14 Ways To Upgrade Your Bologna Sandwich

Reactions to bologna usually go one of two ways — enthusiastic fawning, or immediate disgust. Perhaps that's because many of us still aren't quite sure what bologna is, or because we associate it with less than fond memories of cold, slimy rubber on lackluster white bread that sticks to the roof of your mouth. The controversy is ironic, considering bologna's origins trace back to Bologna, Italy — an esteemed food city. Its Italian predecessor, mortadella, doesn't carry nearly the same amount of stigma, having enjoyed a surge in popularity bolstered by trendy restaurants and chef innovations in recent years. Somehow, bologna has eluded the inevitable large-scale rebrand that has transformed many processed foods from a last resort to a cult classic — think gourmet hot dogs or artisanal Pop-Tarts.

Like it or not, the bologna sandwich is an American icon, serving as a nostalgic comfort food and go-to struggle meal for generations. With a little culinary prowess, however, a humble bologna sandwich can be indulgently flavorful, texturally complex, and deeply satisfying. Whether incorporating a simple pan-fry for crispy edges, layering with unexpected condiments, or piling on homemade toppings, there are plenty of ways to upgrade this lunch meat classic. In this article, we'll show you how to make the most of your next bologna sandwich.

One of the most universally embraced bologna preparations, the fried bologna sandwich has cemented itself as a longstanding diner staple, particularly across the Southern and Midwestern United States. On its own, bologna can be relatively bland and overly salty. The introduction of this step circumvents these issues, creating a crispy caramelization and bringing out a smoky depth of flavor that balances out the salt. Frying your bologna also improves the texture, eradicating the rubberiness that so many find unappealing and creating a contrast between the charred exterior and tender interior.

To achieve the perfect fried bologna, one established trick is to use a knife to score the surface or snip the edges before frying. This ensures that the meat won't curl up in the pan, allowing for it to lie flat and cook evenly, which is essential for an even sear and maximizing the Maillard reaction (when sugars in meat begin to caramelize) that generates so much flavor. Once you've scored your bologna, simply slap it into a pan on medium heat with a pat of butter and cook until hot, crisp, and golden-brown on each side. You then have a beautiful blank canvas for any combination of condiments and toppings.

You've likely heard of a chicken-fried (or country-fried, depending on who you ask) steak — the classic Southern dish featuring a juicy cut of beef marinated in tangy buttermilk, coated in seasoned breading, shallow fried in a skillet until golden brown, then smothered with creamy, peppery gravy. It's the ultimate comfort meal, usually paired with traditional hearty sides. Well, this approach isn't just reserved for steak. It can, and should, be replicated with pretty much any protein, say, chicken-fried bacon, or in this case, chicken-fried bologna.

The over-the-top process here renders bologna almost unrecognizable, dramatically transforming the flimsy deli meat into a complete, full-fledged main course. The chicken-fry technique works best with an extra thick-cut slab of bologna, ideally around ¼-inch thick. If you go any thinner, you're risking your bologna getting lost in the dense breading and high-heat frying. A meatier cut will instead retain its flavorful, tender inside while still developing that crunchy outer crust. For a complete experience, serve your chicken-fried bologna in sandwich form on a fluffy bun, topped with melted American cheese, and your favorite burger-friendly toppings like tomato, onion, lettuce, or anything else you're craving.

Sandwich condiments are a deeply personal preference, often influenced by regional and family traditions. Similar to heated debates surrounding the ideal condiments on a hot dog, many bologna enthusiasts are surprisingly passionate in their opinions. For some purists, yellow mustard is the only acceptable option, though in the South, anything but Duke's Mayonnaise would be considered blasphemous. The good news is, there are no hard and fast rules in sandwich making, and you can do whatever you want with your bologna.

The more experimental among us have endless possibilities to explore. The smoky, spicy flavor of harissa, for instance, would be a welcome addition. Or, double down on the Southern flavors with pimento cheese for a creamy, sharp contrast. For a truly customizable experience, you can opt to forgo bottled store-bought products entirely, and instead make your own condiments. A simple homemade honey mustard drizzled overtop, or a smear of homemade aioli imbued with garlic and herbs would go a long way on your next bologna creation.

Just as important as the contents of your bologna sandwich is what holds it all together — the bread. Although regular white bread is a standard go-to with its ultra-soft mouthfeel and versatility, swapping for something bougier is a low-lift way to instantly upgrade an ordinary bologna sandwich into something that feels gourmet. Substituting your plain white slices for a thick-cut brioche, for example, a luxurious French-style bread enriched with eggs and butter, will add depth and richness. The subtle sweetness of brioche complements the salty, smokiness of the bologna, and its pillowy, fluffy texture juxtaposes its chewiness. Challah bread offers a similar effect, with a slightly tighter crumb, which can hold up to heavier toppings.

