Grilled Vegetable Ciabatta Sandwiches

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Ciabatta means “slipper” in Italian, a reference to its shape, which is more flat and rectangular. It is an airy Italian white bread. The crust is chewy rather than crunchy and the inside is very soft with lots of holes. I like using a large individual loaf, but you can find ciabatta baked in sandwich-sized buns or rolls.
• Vegetables: I go for a range of colors, textures and flavors with zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, eggplant and red onions. For the peppers, I prefer sweeter yellow, orange or red peppers rather than green peppers, but it is your choice.
• Pesto: You can use homemade basil pesto or store-bought pesto. If you do buy it, I recommend looking for pesto in the refrigerator case with the fresh pastas because it will have better flavor than jarred pesto.
• Baby spinach leaves are the greens on the sandwich. 
• Fresh mozzarella: I slice a ball of mozzarella because I love its milky taste with the flavor of the grilled ingredients.
• Olive oil: I toss the veggies in extra-virgin olive oil before grilling them.
• Salt & pepper season the vegetables.

Substitutions & Variations

With this sandwich recipe, there is plenty of room for making changes to suit your tastes. I like to think of it at its most basic with the following components:

1. Bread: As mentioned, the great thing about ciabatta is that it is easy to find at the grocery, and you can make a single large sandwich and cut it. Another great option is focaccia because you can also have this same approach. If you prefer sliced bread, then go for sourdough or country bread with a nice crust.
2. Vegetables & Filling: Maybe you don’t care for eggplant, then just use more zucchini or peppers. Adjust the vegetables depending on what you like and what you have in your kitchen. For the carnivores, you can add salami, prosciutto or sliced turkey. 
3. Cheese: Sliced provolone cheese or parmesan cheese are options along with feta and goat cheese. 
4. Greens: Besides spinach, you an add baby arugula or crisp romaine lettuce to your sandwich.

Optional Additions

• Avocados, sliced or mashed, give the sandwich something rich and creamy.
• Pepperoncini are for those people who like sweet and sour flavor with some heat.
• Tomatoes: Either sliced raw or roasted tomatoes can be added to the sandwich with the grilled vegetables.

How To Make This Grilled Vegetable Ciabatta Sandwich

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.

1. Toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper. I like doing this on a sheet pan because there is plenty of room, and then I can use the pan to carry everything to the grill.

2. Grill the vegetables. They should be crisp-tender with grill marks. It will be about 3-4 minutes per side for eggplant, peppers and onions and 2-3 minutes per side for zucchini and squash.

3. Spread pesto on the top and bottom pieces of bread and add the spinach.

4. Add the vegetables. I find it’s best to put the spinach down before the vegetables. I also like to split the onions into rings, so I don’t end up with solid bites of onion.

5. Add the cheese slices. 

6. Stack the top piece of bread on the sandwich and cut it into smaller sections. The size of your sandwiches is up to you depending if you are feeding a group and what else you are serving.

Leftovers, Storage & Make-Ahead Tips

Similar to my approach with salad recipes where I never toss the entire thing in the vinaigrette if I’m planning to save leftovers, don’t assemble the whole sandwich if you are going to get a few meals out of this recipe. Store the grilled vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days. In this case you might find it better to use sliced bread instead of a big ciabatta loaf for your sandwiches.

I did do a test with leftover sandwiches by wrapping them up and putting them in the fridge. My strategy was to eat them warm. I took off the top bread slices and put them and the open-faced sandwiches in the oven at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. That toasted the bread and made the cheese a bit melty and most importantly gave the sandwiches a second life.

Recipe Tips

Grill the vegetables in batches. Unless you have a very large grill, you will need to cook the veggies in a few rounds. They grill pretty quickly, so this isn’t a big deal.

It is up to you how thick you make your sandwiches. Stack up those vegetables if you want. Again, this sandwich can handle customizations. Just think about dietary preferences and how many sandwiches you need to get out of the recipe.

If you don’t have an outdoor grill, you can use a stovetop grill pan. Zucchini, yellow squash, peppers and onions are great for indoor grilling.

More Grilled Vegetable Recipes

Grilled Halloumi and Vegetables
Lemon Pepper Grilled Cauliflower
Easy Grilled Broccoli
Grilled Asparagus Tomato Salad
Grilled Corn Broccoli Salad
Easy Grilled Zucchini, Squash & Corn