10 Fall Sandwiches Ideas to Try This Season

Sandwiches are the lunch I actually make in fall, because the oven is busy with everything else.

Most of these are about a pan, a lid, and knowing when to flip.

Each one below has a pin so you can see what you’re aiming for, and a link to a recipe that has actually been made.

Ten of them.

1. Roasted Turkey and Cranberry Delight

Leftover roast turkey or deli turkey both work, but leftovers need to be used within three or four days and heated until they’re steaming in the middle.

Cheese goes against the bottom slice so it melts into a glue, then turkey, then the cranberry on the top slice only.

Spread the whole berry cranberry sauce thin, because a thick layer slides out the back the second you bite.

Butter the outside, medium heat, and put the cheese side down first so it’s melted by the time you flip.

A grill press or a second heavy pan on top gets the bread flat against the heat and browns it in half the time.

Cut it in half on the diagonal so the filling shows, or nobody knows what’s in it.

The pin is Andie Mitchell’s turkey melts, which use seeded multigrain, deli American, a handful of sprouts, and a nonstick skillet over medium heat with the cheese side down first.

2. Apple, Cheddar, and Honey Mustard Grilled Cheese

Honey mustard is equal parts dijon and honey stirred together, spread on the inside of both slices.

The apple has to be sliced thin enough to bend, or it’s still cold and crunchy when the cheese is done.

Grate the cheddar on a box grater instead of slicing it, because grated cheese melts before the bread burns and slices don’t.

Mayo on the outside browns more evenly than butter and doesn’t scorch.

Medium-low heat with a lid on for the first two minutes melts the cheese from the top down.

Sharp cheddar, not mild, or the apple and honey take over.

The pin is Belle Vie’s spicy apple cheddar grilled cheese, which builds the same sandwich with dijon and honey butter but adds hot pepper jelly and a little arugula on thick crusty bread, and the jelly is the part worth stealing.

3. Pumpkin Spice French Toast Sandwich

Two slices of thick bread with a cream cheese filling between them, dipped and fried as one piece.

The filling is softened cream cheese, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and it has to be soft or it tears the bread when you spread it.

The custard is eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, and spice, and it’s puree, not pie filling, which is already sweetened.

Dip each side for a few seconds and no longer, because a soaked sandwich stays wet in the middle after the outside is brown.

Butter, medium-low, three to four minutes a side, and the center needs to be hot through since there’s raw egg in the custard.

Maple syrup and toasted pecans on top, nothing else.

The pin is The Cozy Plum’s cream cheese stuffed pumpkin French toast, which uses thick brioche and stuffs each slice rather than sandwiching two, and brioche is the right call because it soaks up the custard without falling apart.

4. Maple Glazed Ham and Brie Melt

The glaze is a spoon of maple syrup in the pan with the ham for one minute, until it goes sticky and the edges brown.

Slice the brie cold, because room-temperature brie smears instead of slicing.

The rind is fine to eat, and if you don’t like it, cut it off before slicing rather than after.

Thin apple slices between the ham and the brie cut the richness and keep it from being a wall of fat.

Butter with chopped thyme stirred in goes on the outside.

Medium-low heat and a lid, because brie takes longer to melt than cheddar and the bread will burn waiting for it on medium.

The pin is Unsophisticook’s grilled ham, apple and brie sandwich, which uses thyme butter, green apple, and smoked ham, and finishes with a drizzle of honey instead of the maple glaze.

5. Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Panini

Cube the squash small, about half an inch, so it roasts in twenty minutes at 425 and mashes a little under the press.

Goat cheese spread on both slices is what holds the squash in, since squash on its own falls out the sides.

Sage leaves fried in butter for thirty seconds go crisp, and you pull them the moment the butter stops bubbling.

A panini press is the easy way, and a heavy pan pressed down on top of a skillet does the same job.

Roasted squash keeps four days in the fridge, so make a tray and this is a five-minute lunch all week.

A drizzle of honey or maple over the goat cheese before it closes is the difference between fine and good.

The pin is Grilled Cheese Social’s caramelized butternut squash toast, which is built open-faced on thick toast with goat cheese and crispy sage, so add a second slice and press it to get the panini.

