BBQ Sandwich

Posted on by Jeff the Chef

BBQ Sandwich: leftover barbecue, coleslaw, cheese … easy and delicious. You’re so busy this time of year with holiday preparations, don’t you need something you can throw together just about effortlessly to get you through the day? Wouldn’t it be nice if it were also something so delicious you could hardly wait to throw it together?

BBQ Sandwich
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BBQ Sandwich

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!
Makes

1

sandwich
Prep timeminutes
Cooking time

10

minutes
Total time

10

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of shredded, barbecued meat

  • Butter, for the griddle

  • Coleslaw mix

  • Coleslaw dressing

  • 2 slices of a hearty bread

  • 1-2 slices provolone

Directions

  • Place the meat into a microwaveable container, and heat it until very warm, about 1 minute on full power. Set aside. Place a nice, healthy handful of coleslaw mix into a bowl. Pour not-too-much cole slaw dressing into it, stir, and evaluate. Add more, bit by bit, until you’ve got it just as saucy as it should be. Set aside.
  • Place a pat of butter on a heavy, cast-iron griddle and turn the heat to moderately high. Once the butter has melted, lay a slice of bread over it, and move it around so that it spreads the butter all around in a circumference just larger than the bread. Set a timer for 2 minutes. Check for browning. If it needs more, check at 1-minute intervals until it’s done to your liking. Remove the bread to a cutting board, browned side up.
  • Add a much smaller pat of butter to the grill, in the same spot. It will melt very quickly. Add the other slice of bread, move it around, and set a timer for 1 minute. During that minute, flip the bread that’s on the cutting board over, place the provolone onto it, and use a culinary torch to melt it. Check the bread on the griddle. It will brown much more quickly than the first one did; you may not need more than that initial minute. Remove it to the cutting board, browned side up.
  • Top the melted provolone with the barbecue, top that with the slaw, and press the second slice of browned bread on top, gently pushing the sandwich together. Filling will spill out onto the sides; in my book, that’s purposeful. Use a chef’s knife to cut the sandwich in half (diagonally, unless you’re a psychopath). Enjoy!
"BBQ Sandwich," from Make It Like a Man!

You can scale up this recipe easily to make more sandwiches at once. The limiting factor would be the size of your grill. One sandwich is one serving, although if you have sides to go with it, I’d be satisfied with half of a sandwich.

The Backstory

This is a kind of cheesy recipe. It’s nothing but the assemblage of a bunch of pre-made ingredients that you probably don’t need to be told to make sandwich from, or how. I made some barbecue, had a lot leftover, and this sandwich came immediately to mind. I’m posting it because, once I threw it all together, it was SO good. I had sandwich after sandwich after sandwich (over the course of days, mind you – I’m not uncivilized), looking forward to each one and enjoying them all immensely. Anything that good has to go on the blog. 

So Many Questions…

Would I make homemade barbecue just to make this sandwich? I don’t think so, even though I absolutely love this sandwich. However, I would absolutely use leftover homemade or leftover take-out barbecue. I would also use barbecue from the hot bar at the grocery store.

Do you have to use a cast-iron griddle? No, but my timings are tied to it, so you’d have to figure those out on your own. 

Could you use hamburger buns or sandwich rolls instead of bread? Yes. Just make sure that they’re not so soft that they would turn to mush when you top them with saucy barbecue and creamy slaw. 

Could you use a cheese other than provolone, or not use any cheese at all? Yes and yes. I like cream cheese – it’s surprisingly good in this context. I’m sure other cheeses would be good, too. No cheese at all is fine, but the cheese amps up the body of the sandwich and completes its texture in a good way.

Is this sandwich a mess? Yes. It is too messy? No. Some of the Make It Like a Man! crew disagree, but I think it’s the perfect mess. It won’t fall apart as you eat it. Some of the filling might fall onto your plate as you pick it up the first time, but most of it won’t. You will need a napkin. But this is all part of what makes the experience wonderful. If you’re especially mess-averse, consider serving it this way: place the dressed slaw into a bowl, and top with the warmed BBQ. Don’t stir. Serve with griddle-toasted bread and eat it with a fork. 

