Ready for spring? Take your sandwich making outdoors with this Grilled Italian Panini…a delicious melty combination of Italian cheese and meats including Hormel pepperoni, along with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and pepperoncini.
After the winter we’ve had, I am so ready to get outside. It seems like we’ve had mountains of snow for months. And then bam, last week, most it melted. There’s still snow and ice in the shade, but most of it is gone out in the open. It’s starting to look like spring!
What better way to celebrate than by firing up the grill?!
Once the weather starts to warm up, we do a lot of cooking on our grill. But grilling doesn’t have to just be about hamburgers and hotdogs. Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite grilling ideas…grilled paninis! Have you ever made a panini on the grill? If not, it’s time to try it!
If your family is anything like mine, you’re running a million miles a minute. We’ve got after school sports, meets, games…and extra kids at our house all the time! I love having fast and easy meal ideas at the ready, and this one is one of my favorites. Whether you’ve got a crowd for dinner or a group of hungry teenagers, this Grilled Italian Panini is sure to be a hit! And best of all, you can have them ready in less than 20 minutes!
Grilled Italian Panini with Hormel Pepperoni
Ready to get started? Grab your ingredients and don’t forget your Hormel Pepperoni! We love pepperoni on Italian sandwiches…the real challenge for me is keeping the kids from eating it before I get to using it!
For my Grilled Italian Panini, I used Hormel pepperoni, ham, salami, provolone cheese, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, and a little Italian salad dressing.
First, I brushed the insides of my bread with some homemade Italian dressing. You can use store bought too, but I always make my own. I’ve also used a balsamic dressing…and that’s really good too!
I put my cheese on first because I want that melted cheesy goodness right next to the bread.
Then I started layering my meat…first ham, then salami, then Hormel pepperoni! To make this a hearty sandwich, I used 3 slices of ham, 6 slices of salami and around 15-16 slices of pepperoni for each sandwich. Then I added some sliced tomatoes, roasted red peppers and pepperoncini on top. You could certainly add more cheese to the top if you wanted, but I didn’t.
Here they are, ready to head to the grill! Before you put them on the grill though, you’ll want to brush the outsides of your sandwiches lightly with olive oil and then wrap them in tin foil.
Then head out to the grill! Put something heavy on top to compress your sandwich like a panini. Usually we use a brick but today we had these tiles handy, and they worked just as well. You can make a lot more paninis quickly on the grill than you can with a panini maker…perfect for crowd!
The result? A melty combination of Italian meats and cheese, tomatoes, roasted peppers and pepperoncini….delicious!
Grilled Italian Panini with Hormel Pepperoni
Take your sandwich making to the outdoors with this Grilled Italian Panini...a delicious melty combination of Italian cheese and meats, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and pepperoncini!
Ingredients
Per sandwich
- 2 slices of Italian bread
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of Italian dressing (this is a guesstimate, as you are just brushing it on)
- 3 slices provolone cheese
- 3 slices of ham
- 6 slices of salami
- 15 slices of Hormel Pepperoni
- 4 slices of tomato
- 1/3 of a roasted red pepper. sliced into thin pieces
- 2 tablespoons of pepperoncini (again, a guesstimate...just sprinkle on top as you like)
- olive oil for brushing bread
Instructions
- Brush the inside of your bread slices (the sides that the cheese and meat will touch) with Italian dressing.
- Layer cheese and Italian meats on top.
- Add several slices of tomato, thin slices of roasted red pepper and pepperoncini on top of meat.
- Top with second slice of bread.
- Brush both sides of outside of sandwich with olive oil. Wrap with tin foil.
- Place on grill horizontally and cover with something heavy to press sandwich down. Grill 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Shut the lid of the grill while cooking.
Jocelyn
Monday 27th of April 2015
These are fabulous sandwiches! My family really enjoyed them. I didn't have tomatoes, so I spread some pizza sauce on one half of the bread slices, and it worked great! Also, I cooked my sandwiches in a panini press pan. I will definitely be making these again. Thanks very much!
Michelle Nahom
Tuesday 28th of April 2015
We use our panini pan all the time. But it's been such a long winter, we were just itching to get out to the grill. Plus with these you can wrap them up in tin foil and take them with you on a picnic where you'll be grilling and they're great for camping as well. Pizza sauce sounds yummy too!
Zan
Thursday 9th of April 2015
Ahhh Michelle, this looks so good! I have never made anything like it - I stick to my simple ham and cheese sandwich..lol. But I know my hubby would love something like this! I love your site as always. Thanks for sharing with us at Home Matters linky party. We hope you will join us again at this Friday. Feel free to bring a friend!!
Carrie
Tuesday 7th of April 2015
WOW, Michelle! This panini sandwich looks incredible. Thanks for sharing it at Think and Make Thursday. I'll be sure to share it across our social media.
Michelle Nahom
Tuesday 7th of April 2015
Thanks Carrie! It was a big hit here! I appreciate the shares!
Diane
Monday 6th of April 2015
These panini sandwiches look fantastic! I don't have a panini sandwich maker so this idea is great for ur family. Grilling time is adding a new summer recipe! Thanks for sharing your post with us at #PureBlogLove Link Party. The party starts every Thursday night at 8 p.m. est. and runs through the week end. I'm hosting at www.homemadefoodjunkie.com. I hope you'll link up again next week! Can't wait to see what you bring!
Lindsay Eidahl
Sunday 5th of April 2015
This sandwich looks amazing! Thank you for sharing it on Show Me Saturday!