If soft and sweet is not your style, the tang and chew of a rustic sourdough provides an entirely new dimension, cutting through the fatty richness of the meat rather than enhancing it. A seeded rye, on the other hand, delivers an additional savory, earthy element, and a sturdy ciabatta does a lot texture-wise, with its crisp outer crust and airy, webbed interior, will soak up excess moisture without getting soggy.

If you're ever stumped when deciding what to eat, TikTok is always around to make the call for you with its latest viral food creation. Last year, the chopped salad sandwich made the rounds, inspiring home cooks to dice up their sandwich fillings — meats, cheeses, and all — and douse the mix with dressing before piling it onto bread. This technique offers an easy way to revitalize your next bologna sandwich, just chop up your bologna and its accoutrements, toss in your dressing of choice, and enjoy on a split-top bun to keep all the innards contained.

Like most TikTok food trends, however, this concept isn't exactly new. It's just been repackaged into a bite-sized clip without context to a fresh audience. Midwesterners and Southerners have been making ham salad and bologna salad sandwiches for decades, combining hard-boiled eggs, relish, and a creamy mayo-based salad dressing. Unlike its modern equivalent, this "old fashioned" or bologna salad is chopped very finely in a food processor, until smooth, almost spreadable in consistency.

If there's anyone whose opinion you should trust when it comes to bologna sandwich making, it's that of a professional chef. Some prefer to keep things uncomplicated, while others take a more convoluted approach. Take Momofuku chef David Chang, whose pared-down recipe calls for nothing more than a kaiser roll, butter, and good ole American cheese. The finesse comes in when the whole sandwich is pressed into a hot pan, creating a melty, crispy, panini-style effect. If you're feeding a crowd, Matty Matheson offers an efficient recipe for bologna sliders, using famously soft, sweet King's Hawaiian slider rolls, and a creamy mustard-mayo based sauce combined with diced pickles and white onion.

At the other end of the spectrum, "Good Eats" host Alton Brown swears by a more meticulous strategy, in standard Alton Brown fashion. He makes his classic bologna sandwich by alternating hot and cold slices of bologna for contrast, with one piece of bread coated in mustard and the other in mayo, followed by a layer of thinly sliced red onion for a burst of sharp flavor. Or take a page out of Food Network star Molly Yeh's book, who slathers on a homemade "pickle dip" spread, which contains cream cheese, Havarti, and ranch dressing, then piles kettle chips atop her bologna sandwich for a salty, crunchy bite.

Bologna is like mortadella's trashy American cousin. Both are fatty, emulsified pork meats with a similar base composition, save for occasional specks of pistachios, a more spiced flavor, and visible cubes of fat marbling in the latter. Bologna, by comparison, features a uniform, smooth consistency that gives it a more processed feeling. Aside from ingredients and texture, one of the most notable differences between mortadella and bologna lies in the thickness of the meat.

Most pre-packaged bologna is cut on the thicker side, which allows for sturdy, juicy sandwiches. When intended for frying, slices can reach up to ¼-inch in thickness, so that they hold up during cooking. Mortadella, conversely, is typically ultra-thin, almost see-through. This creates a silky, melt-in-your-mouth effect and a lush, pillowy appearance when draped delicately on a charcuterie platter, topping a pizza, or layered into a fluffy muffuletta. To emulate its European relative, ditch the pre-packaged stuff and ask your deli counter to slice your bologna whisper-thin.

A bologna sandwich and a bag of potato chips is a match made in lunchtime heaven. Instead of enjoying your chips on their own, have you ever considered piling them right on top? Using chips as a sandwich topping rather than a separate side is an ingenious, playful move that elevates both the crunch and flavor factor. Turkey and the Wolf's famous fried bologna sandwich features homemade potato chips, but a bag of classic Lay's gets the job done just as well at home.

The best part about this trick is all of the different directions you can go flavor-wise, making your bologna sandwich a truly DIY opportunity. You can go as rogue as you'd like — think Doritos for a bold kick or Takis if you're looking to add serious heat. In true stoner food fashion, Snoop Dogg's OG fried bologna sandwich features barbecue chips for a smoky sweet layer. One tip for this approach that makes a big difference is to gently press down on the sandwich to lightly crush the chips, minimizing spillage.

Speaking in technical terms, bologna is a type of sausage – a category of meats that is regularly smoked. Traditional Polish kielbasa, for example, is known for its distinctive smoky, hearty flavor. Likewise, Spanish chorizo is usually preserved via smoking, and Cajun andouille sausage is double smoked — both before and after the meat is stuffed into its casing. At the deli counter, you may be able to find artisanal smoked bologna, but if you're feeling ambitious and happen to have the right equipment, going the extra mile and smoking it yourself is a worthwhile endeavor.

