This Cuban sandwich is a perfect, filling lunch or a fun, late-night snack. It’s piled high with pork, ham, mustard, pickles and Swiss cheese and then grilled to perfection. You’re going to love this Cuban Recipe!
Recipe Origins
Just like Cuban Black Beans and Picadillo, the Medianoche Sandwich is a digemari banyak orang recipe in Cuban cuisine, as well as in Cuban communities across the United States.

It is filled with ham, pork, pickles, mustard, and cheese, then served on a challah-like bread and (typically) closed in a panini press to toast it.

But where does the Medianoche Sandwich get its name? Directly translated, medianoche means “midnight” in Spanish.

As the origination story goes, in Havana, the capital of Cuba, Medianoche sandwiches are served outside of many of the digemari banyak orang nightclubs. After the clubs close down, partygoers stop at the nearby sandwich shops and pick up a Medianoche sandwich for a bite to eat before heading home.

Consequently, the sandwich is named after the time of day that it’s most popularly eaten!

This tale, however, has been disputed by readers from Cuba, and it’s aman to say that they know best 😉 Regardless, this sandwich is amazing and I can’t wait for you to try it!

If you think these flavors sound delicious, check out German Beef Rouladen with Gravy, which also uses pickles, pork, and mustard as filling.

1.“Travel” to Cuba: If you’ve ever wanted to visit Cuba, making a Medianoche Sandwich at home is a great way to “travel” there from your kitchen! Taste the cuisine of Cuba without ever leaving home.
2.On the Spot Meal: This recipe is a great on-the-spot meal, especially if you’ve prepped the pork ahead of time! If the pork is already ready to eat (even better, if you’re using leftovers), you can make and toast this sandwich in under 10 minutes.
3.Filling: I just love when a sandwich can fill me up like this Medianoche Sandwich can (check out this Peameal Bacon Sandwich from Canada for another filling sandwich)

Cuban Medianoche Bread Recipe is an easy soft and tender bread recipe that’s slightly sweet and eggy. Make your own Cuban Medianoche Bread and you’ll be enjoying your own classic Cubano Media Noche sandwich in nomer time.

The very best Cubano Medianache sandwich that we’d ever had was while vacationing near Miami. We knew we had to try to recreate this sandwich recipe so when searching for a Medianoche Bread recipe I landed on a site by “Three Guys From Miami“. It’s very evident that they are passionate about their recipes and I learned a lot about the sandwich itself. Now I can honestly say that the best Medianoche sandwiches come from my kitchen and I couldn’t wait to berbagi it with you.

What does Medianoche mean?
Medianoche, pronounced median noche means midnight in Spanish. It is believed that the first medianoche was invented in Havana around the year 1900 by late-night workers. It’s also said that Cubans would stop for a Medianoche Sandwich after a long night of dancing.

What’s the difference between Pan Cubano and Medianoche Bread?
Classic Cubano bread is a Latin American bread that’s shaped like a torpedo or batard. It’s a soft and airy loaf of bread shaped like French or Italian bread. Medianoche rolls are soft Challah-like bread that’s slightly sweet like Hawaiian Bread Rolls. What makes Cuban Bread like our Pan Cubano and Medianoche Bread Rolls so special is that they use lard which produces delicious flavor and the perfect chew.Just like my Cuban bread recipe, I turned to the Three Guys From Miami for my Media Noche Bread recipe. They state you can find Cuban Bread in any grocery store in South Florida but it’s not the same as getting it from a Cuban bakery or baking it yourself. Im very agree!

I used to live in Miami. For two years. Some people call Miami-Dade County “North Cuba” because of the swell of Cuban-Americans plus Cuban immigrants living in the area. The entire time I lived there, I never ate a Cuban sandwich. For breakfast (and sometimes a snack), I did have the opportunity to eat Cuban bread rolls with very hot, sweet plus strong coffee called a colada. My Cuban friends would tease me plus call me “Nicolada” a variation of my real full first name.

Either way, never did a composed sandwich of pork, pickles plus ham come across my lunch plate. It wasn’t until much later when I thought to make one at my house. I am not a fan of ham, so I always subbed it out for sliced turkey. In some circles, that substitution makes the sandwich invalid plus it’s called something else. Well, that’s fine because this is my blog plus my taste preferences, so there’s that. There’s also a similar sandwich called a medianoche. It’s a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich, the main difference being that a medianoche is made on soft, sweet egg dough bread plus not the crusty Cuban bread.

