My goodness, these Italian grinders were good. They’re so easy to make. The key is the tasty homemade marinara sauce. And fresh mozzarella. And crunchy bread. Ok, it’s all good. The same approach works great substituting meatballs for the ground meats, but we really liked them the way they were. After browning the meats I pulsed them a few times in a food processor to get a great fine texture. Not overly processed. Don’t go crazy on it.
These Italian grinders reminded me a bit of the Sloppy Joes I remember from my childhood, only done Italian style, and well, quite a bit tastier. I wouldn’t be afraid to add a few pepperoncinis to them either. Or some giardiniera.
I like to use my good ole trusty Dutch oven to make the meat mixture. It’s nice and big and sturdy. That extra weight helps it maintain and distribute heat perfectly. As an added bonus, it’s actually pretty easy to clean up too!
Also check out my Italian hoagies.
Italian Grinders
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound Italian sausage ground, sweet
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups marinara sauce I used our slow cooker version
- 4 sub rolls sliced 3/4th of the way through horizontally
- 1 pound mozzarella sliced thin
Instructions
- Brown beef and sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain. Season with salt and pepper as desired. (I like to pulse the meats in a food processor a few times to get a nice consistent texture with no clumps)
- Meanwhile, warm the marinara sauce in a small saucepan.
- Spoon about 1 cup of meat into each roll.
- Top meat with about 1/3 cup of marinara sauce.
- Top sandwiches with a few slices of cheese.
- Transfer sandwiches to sheet pans and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and rolls start to brown.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