To pull off a smoked bologna, a charcoal grill is certainly your best bet, but it's easy enough to transform your regular grill into a smoker. One of the more straightforward methods here is to score your whole bologna, slather it in mustard, apply your favorite BBQ rub, and place in the smoker for a few hours. The result is a crispy, charred exterior with a deeply flavorful crust. Alternatively, you can make a Southern dish known as Mississippi Round Steaks, in which you pre-cut your bologna and coat each individual, extra thick slice with the mustard-rub combination. This ensures a larger surface area for those smoky, savory flavors to penetrate.

Frying your bologna in just butter or oil on its own does wonders for the taste and texture. But if you find yourself needing a bolder flavor or spicier punch, it's common practice in some households to toss in a few extra aromatic ingredients. Make sure you use a liberal amount of oil in the pan, as it will lead to an infused oil situation, imparting your bologna with the essence of whichever ingredients you select.

The addition of a few slices of white onion and jalapeño peppers, for example, makes a world of difference, giving a subtle kick of heat and depth of flavor. For a truly decadent spin, start by frying up a couple slabs of bacon, then add your bologna into the rendered grease. To tie the whole thing together, pile on all of your cooked aromatics to your final bologna sandwich with some melty cheese for a warm, gooey, savory mess that leaves you full and satisfied.

The egg sandwich has long been a pillar of breakfast foods around the world, offering a universally satisfying, protein-packed way to start the day. Typically, you'll find mainstays like bacon, sausage patties, or the ever controversially named Taylor ham — also known as pork roll in parts of New Jersey – taking center stage on diner and deli menus. However, bologna has historically been overlooked as a breakfast protein, despite deserving just as much recognition in this category as its porky alternatives.

When fried, bologna develops a crispy, caramelized exterior while maintaining its salty, meaty flavor and tender texture. This makes it an optimal companion for eggs prepared any way — fluffy scrambled, fried with lacy edges, or gooey, runny over-easy — complementing their creamy, buttery quality. For your next most important meal of the day, consider a simple yet hearty bologna, egg, and cheese sandwich stacked onto a fluffy kaiser roll or crispy toasted, buttered bread.

There's no doubt that sandwich toppings made from scratch are indeed superior to any store-bought alternatives. Convenience is a great thing, but if you really want to level up your bologna sandwich game, it's time to whip out your own ingredients and get to work. It's not that hard, either. Though they've got a bad reputation for being labor intensive and time-consuming, homemade caramelized onions are made hackable via the Instant Pot, giving a rich, umami-tinged sweetness to your next bologna sandwich.

If you're willing to expend a little more effort, give your pickles a makeover. With their tangy, succulent nature, pickles are a stronghold on the bologna sandwich — or any sandwich, for that matter — in their raw state. When battered and fried, however, they turn into a culinary marvel, embodying crunchy, acidic, and juicy elements all at once. Fried pickles are a quintessential dish at taverns, sports bars and, for a time, fast food menus. When added to your bologna sandwich, they provide a craveable crunch and sour bite that feels all the more special than your average pickle.

No matter what you're cooking, a little seasoning goes a long way. This much is true for bologna, whose mild flavor provides the perfect blank canvas for any combination of spices. For an extra flavorful bologna sandwich, give your slices a quick rubdown before throwing them on the grill or into the pan. There are countless flavor possibilities, but you can't go wrong with a barbecue spice rub. Barbecue spice combinations vary greatly by region, though a typical store-bought blend may include (but is not limited to) brown sugar, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, sea salt, and pepper. As the bologna cooks, the sugar will begin to caramelize, and the spices will harden to create a crisp, flavorful crust.

Alternatively, take your bologna on a global journey with tried and true spice blends from around the world. Za'atar, a blend of dried herbs, sesame seeds, and sumac, will impart a bright, earthy Middle Eastern flavor, while Jamaican jerk seasoning, featuring Scotch bonnet peppers, delivers a fiery, Caribbean kick. You could also try Cajun seasoning for a bold, smoky heat, or garam masala for a warm, aromatic Indian twist. When building your sandwich from these various flavor profiles, you should also consider tweaking your toppings to complement them — like adding hummus or labneh to your za'atar-spiced bologna, grilled pineapple on your jerk bologna, and so on.

Double the bologna, double the fun. If the almighty Big Mac has taught us anything, it's that adding a club layer is always a power move. Like building a mini sandwich skyscraper, stacking your bologna sandwiches twice – or thrice – isn't just visually enticing; it makes the whole process more gratifying. The construction of the sandwich is a rewarding experience in itself, albeit chaotic when trying to balance everything out so it doesn't topple over.

More layers also means more food, as you're essentially creating two sandwiches in one. That means more room for various toppings, condiments, and textures that might not fit into a single layer sandwich. Things can indeed get a little messy (that's all part of the charm), but the end result is a more filling, rewarding meal. So why settle for an average bologna sandwich when it can stack up to something even greater?