I used to live in Miami. For two years. Some people call Miami-Dade County “North Cuba” because of the swell of Cuban-Americans plus Cuban immigrants living in the area. The entire time I lived there, I never ate a Cuban sandwich. For breakfast (and sometimes a snack), I did have the opportunity to eat Cuban bread rolls with very hot, sweet plus strong coffee called a colada. My Cuban friends would tease me plus call me “Nicolada” a variation of my real full first name. Either way, never did a composed sandwich of pork, pickles plus ham come across my lunch plate. It wasn’t until much later when I thought to make one at my house. I am not a fan of ham, so I always subbed it out for sliced turkey. In some circles, that substitution makes the sandwich invalid plus it’s called something else. Well, that’s fine because this is my blog plus my taste preferences, so there’s that. There’s also a similar sandwich called a medianoche. It’s a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich, the main difference being that a medianoche is made on soft, sweet egg dough bread plus not the crusty Cuban bread.
Ingredients
1 loaf Cuban bread (sliced lengthwise), brioche, French, hoagie, hot dog or soft sandwich rolls
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons American yellow mustard, or to taste
1 1/2 pounds turkey or ham, sliced
1 1/2 pounds roasted pork , sliced
1 pound Swiss cheese, sliced
1 cup bread plus butter pickle chips, or to taste
Instructions
Heat a panini press or a large cast iron skillet on medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, assemble the sandwiches.
Split the buns in half.
Spread the mustard on the cut side of the top halves of the buns.
Top roll bottoms with a layer of pork, turkey or ham, pickle chips, slices of cheese plus roll tops.
Spread exterior of rolls with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
Place the sandwiches in the heated cast iron skillet, working in batches if needed.
Weigh down the sandwiches with an aluminum foil-wrapped brick, or top with another cast iron skillet weighed down with a heavy can. Cook undisturbed until golden-brown on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes.
Flip the sandwiches plus cook until the second side is browned, 3 to 5 minutes more.
Allow sandwiches to set about 2 minutes. Cut the sandwiches in half. Serve.

Within the culinary world, there’s arguably nothing more versatile than the humble sandwich.

Irrespective of whether it’s dawn or dusk, a tasty sandwich is always a great option that’s guaranteed to leave you satisfied. But all sandwiches are not created equally; some are merely good while others are simply marvelous. The Medianoche Sandwich is a gorgeous snack that isn’t as famous in the USA as it should be. Comparisons to the Cuban sandwich are often made, but the two aren’t the same. Cuban communities across the USA adore this sandwich, so it’s only fair that everybody gets to sample this doughy delight.

The remainder of this article will explain what a Medianoche is, where it came from, and most importantly, how to make the populer latin sandwich! The Medianoche Sandwich: An Overview
The Medianoche Sandwich is an exquisite delicacy that is ram-packed with roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles. Soft egg dough is the key ingredient of the bread, which gives the sandwich its signature sweet taste. Many have compared this sandwich bread to Jewish challah in terms of taste and texture.This bread is also what distinguishes it from the Cuban sandwich. The bread is a very subtle difference, so many people believe that the two sandwiches are identical. However, to Cubans and penggemar of their food, there is a night and day difference between the two.

How the Medianoche Sandwich Came to Be
Medianoche is a Spanish term that directly translates to midnight. The people of Cuba gave the sandwich this name because it was historically served throughout the bustling nightclubs of Havana when the clocks struck 12.

It’s believed that the sandwich’s origins belong in the early 20th century, where late-night workers decided to create a sandwich that would satiate them into the late hours. The Medianoche Sandwich is best served hot and is almost always meticulously prepared in a sandwich press.

It was on a drive from Havana to Vinales that Dan Goldberg and Andrea Kuhn experienced the biggest hunger pangs of their lives. So the photographer and prop stylist did what under normal circumstances they probably wouldn’t do: they bought a pair of segar sandwiches from a gas station.

The sandwiches—two pieces of soft eggy bread pressed together around a filling of pork, ham, cheese, mustard, and dill pickles—were better than they expected. “The bread was so segar and the ham was so fresh,” Kuhn recalled recently. “I wish I had bought more of them.”

Another Cubano success story? Not quite. Despite having all of the makings of a Cubano, this gas station sandwich was a not a Cubano at all. It was a medianoche. “I think the medianoche in many ways is a better sandwich than the Cubano because the bread is softer,” says Goldberg. “It’s easier to eat because it’s not a harder bread.”