Ingredients…

I assume they sell “coleslaw mix” in bags, in the produce section, where you live. It consists of green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots, shredded. That’s what I used. Of course you could shred your own if you had all the time and energy in the world.

I used bottled coleslaw dressing, which I assumed would be easy to find, but it wasn’t, at least not where I shop. I found only one brand, shunned to the bottom shelf: a bottle of “ranch” that somehow also called itself “coleslaw.” Would I make my own dressing just for this sandwich? No. Would I buy pre-made, dressed coleslaw, instead of buying the mix and dressing separately? No. The bottled dressing and fresh mix made a creamier, better-tasting coleslaw than any pre-made version that I’ve ever brought home from any grocery store. 

"BBQ Sandwich," from Make It Like a Man!
BBQ Sandwich

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #5 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs. Did I read that right? Number five? Yes, number five!

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34 thoughts on “BBQ Sandwich”

  1. This looks delicious! I love when the left overs from other meals turn into something just as good if not better.

    Reply

  5. I am so glad you posted this recipe. Just your tips about which kind of bread to use make it so helpful. Also, there’s something wonderful about the combination of bbq and coleslaw. These two work together to create such magic in a sandwich. Then one last important point… with a recipe this easy, I can create a fabulous feast in just minutes… even on the busiest of days! Thanks for sharing this gem!

    Reply

    1. Thanks! I almost didn’t share it, because I thought it was just too obvious, but then I had the same thoughts you did: this is a great sandwich, and in the days leading up to Christmas, we’re lucky if I have time to make any kind of homemade meal.

      Reply

    1. I’m telling you, I could get enough of it. I looked forward to having one each day until the BBQ was finally gone.

      Reply

  8. Hallelujah! For some time I couldn’t read your posts, comment, etc. I kept getting weird messages, and couldn’t find a way around them. But, I kept checking in, and it seems that whatever glitch was keeping me from your goodies has been resolved. This looks like an absolutely perfect sandwich, especially since pulled pork and chopped brisket are readily available from local barbeque joints. I’m going to find some Provolone and get after it!

    Reply

    1. Thanks for persisting! I had a technical problem with the site, and it took forever to get resolved.

      Reply

  11. That coleslaw sounds delicious, Jeff! We’re all about easy recipes to help balance out the crazy holiday cooking and baking…and this sandwich sounds like it would disappear quickly. I love all sorts of BBQ and the coleslow is a requirement. Great use of leftovers!

    Reply

  13. This looks ridiculously good, Jeff! I love how something so simple and leftover‑driven can turn into a total crave‑worthy sandwich. Honestly, I’d happily eat this for days too.

    Reply

  14. Hey Jeff, your BBQ Sandwich looks like the ultimate comfort bite. Tender shredded BBQ meat piled on hearty bread with creamy coleslaw, de-lic-ious! Hope you have an amazing Christmas!

    Reply

  17. Hi my friend, Jeff!!
    At the beging I would like to thank for a lot of comments, which you leaved on my blog. I haven’t been very long here, but I missed a lot of very interesting posts on your blog, nonetheless now I have a lot of free time to visit your blog and reading posts. I have to say that I like so much different such sandwiches, especially with cheese and bacon so you proposition sounds very interesting. I made in the past similar sandwiches in the version of cheese sandwich, when in addition I breaded sandwich in eggs and breadcrumbs. That was very delicious 😋 Now your blog looks very fantastic but I have often a big problem with loading pages 😊
    On the occasion of a New Year, I wish you everything good in the New Year and lots of happiness and joy 🤗
    Best regards and I hug you tight 😘😊

    Reply

    1. Thank you for that hug, Patryk, and I give you one in return! Sorry if the pages load slowly. I’ll have to see if there’s anything I can do about that.

      Reply

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