A Cuban sandwich, or Cubano, is roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles and yellow mustard on Cuban bread, buttered outside and pressed flat on a hot griddle until the crust crackles and the cheese melts. It’s the lunch counter sandwich of Miami and Tampa, and it’s best made with leftover roast pork. You don’t need a sandwich press: a skillet with a heavy pan on top does the same job. The two details that matter most are a soft, thin-crusted loaf and pork that’s warm before it goes in.
What a Cuban sandwich is
How do you make a Cuban sandwich? Split an 8 in (20 cm) piece of Cuban bread, spread it with yellow mustard and fill it with Swiss cheese, ham, 3½ oz (100 g) of warm roast pork and dill pickles. Butter the outside and press it in a skillet over medium heat under a second heavy pan, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the bread is golden and the cheese has melted. 30 minutes for 4 servings.
Expect salty and tangy rather than rich: the mustard and pickles cut through the pork and cheese, and pressing squashes the soft bread into a crisp, compact shell. There’s no lettuce, tomato or mayo. An 8-inch sandwich is a full meal.
Time. 30 minutes if the pork is already roasted: 10 to slice and build, 20 at the stove for 4 sandwiches in two batches. Easy. The pork is the long part if you start from scratch. This sandwich is built on Cuban roast pork marinated in sour orange mojo, which marinates overnight and roasts for about 5 hours.
It sits in a family of Latin pork-and-bread lunches on this site, each built differently. The Venezuelan pepito is a sub of griddled steak and chicken with cabbage, sauces and potato sticks; tortas ahogadas are Guadalajara carnitas rolls drowned in tomato sauce; and Mexican molletes are open-faced rolls with beans and melted cheese.
Ingredients and what to buy in the US and UK
Per sandwich you need about 3 oz (90 g) of bread, 3½ oz (100 g) of pork, 2 oz (60 g) of ham, 1½ oz (45 g) of cheese and 1 oz (30 g) of pickles.
| Ingredient | For 4 | US | UK | If you swap it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuban bread | 4 × 8 in (20 cm) | Latin bakeries; Florida supermarkets | Not sold; see below | Soft loaves press flat, crusty ones fight back |
| Roast pork | 400 g (14 oz) | Leftovers, or a Cuban or Latin deli | Leftovers | Plain deli roast pork is drier |
| Ham | 240 g (8½ oz) | Sweet ham, honey ham, glazed ham | Honey roast ham | Not prosciutto: cured ham toughens and turns salty |
| Swiss cheese | 180 g (6⅓ oz) | Deli Swiss | Emmental | Gruyère melts as well but tastes stronger |
| Dill pickles | 120 g (4¼ oz) | Dill pickle chips or sandwich slices | Jarred dill pickles | Sweet pickles change the sandwich |
| Yellow mustard | 40 g (8 tsp) | Any American yellow | American-style yellow | Dijon or English mustard: use half or less |
| Butter | 55 g (4 tbsp) | Salted or unsalted | Salted or unsalted |
The bread, and what to use instead of Cuban bread
Cuban bread is a long, slightly flat white loaf made with a little lard or shortening. Its crust is very thin and its crumb is soft, so it presses down tight around the filling and turns crisp without being hard on your mouth.
- US. Look in Cuban and Latin bakeries; in Florida most supermarkets sell it. Elsewhere, a soft Italian or French loaf from the supermarket bakery is the closest.
- UK. A soft white sub roll or a soft supermarket baguette. Skip artisan baguettes and ciabatta: the thick crust won’t compress, so the filling squeezes out the sides.
Sandwich bread doesn’t work. It flattens to a cracker and can’t hold the filling.
The pork
Use cold leftover roast pork in thin slices; cold pork slices cleanly. Pork roasted to 170°F (77°C) slices best, but pulled pork works too if you spread it in an even layer.
No leftovers? In the US, Cuban cafeterias and Latin butchers often sell roast pork by the pound. A Venezuelan pernil works too, though its marinade is sweet and the sandwich won’t taste of garlic and citrus. Plain deli roast pork is leaner and drier: warm it with a splash of orange and lime juice and a crushed garlic clove. If what you have left over is beef, vaca frita, Cuban crispy shredded beef with onions, presses well in Cuban bread with Swiss cheese and mustard; it isn’t a Cuban sandwich any more, but the bread and the pan are the same.
Equipment
An 11 to 12 in (28 to 30 cm) skillet and something flat and heavy to set on top: a second cast-iron skillet, a pot filled with water, or a brick wrapped in foil. A panini press or a contact grill does the same job without flipping.
How to build a Cubano
From the bottom up: bread with mustard, cheese, ham, pork, pickles, cheese, bread with mustard. Cafeterias don’t all stack it the same way. I put cheese against the bread on both sides because that’s where the heat hits first: it melts early and glues the sandwich so it doesn’t slide apart when you cut it. The pickles sit in the middle, away from the crumb, so their brine doesn’t soak in.
Warm the pork first. This is the step most people skip, and you can taste it. The bread browns in 3 to 4 minutes a side, and in that time 3½ oz (100 g) of fridge-cold pork stays cold in the middle. Heat the slices 1 to 2 minutes per side in a skillet with a little of their juices, to 165°F (74°C) since they’re leftovers, and drain them before building.
Keep the layers thin. About 8¼ oz (235 g) of filling per 8-inch sandwich presses down without spilling.
Cuban sandwich press, panini press or skillet
Pressing in a skillet with a weight
- Heat the skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. High heat burns the crust before the cheese melts.
- Lay in 2 sandwiches, buttered sides out.