6. Pear, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Baguette

Split the baguette and toast the cut side, then put the blue cheese on while it’s still warm so it softens into the bread.

The pear needs to be ripe but firm, and Bosc holds its shape where Bartlett goes mushy.

Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for three minutes, because raw walnuts taste like nothing next to blue cheese.

Arugula on top, then a thin line of balsamic glaze or honey.

Assemble right before eating, because the pear browns and the bread goes soft under it.

Black pepper, more than you think.

The pin is Oh My Veggies’ open-faced walnut and pear sandwich, which does the same thing on toasted rye with blue cheese, pear, arugula, and balsamic glaze, and open-faced is the better way to serve it if you’re putting it on a board.

7. Sage Pesto Chicken Sandwich

Sage on its own makes a bitter pesto, so it’s a small handful of sage to twice that much parsley, with walnuts, parmesan, garlic, and oil.

A mini food processor does it in a minute and a blender needs too much oil to get going.

Thighs stay juicy where breasts dry out, and if you use breasts, pound them to an even thickness first.

Chicken is done at 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, and there’s no reliable way to tell by looking.

Rest it five minutes and slice across the grain, or it’s chewy no matter how well it was cooked.

Mix a spoon of the pesto into mayo for the spread, and put the rest on the chicken.

The pin is The Cozy Apron’s grilled chicken sandwich with pesto, which uses a classic basil pesto on focaccia, and focaccia is the right bread here because it’s soft enough to bite through with the chicken.

8. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Wrap

Sweet potato in half-inch cubes, oil, cumin, and smoked paprika, roasted at 425 for twenty-five minutes until the edges catch.

Warm the drained beans with a splash of water and mash about half of them, because whole beans roll out of a wrap and mashed ones hold it together.

Heat the tortilla in a dry pan for twenty seconds a side first, or it splits when you fold it.

Filling in a line across the middle, sides folded in, then rolled tight from the bottom.

Toast it seam-side down in the dry pan for a minute and it stays closed.

Lime juice and cilantro at the end, and the fillings keep four days in the fridge so you’re only assembling on the day.

The pin is Up Beet Kitchen’s sweet potato black bean burritos, which go further with a cauliflower walnut filling, an avocado tomato salsa, and salsa verde, and it’s more work but it’s a full dinner.

9. Fig, Prosciutto, and Arugula Ciabatta

Fresh figs are in stores from late summer into October, and outside that window a thin layer of fig jam does the job.

Quarter the figs rather than slicing them, so they don’t turn to paste under the top half.

Prosciutto goes on in loose folds, not laid flat, because flat prosciutto is one solid layer you can’t bite through.

Split and lightly toast the ciabatta so it doesn’t go soft under the fruit.

Toss the arugula with a little oil and lemon before it goes on, since dry leaves fall out.

Prosciutto is cured but it’s still a cold cut, so this doesn’t sit out on a table longer than two hours.

The pin is Sprinkles and Sea Salt’s fig and prosciutto sandwiches, which add a honey gorgonzola spread, and that spread is what turns it from a nice sandwich into the one people ask about.

10. Roast Beef and Caramelized Onion Sub

The onions take forty minutes on low, and there’s no shortcut that doesn’t taste like one.

Deli roast beef is fine, sliced thin, and warm it in the onion pan for thirty seconds so it doesn’t go gray and stiff in the sub.

Stir a spoon of prepared horseradish into mayo for the spread, because plain mayo gets lost under the onions.

Toast the roll first, then beef, onions, and provolone on top.

Two minutes under the broiler melts the cheese, and you stand there and watch it, because it’s brown and then it’s black.

Arugula goes on after the broiler, not before.

The pin is Good Life Eats’ hot roast beef sandwiches, which use homemade eye of round roast beef on toasted ciabatta rolls with caramelized onions, provolone, garlic aioli, and arugula, and the homemade beef is worth it if you’re feeding more than two.

For the snack side of the same season, the savory fall snack ideas post has spiced nuts, tartlets, and eight more.

And if these are going in a basket, the picnic finger food post covers what travels and what doesn’t.