities they arrived in.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Griddle or flat pan.
Storing it: Best made to order. Prep the fillings ahead and assemble just before eating so nothing turns soggy.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Philly Cheesesteak?
Thin-shaved ribeye and melted cheese piled into a soft hoagie roll, Philadelphia's greatest sandwich.
Where does Philly Cheesesteak come from?
Philly Cheesesteak is a American dish from Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), United States.
Can Philly Cheesesteak be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Philly Cheesesteak 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 Philly Cheesesteak 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 Philly Cheesesteak take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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