- Set the second pan or pot on top and lean on it for a few seconds to flatten them. Leave the weight on the whole time.
- Give each side 3 to 4 minutes, turning once with a wide spatula and putting the weight straight back on.
If your top pan is cast iron, heat it on another burner for a few minutes first. It toasts the top while the bottom cooks.
Using a panini press or sandwich press
Preheat it to medium-high, close it on the sandwich and push down. No flipping needed. Peek after 3 minutes, since machines vary, and expect it to take about 5 minutes in total. A flat plate gives an even crust like the plancha in a Cuban cafeteria. Ridged plates leave panini stripes and work just as well.
How to tell it’s done
- The crust is golden on both sides and sounds crisp when you tap it with the spatula.
- The sandwich is visibly flattened, to roughly half its starting height.
- The cheese is melting out at the edges.
Golden bread but unmelted cheese means the heat was too high. Drop to medium-low and give it 1 more minute per side under the weight. Cut it on the diagonal with a serrated knife and eat it within 5 minutes; as it cools, the cheese firms up and the crust softens.
Miami, Tampa and the medianoche
- Tampa Cuban. Tampa adds a layer of Genoa salami; Miami leaves it out. For 4 sandwiches, about 3 oz (80 g) thinly sliced.
- Medianoche. The same filling on a soft, sweet egg bread, smaller and closer to brioche or challah. Press it the same way but check from minute 2: the sugar in the bread browns faster.
- Key West style. Some places add lettuce, tomato and mayo. I leave them out, because the mayo turns oily under the press and wets the bread.
Cuban sandwiches for a crowd, and making them ahead
Oven method for 8 to 12. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Set the buttered sandwiches on a parchment-lined sheet pan with space between them, cover with foil, lay a second sheet pan on top and weigh it down with a cast-iron skillet or a pot of water. Bake about 10 minutes. If the tops are still pale, flip them and give them 3 minutes more.
The day before. Slice the pork, ham, cheese and pickles and keep each in its own covered container in the fridge. On the day, warm the pork, build and press.
Don’t build them ahead. Mustard and pickles soak into the crumb within a few hours, and a soggy sandwich won’t crisp in the pan.
What goes wrong
- Soggy inside → wet pork or pickles straight from the jar. Drain both on paper towels.
- Burnt crust, cold middle → heat too high or cold pork. Medium heat, and warm the pork first.
- Filling squeezes out → crusty bread, thick slices or too much filling.
- Tastes mostly of mustard → more than 1 tsp per side, or a hot mustard instead of yellow.
- Bread sticks to the pan → not enough butter outside, or the pan wasn’t hot when the sandwich went in.
- Cheese won’t melt → thick or fridge-cold slices.
Allergens and kids. Contains wheat/gluten (bread), milk (cheese and butter) and mustard, which is a declared allergen in the UK and EU. No heat at all. Kids usually like it with the pickles left out or on the side.
Serving and storing
Serve. I put it next to crispy fried yuca or twice-fried tostones; a bag of potato chips works too. If the pork is left over from Christmas Eve, reheated Cuban yuca with garlic mojo from the same dinner is just as good alongside. One sandwich per person is lunch.
What drives the cost. The Swiss cheese and the ham. The pork, if it’s leftovers, barely counts.
Fridge. Store the parts, not the sandwich: leftover roast pork keeps 3 to 4 days, opened ham 3 to 5 days, and the bread a day in a paper bag. If a pressed sandwich is left over, wrap it and refrigerate it within 2 hours. Reheat it the next day in a skillet over medium-low heat under the weight, about 4 minutes per side, until the center reaches 165°F (74°C). The crust won’t be quite as crisp.
Freezer. Not assembled: the bread and pickles go watery when they thaw. Freeze the sliced pork flat in bags with a little of its juice, and the bread separately.
Cuban sandwich FAQ
What cheese goes on a Cuban sandwich? Swiss, in thin slices. It melts smoothly and its mild, nutty taste doesn’t compete with the pork. In the UK, Emmental is the same style.
Can I make it with pulled pork? Yes, if it’s plain roast pork. Barbecue pulled pork in sauce makes a different, sweeter sandwich, and the sauce soaks the bread.
How much pork do I need? 3½ oz (100 g) per sandwich, so 14 oz (400 g) for 4. If you’re roasting pork with sandwiches in mind, take it out at 170°F (77°C): it stays firm and slices thin.
Why is it cut on the diagonal? That’s how Cuban cafeterias serve it, and it gives you two narrow ends to bite into. Use a serrated knife in one stroke so you don’t squash the melted cheese.
Nutrition per sandwich
Per sandwich (8 in / 20 cm of bread, 3½ oz / 100 g of roast pork with its fat, 2 oz / 60 g ham, 1½ oz / 45 g Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and the butter outside), calculated from the recipe quantities:
- Calories: 922 kcal
- Protein: 56 g
- Carbohydrates: 51 g
- Fat: 55 g, of which 24 g saturated
- Fiber: 4 g
- Sugars: 5 g
Almost a third of the calories, about 292, come from the pork; the bread adds 245, the butter 100 and the cheese 177. With lean pork trimmed of visible fat and half the butter, it drops to about 810. Sodium is left out because it depends on how much of the marinade’s salt stayed in the pork. Even without the pork, the bread, ham, cheese, pickles, mustard and butter come to roughly 1,550 mg, so this is a salty sandwich.
My first Cubano was on a crusty bakery baguette, and half the filling shot out the sides when I pressed it. Now I buy the softest loaf I can find and warm the pork before it goes in, and those two changes made the sandwich. Dylan gets his with no pickles and double cheese; I slice mine into long planks so every bite has some. Josnaisis.