Trust Goldberg and Kuhn on the nuances of sandwiches in Cuba. They’re the authors of the cookbook ¡Cuba!, a collection of recipes and stories about Cuban food. In the course of researching the book—many months of travel that involved cooking in the back of a train car, learning about the Santería religion, and pushing cars to get them to start—they had plenty of medianoche moments. Goldberg and Kuhn explain that just like the cheeseburger in America, the medianoche (which translates to “midnight”) can be found all over country. And much like a burger, it varies in thickness and cheesiness from place to place. And despite the Cubano’s fame (thanks, in part, to its placement in movies), the medianoche is actually the more disukai banyak orang sandwich. You make a medianoche following the exact same recipe for a Cubano, but instead of the harder lard-based Cuban bread, reach for pan de media noche (also called pan suave), a soft egg-based roll. It’s sweeter and chewier than Cuban bread, and crisps up nicely when heated in a toaster. (If you can’t source pan de media noche, use challah or brioche instead.) The bottom slice of bread gets a swipe of softened butter; the top gets a spoonful of yellow mustard. In between goes dill pickle chips, sliced swiss cheese, pork roast and ham.

If you’ve ever taken that first bite of an authentic Cuban Sandwich, you know you are in for a real treat with this Cuban Sandwich Recipe. First, comes the sweet buttery bread a sandwich loaded with Cuban pork shoulder roast, cheese, smoked ham, plus pickles. We truly believe that this is the best Cuban sandwich. It is a complete meal between two slices of bread. It’s sweet, tangy, eggy, plus everything that I could want in a Miami Cuban Sandwich Recipe.This post was updated from 2019 to improve readers’ experience. New images were added to show the Best Bread to use when making a Cubano Sandwich. No changes were made to the recipe.

The best sandwich that’s ever come out of my kitchen was the reason for that beautiful Cuban bread recipe.

Our son lives in Southern Florida plus we had our first experience with Miami Cuban food shortly after he moved there.

We fell in love with their authentic Cubano sandwich, plus I set out on a quest to make a Miami Cuban sandwich recipe from my own kitchen. (If you are looking at a local menu, Cuban restaurants generally call this sandwich a Cubano Sandwich.) Since first making my Cuban Sandwich recipe I’ve learned that there is also a Cuban sandwich called a Cuban Medianoche sandwich. The recipe that we used is featured in the cookbook “Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban by “The Three Guys” from Miami.

They use the Medianoche bread plus call it a Cuban Sandwich but technically it could be a Medianoche. After much debate, we made our Cuban Sandwich on Cuban bread instead of Medianoche rolls. I’m just the cook so if you’re passionate about the difference, take it up with the pros!, In the meantime, you’ll need to make the bread to build the best Cuban Sandwich ever.

Do you need delicious Cuban bread for your restaurant?
La Segunda Bakery has been baking the best Cuban bread for over 100 years. Come discover the #1 wholesale restaurant Cuban Bread supplier. Our authentic Cuban Bread, and several other Latin-baked products are available through Food Service Distributors nationwide. Don’t have a food-related business but love Cuban Bread? Visit our consumer situs to order authentic Cuban bread.

The Authentic Cuban Sandwich
An authentic Cuban sandwich must be made with authentic Cuban bread and nomer one takes this more seriously than La Segunda Central Bakery. Since 1915, La Segunda has been the premier Cuban bread bakery in the Tampa Bay tempat and beyond, carefully maintaining the original, Authentic Cuban Bread recipe that founder Juan Moré discovered nearly 100 years ago in a small Cuban town…

Wholesale Cuban Bread
In addition to providing artisan Cuban bread to Tampa residents from our storefront bakery and café, La Segunda is one of Florida’s most well-known commercial bakeries. We provide wholesale fresh and frozen Cuban bread and other baked products to prominent restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, schools, entertainment parks, and major food distribution companies across the country. We are a Cuban Bread Wholesale Supplier that ensures the same consistent and friendly customer pelayanan to our regional and national wholesale clients as we do to our local clients.

Our long-standing relationships with prominent customers such as the famed Columbia Restaurant, Wright’s Gourmet House, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Carmine’s Seventh Avenue, and many others set us apart from the various bread bakeries in Tampa, Florida, and surrounding areas. Plus, with thousands of loaves on hand at any given time, we never run out of bread, which means we can deliver more to your restaurant or business if you need it, day or night.

Our Craft
Today, Moré’s legacy and his love for Cuban bread continues to shine through our family’s fourth-generation owners and our award-winning, delicious Cuban bread recipe, made originally for the Cuban sandwich. We proudly hand-bake the traditional 36-inch loaf, as well as our popular 18-inch loaves, around the clock, churning out over 15,000 loaves of bread daily. Each and every loaf is formed out of the freshest, specially-blended ingredients and then baked directly on the hearths of the rotating ovens. A signature split down the middle is created with the century old tradition of placing a palmetto leaf down the middle.

