These toasted pizza subs are easy to make and customize for your family
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I love recipes that are easy to make and please my whole family; this pizza sub recipe does just that.
Both my son and husband love anything pizza. I mean, I do, too. What’s not to love? The sauce. The cheese. The toppings. The crust. Mmmm. However, we like to shake things up, and this pizza sub recipe is great for that. Plus it’s easy, which makes it even better!
My mom first got this recipe from another mom when I was a teenager. She made the pizza subs with pizza sauce, shaved ham and cheese. They were delicious!
My husband and son, who are particular eaters, don’t eat ham, so I tend to go a bit more traditional pizza toppings with our pizza subs. However, they are completely customizable to what your family likes and even what individual members of your family like.
In fact, when I make this pizza sub recipe, I make each one slightly different for each person in my family!
The first thing that a good sub needs is toasted, crunchy bread. So I toast the bread before I put on toppings. I used to toast by spraying it with margarine spray or brushing melted margarine or butter on the bread. Now I just use some non-stick cooking spray spritzed on the top of the bread.
After setting my oven to 450-degrees, I open up the sub buns onto a cookie sheet covered with my beloved Reynolds Non-stick Aluminum foil, which makes clean up so much easier. Then I spritz them generously with non-stick cooking spray.
The buns then go into the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Keep check on them to make sure they don’t get too done. You want them to be lightly browned around the edges. Once they are, then pull them out and add the toppings, starting with pizza sauce.
Next up add your toppings. I usually put a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of the sauce then add Italian blend or mozzarella cheese. My husband doesn’t like much cheese on his, so I go light cheese for him. My kids are sort of average on cheese, and I love it, so I cheese up the bread accordingly.
Then go the other toppings. For my guys, that means pepperoni. This time around I added some diced onion to my husband’s pizza subs as well. My daughter doesn’t like pepperoni so much so I thawed a small amount of cooked, chopped hamburger for hers and also added diced onion. I like all of the above, so I did some pepperoni, a small amount of hamburger and onion on my own.
But, you can totally use whatever pizza toppings you and your family like best: green peppers, mushrooms, sausage, bacon, ham, pineapple, chicken, etc. You could even switch up the sauce and use barbeque sauce or ranch dressing.
After the toppings are on, the pizza subs go back into the hot oven for about 8 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. Sometimes for the last minute or two, I turn the broiler on low to get them good and toasting on top, but the pizza sub recipe works just fine without using the broiler as well.
Pull them out of the oven and serve them up! I usually put my pizza sub together like a sandwich while my husband eats his in open-faced sandwich style. Either way works!
SAVE RECIPEINGREDIENTS
- Sub buns
- Non-stick cooking spray
- Pizza sauce (jarred or your own; I use jarred)
- Italian blend or mozzarella shredded cheese
- Pepperoni, shaved ham, hamburger, onions, green peppers, mushrooms — whatever you like on pizza
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 450-degrees.
- Split the sub buns in half and place them on a cookie sheet. (I line mine with Reynold's non-stick aluminum foil to make clean up easier because I always spill cheese onto the pan.)
- Spray the top of the sub buns generously with non-stick cookings spray.
- Stick the buns into the preheated oven for about five minutes. The bread should just be starting to be lightly golden around the edges and feel lightly toasted to the touch.
- Cover with pizza sauce, cheese and desired toppings.
- Put the subs back in the hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. (Sometimes for the last minute or two, I turn the broiler on low to get them good and toasting on top, but the recipe works just fine without using the broiler as well.)
- Serve as an open-faced or closed sandwich.
