31 Super Bowl Sandwiches to Feed a Crowd

Your Super Bowl guests probably won't complain if you feed them an assortment of couch-friendly finger foods, creamy dips, and flavorful chicken wings. But the game is on at dinnertime, so you might want to consider serving something more substantial. Sandwiches and burgers are the way to go—they're crowd-pleasing, filling, and still pretty conducive to being eaten in front of the TV. We've rounded up 31 of our favorite game-day sandwiches for you to choose from, with both full-sized sandwiches, like smashed burgers and Cubans, and party-sized behemoths, like a chicken parm that will serve a half-dozen people.

Burgers

Ultra-Smashed Cheeseburgers

Any sports bar is going to have burgers on the menu, so why not recreate the experience at home? But this burger, with its two crispy, well-browned patties sandwiching gooey American cheese, is better than anything you'll find at most bars. It's also not too filling, so your guests will still have room for snacks.

Smashed Reuben Burgers

Our smashed burger technique can be served with more than just American cheese. Here we use it to make a Reuben-inspired hybrid burger. That means beef sprinkled with coriander seeds for a little corned-beef flavor, sauerkraut cooked onto the patties like onions on a slider, and, of course, the classic rye bread, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing.

Cemita Burger With Refried Beans, Chipotle Mayo, Avocado, and Oaxacan Cheese

On the other end of the spectrum from our ultra-smashed burger is this hefty half-pound patty. We serve it like a classic Mexican cemita, with queso Oaxaca, avocado, lettuce, and refried beans piled onto a cemita bun. To nail the flavor of a real cemita try to find papalo—cilantro is a fine substitute, but it won't be the same.

Mini Pineapple-Teriyaki-Glazed Salmon Burgers With Avocado

Burgers don't have to be made of beef. For something different, try these mini teriyaki burgers made with salmon. We top the burgers with sweet caramelized pineapple and lightly mashed avocado, plus peppery watercress for balance. Avoid store-bought teriyaki sauce—making it at home is easy and the results are much better.

Salmon Burgers With Rémoulade and Fennel Slaw

All too often, salmon burgers are dry, pale, and underwhelming but not these. Tender and juicy with a crunchy exterior, our favorite salmon burgers are medium-rare and served on toasted brioche buns with a generous spread of creamy rémoulade. Topped with a small mountain of fennel and radicchio slaw, these burgers are at once rich, comforting, and fresh.

Shooter's Sandwiches

Italian Sausage and Fontina Shooter's-Style Sandwich With Sun-Dried Tomato-Caper Relish

In theory, shooter's sandwiches are perfect for parties because you make them ahead of time and they serve lots of people. Unfortunately, traditional steak shooter's sandwiches are an exercise in mediocrity. Skip that and try this improved version made with sausage, Fontina cheese, and vegetables sautéed in the rendered sausage fat.

Roast Duck Shooter's-Style Sandwich With Pickled Carrots, Daikon, Cucumber, and Hoisin Sauce

Moving even further from the traditional shooter's sandwich, this version takes its cues from a Chinese scallion pancake. We fill the bread with Peking duck, sweet hoisin sauce, fresh cucumbers, and pickled carrots and daikon. It's fine to use store-bought Peking duck, but do take a few minutes to make the pickles yourself.

Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Shooter's-Style Sandwich

If you've got any vegetarians coming over for the game, consider making this meatless shooter's sandwich. It's not short on flavor, thanks to roasted portobello mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, caramelized onions, and goat cheese. Feel free to quick-caramelize the onions—with this much going on, there's not much point in taking the time to slow-cook them.

Pork Carnitas and Oaxaca Cheese Shooter's-Style Sandwich With Spicy Refried Beans and Pickled Red Onions

A loaded torta is pretty messy to eat on the couch—turning it into a shooter's sandwich gives you the same flavors in a neater package. This sandwich is packed with homemade carnitas, refried beans, queso Oaxaca, pickled red onions, and jalapeños. Unlike most shooter's sandwiches, we recommend reheating this one before serving to melt the cheese.

