Cuban Sandwich

This Cuban Sandwich Recipe is authentic, flavorful, and impressive. It has been one of my most highly requested foods to make from all of my friends and family. From the freshly made Cuban bread to the mojo-marinated smoked pork, combined with the ham, mustard, and pickles, you truly can't go wrong!

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• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• More Recipes You'll Love
• 📖 Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Sometimes, it's hard to find a place that has a great Cuban Sandwich unless you live in an area like Florida. Now it won't be hard at all! This Cuban Sandwich Recipe has all of the qualities of an authentic sandwich shop in Miami. Plus, you will have plenty of meat left over to vacuum seal and freeze for later.

Ingredients

Meat: Pork (Butt) Shoulder and Sliced Smoked Ham

Cheese: Sliced baby Swiss cheese.

Liquids: Water, Fresh Orange Juice, Fresh Lime Juice, and Olive Oil.

Vegetables: Sweet Onions and Serrano Peppers.

Herbs and Spices: Sugar, Kosher Salt, Oregano, Mint Leaves, Minced Garlic, and Ground Cumin.

Extras: Instant Yeast, Bread Flour, Lard, Yellow Prepared Mustard, Butter, and Dill Pickle Slices.

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Day 1

Cuban Bread Starter

First, we need to make the Cuban bread, which will start with a starter. This is a simple mixture of 2-¼ teaspoon Instant Yeast, ½ cup Warm Water, and ½ cup of Flour. Mix them all together and, with a whisk, put it in the fridge overnight, and you're good to go.

Mojo Sauce and Marinade

I am making a Mojo sauce and Moho Shredded pork, which was also started the night before.

This is super easy: in a blender, mix 2 tablespoon minced Garlic, two sweet onions, Zest and Juice of 2 oranges and three limes, 2 tablespoon Oregano, 4 Bunches of Fresh Mint Leaves, 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin, two whole Serrano Chiles, 1 cup Olive Oil, 1-½ tablespoon Kosher Salt.

Mix it all up and pour about a cup and a half in a squeeze bottle for serving, then dump the rest over an 8 to 10 lb Bone-in Pork Butt shoulder.

Allow the Pork Butt to marinate overnight in the fridge to soak up all that flavor.

Day 2

Mojo Pork

Now, for the Pork butt, I am cooking on the Big Green Egg, but this can be done on any smoker, grill, slow cooker, or even in the oven. If you can cook over charcoal, though, I highly recommend doing so.

First, get your cooker preheated to about 275-300°f. While the temp is getting steady, set the pork butt out to come closer to room temperature. Pop that bad boy in there once you have gotten the cooker up to temp.

The Pork butt will be cooked to an internal temp of 195°f, so this cook will take a while, just like if you were smoking a pork butt. However, in this cook, we are not using any wood chunks, pellets, or otherwise. The natural smoke from the lump charcoal will give it all the outdoor flavor we need.

A perfectly mild smokiness.

About three hours in, take a look at the pork. It should be starting to get a nice color on the outside; some fat has already started rendering down, and this is when you want to start monitoring the internal temperature. Place your meat thermometer probe in the center of the butt, being certain you don't hit bone.

We will monitor the internal temperature until it hits 160°f, and then it's time to wrap that butt!

For this recipe, I recommend wrapping in Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil because we aren't concerned with preserving the bark like if we were smoking a Pork Butt, since there won't really be any.

Once the pork is wrapped, probe the meat in the same spot and cook until the internal temp hits 195°f. You can remove it from the cooker and stick it in a cooler to rest until ready to shred.

Recipe for Cuban Bread

Grab your stand mixer or whatever you have.

I use the Kitchen-aide Professional 5 Plus and literally make bread for a whole community. So, if you want to hand mix and knead the bread, I'm sure you could! But if not, get a kitchen aide!

In your main mixing bowl, pour 2-¼ teaspoon instant yeast. In a separate bowl with a thermometer, pour warm water in 1-¼ Cups and allow it to cool to between 109-105°f. Once the water has hit the correct temperature, pour it over the yeast in your mixing bowl. Allow your yeast to bloom in the water for about 8-10 minutes. You will start to see it rise and flourish in the water.

While the yeast is activating, whisk 3-½ cups Bread Flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 teaspoon Salt together with a fork in a separate bowl.

Next, pour the dry mixture over your Yeast and Water mixture; add your starter from the night before and 3 Tbsp. of Lard. Mix well using a Stand mixer or by hand, whichever you prefer.

Once mixed, place your dough ball in a well-oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise for about an hour until doubled in size.

Then, punch it down and allow it to rise for one more hour.

Baking Cuban Bread

Preheat the oven to 400°f and place a pan of water on the bottom rack to create steam.

Lastly, on a well-floured surface, roll the dough out, cut that roll into thirds, and roll each of those into a loaf shape, ensuring you tuck the ends under and have an even loaf throughout.

Once you have the loaves rolled out, score the loaves using a sanitized razor blade or extremely sharp knife. Don't score the loaves too deep. You're looking for a small, shallow, and even slice across the top of each loaf.

Now, you can either wet your hands and the loaves or use a spray bottle to spray them down. Either way is fine. I didn't have a spray bottle, so I wet the loaves myself.

Bake the loaves in the oven for 20 minutes, then place on a cooling rack until you're ready to start assembling the sandwiches.

Assembling and Cooking a Cuban Sandwich

Now comes the fun part...making the sandwiches!

Place a Cast Iron Griddle and a Cast Iron Skillet on the stove. Be sure both are at medium heat but fully heated all through.

If you haven't already, shred the pork. I promise this won't be hard. I have personally used meat claws, gloves, and when I didn't have those, I just used two forks. Whatever works!

Now, evenly slice a loaf of your Cuban Bread. Spread Mustard on the bottom piece of bread, place your Swiss cheese, pickle slices, ham, and shredded Mojo pork, then top with two strips of Mojo Sauce.

Place the top piece of bread on the sandwich and brush with melted butter.

Transfer the Sandwich to a preheated Cast Iron Griddle and flip it over so it is top-down. Brush butter on the top side of the sandwich.

Using your grilling gloves, grab the preheated Cast Iron Skillet and start smushing the sandwich down evenly.

Once the sandwich has been smushed to your liking and the cheese is melting, flip the sandwich over using a large or griddle spatula.

Allow this to cook for just a minute.

Remove, slice in half, then slice those halves diagonally.

Expert Tips

• If you can find freshly baked Cuban bread in your area, you can save time and skip the bread making.

• Wrapping the pork butt in foil protects the meat from getting too smokey but also ensures it stays nice and tender.

• In addition to marinating the pork butt, you may also want to consider injecting it with the mojo sauce. This will give it a lot more flavor and make it even more tender on the sandwich.

Recipe FAQs

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