Muffuletta Shooter's-Style Sandwiches

The muffuletta is meant to sit before serving, so it's a natural choice to make shooter's style. We go traditional with the ingredients: mortadella, soppressata, capicola, provolone, and olive salad. Arranging the cold cuts in at least three thin layers and spreading olive salad on the top and bottom leads to the best flavor distribution.

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Shrimp Rolls (New England-Style Seafood Sandwiches)

Shrimp rolls are great for a crowd: They're relatively cheap, the filling can be made in advance, and assembling the sandwiches is as easy as can be. The key to a superlative shrimp filling is superlatively cooked shrimp, which we achieve by adding the shrimp to cold water in a pot and bringing the water slowly up to 170°F, and being careful not to let the water temperature go any higher. Of course, if you're feeling super-fancy, you could also opt to make lobster rolls. If you go that route, either Connecticut-style or Maine-style, you're going to want to cook the lobster sous vide.

Classic New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwich

Of course, you could just skip the pressing and serve classic muffulettas. Even a traditional version can feed multiple people, and as I said, these sandwiches are actually designed to be made ahead of time. The most important part of a muffuletta is the olive salad—we make our own with mixed olives, giardiniera, roasted red peppers, parsley, and capers.

Cuban Sandwiches

This recipe takes some forethought, but if you're willing to roast a pork shoulder on Saturday, you can make incredible Cuban sandwiches for the game. Once the pork is cooked, all you need to do is sandwich it between slices of Cuban bread with Swiss cheese, honey ham, dill pickles, and yellow mustard and cook it all in a panini press. For extra flavor, go Tampa-style by adding Genoa salami.

Classic Reuben Sandwich (Corned Beef on Rye With Sauerkraut and Swiss)

We'd normally make Reuben sandwiches in a skillet, but if you're serving a crowd, that takes way too much time. Fortunately, we have a solution—if you toast the bread in the oven, top it with preheated beef and sauerkraut, and put it back into the oven to melt the cheese, you can make awesome Reubens much faster. Your guests will all be eating in the time it would have taken to make one sandwich on the stove.

Party-Sized Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

The best chicken parm deserves a sandwich to match, so we go all out and put an entire batch onto a large, crusty ciabatta loaf with homemade red sauce and plenty of Parmesan to make a sandwich big enough to serve half a football team (or just a bunch of hungry fans).

Italian-American Meatball Sandwiches

Don't put away the red sauce—you'll need it to make these meatball sandwiches. Besides the sauce, the most important ingredient is a batch of our juicy meatballs. We make the sandwiches with soft Italian-style bread, grated Parmesan, and mozzarella. Go with sliced mozz instead of grated to get a more thorough coating of cheese.

5-Ingredient Fried Chicken Sandwiches

Fried chicken sandwiches might sound like too much effort for a Super Bowl party, and our ultimate fried chicken sandwiches do take some work. That's where this five-ingredient version steps in—it's much easier and at least 80 percent as delicious. Brining the chicken in pickle juice helps it retain moisture and adds flavor, while a dredge in buttermilk and self-rising flour gives the chicken a super-craggy crust.

Pueblan-Style Cemita Sandwiches

An authentic Pueblan-style cemita starts with its namesake sesame-studded bun and the Mexican herb papalo. From there, add avocado, queso Oaxaca, jalapeño, and meat—cold cuts or boiled pig's feet are traditional, but we opt for a fried cutlet instead. If the sandwich feels unmanageably huge, try hollowing out the top bun slightly.

Roosevelt Avenue-Style Cemita Sandwiches

When the cemita made its way to New York City, it took on a life of its own. Unlike the Pueblan originals, these cemitas generally use griddled bread, taco-truck meats like al pastor and carne asada, and tons of toppings: avocado, lettuce, onion, tomato, refried beans, and mayo. This is still a cemita, though, so don't forget the papalo!

Chorizo-Spiced Pulled Pork With Mexican Street Corn Slaw

This Mexican-barbecue fusion sandwich is pretty messy, but it's worth risking the cleanliness of your couch. It's made with pulled pork flavored like Mexican chorizo with paprika, ancho chile powder, salt, cumin, Mexican oregano, black pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, and cloves. For contrast, we top the pork with a bright, creamy, elote-inspired slaw made with corn, mayo, and cotija.

Indian-Spiced Oven-Cooked Pulled Lamb Sandwiches

Want another riff on the pulled pork sandwich? Make these pulled lamb sandwiches. The lamb is rubbed with a spice mixture made up of brown sugar, garam masala, paprika, turmeric, ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper, and, once cooked, the meltingly tender lamb shreds get tossed with an aggressively seasoned barbecue sauce. The meat is great on its own, but the crunchy cabbage slaw is the secret star of the show.

Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

This melt transforms the flavors of classic spinach and artichoke dip into a crisp, cheesy sandwich perfect for a big game-day party. You won't miss the chips and dips one bit once you bite into this crusty, golden-brown sandwich.

Korean Beef Bulgogi Burritos

You'll thank us for stretching the definition of "sandwich" to include these beef bulgogi burritos. The flavorful wraps—stuffed full of soy sauce-marinated beef, kimchi, rice, and gochujang sour cream—are the perfect marriage of Korean and Mexican flavors and cooking techniques.

Grilled Blackened-Fish Sandwiches

Grilled fish is just as flavorful as its fried counterpart and so much easier to prepare for a big crowd. Fillets of grouper, mahi-mahi, or another white-fleshed fish are coated in a paprika-based spice rub and then grilled until charred and tender. The fish is sandwiched with pieces of soft bread and topped with lettuce, tomato, and classic condiments like mayo, tartar sauce, or mayo.

Chacarero Chileno (Chilean Steak and Bean Sandwiches)

Grilled beef, sliced tomatoes, and blanched green beans make for a surprisingly tasty and well-balanced sandwich. The charred beef and snappy beans offer contrasting textures, and a garlicky mayonnaise tops it all off.

Peruvian-Style Grilled-Chicken Sandwiches With Spicy Green Sauce

Peruvian-style chicken—spice and vinegar rubbed, then grilled until slightly charred—is pretty perfect on its own. But paired with a creamy jalepeño sauce and squeezed between buns with mashed avocado, it's impossible to beat.

Vegan Cheesesteak With Yuba (Tofu Skin) and Mushrooms

This meat- and cheese-free cheesesteak doesn't sacrifice a single bit of flavor. Thick sheets of yuba are smothered in an umami-loaded mushroom broth before they're tossed with caramelized onions and roasted mushrooms. The combination is packed into a crusty roll and doused with smooth, creamy vegan "cheese." Even the most carnivorous of your friends will be coming back to reload their plates at halftime.

Kimchi-Brined Fried Chicken Sandwich

This kimchi-brined fried chicken is the perfect pairing for all of your game-day drinking and snacking. The chicken marinates in a spicy-salty kimchi mixture before it is coated in a spicy crust and covered with a vinegary hot sauce. You can serve the fried chicken atop toasted potato buns, or go the extra mile and serve it on Stella's black sesame buttermilk biscuits.

Sheet-Pan Cuban Sandwiches

Cuban sandwiches are the perfect party meal. The only problem is that they often take quite some time to assemble—slow-roasting pork shoulder is no speedy process. This simplified version takes the stress out of sandwich-building and brings together the pressed sandwiches between two large sheet pans. Pork tenderloin cooks up quickly, and the big-batch technique renders plenty of sandwich slices for you and your friends.

Seafood Po' Boys, Three Ways

Po' boys aren't the kind of sandwich you can throw together in 15 minutes—you'll have to cook your seafood—but they come together in less than an hour and are well worth your time. Here, we offer up three recipes, so you can choose whether you want your sandwich overflowing with crisp shrimp, juicy oysters, or tender white fish.

Homemade Roman-Style Pizza Pockets (Trapizzini)

Trapizzino is the perfect combination of Roman-style pizza bianca and a crusty sandwich roll. The fluffy pizza pockets are stuffed with any number of fillings, which you can let your guests choose for themselves. That means more options for them and less work for you. You can start off with classic toppings like meatballs and sautéed broccoli rabe, or stray from tradition and fill them with something like Texas-style chili.