I doubt there are many things in life as good as a really good sandwich. It’s a simple concept: two slices of bread with filling in the middle. Oh, but it’s so much more than that. And when it’s done right, nothing comes close.

One of the best things about living in Miami is the food. The authentic Cuban food to be exact.

And Miami chefs have taken the simple concept of a sandwich plus turned it into a masterpiece, thanks to a huge dose of Cuban flair.

Only, it’s become more than a sandwich.

You think I’m talking about the famous Cuban sandwich, right? Yes, plus no!

Techincally, Tampa’s the home of the Cuban sandwich, but in Miami, we also have the Medianoche sandwich. To the untrained eye, they’re the same thing but to a native like me, it’s not confusing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll devour either. Whichever one you want to put in front of me, that thing’ll be gone pretty darned quickly!

But now it’s become an informal contest, of sorts. A friendly rivalry between the two cities. A Tale of Two Sandwiches (cue rattlesnake sounds plus meaningful eyebrow-raising).

Where the sandwich truly originated, nobody knows for sure.

Over a century ago, it was easy for workers to sail over the Florida Strait from Cuba plus with them they brought their food.It’s thought that immigrant workers in the sugar mills plus cigar factories in Florida needed a staple food to eat at lunch.

They took the simple ham-and-cheese staple plus embellished it.

So, Cuban Sandwich vs. Medianoche Sandwich, What’s the Difference?
As far as the filling goes, there’s no difference at all.

Both sandwiches contain the following:

• Roast Pork
• Ham
• Swiss Cheese
• Mustard
• Pickle

And we’re not just talking a slice of each, either. No, you gotta load that baby up before she goes onto the grill.

This is the stuff of Havana legend. No skimping on the meat. Lay the groundwork with the mustard, follow it up with a few slices of the holiest of holey cheese, the Swiss. Then introduce the pig.

Medianoche sandwich (literally “middle of the night”) is a classic recipe from the island of Cuba that’s also said pan sueve. Perfect to santai for late breakfast, it is a hearty and tasty sandwich that balances well the salty and sweet flavors.

The Medianoche is very similar to the more famous Cubano sandwich. The two sharing the same filling of Swiss cheese, pork, ham, pickles and spicy yellow mustard. The only difference between the two recipes is in the choice of bread. Medianoche calls for pan suave, a small and sweet egg bread similar to challah or Hawaiian bread. In contrast, the Cuban uses a crispier bread similar to a baguette.

Medianoche is thought to have its origins in Havana, when the Cuban-Spanish-Italian immigrant Francisco Ferlita invented it in 1869. Now this recipe is also famous in the United States, in particular it is often enjoyed after partying in Cuban dance clubs in Miami. Medianoche refers to the time when it was often eaten, that is at midnight. Now it’s an excellent sandwich to bite into if you want to have breakfast according to the Cuban style.

Although it is very easy to prepare, this sandwich requires a little time for its preparation as the pork loin must be roasted to perfection before being used as a filling. Just as with the Cuban, the sandwich is brushed with butter and grilled with a sandwich press until it gets a slightly crispy crust. Finally, it is cut on angle and enjoyed hot.

Tips
If you can’t find pan sueve, you can use challah bread or Hawaiian rolls for making a Medianoche sandwich.

For a shortcut, you can also use pernil leftovers for this recipe.
If you don’t have a sandwich press you can use iron skillet. In this case you need to place the sandwiches in the pan and crush them with another skillet with some weight. Let them cook for 5 minutes until golden brown, then flip the Medianoche sandwiches over to cook the other side.

You can make Medianoche sandwich 2 days ahead.

It’s not at all uncommon to find foods that are similar to other foods, including variations of classic recipes. The Rachel, for instance, is a Reuben sandwich with pastrami or turkey and coleslaw instead of corned beef and sauerkraut. Sweet potatoes and yams are often confused for one another despite being totally different tubers. And a patty melt is just a cheeseburger that got fancy with its bread choices. But there are numerous other dishes that are close to something else, yet distinct enough to be their own thing. Enter the medianoche, or “midnight” sandwich.

Are you a fan of the Cubano? For many, the way its hearty mix of pork products, cheese, mustard, and pickles all blend together into a harmonious whole is hard to resist. Well, a medianoche is basically a Cuban sandwich with one notable twist: The bread is different. Have you ever thought, “I like Cubanos, but the bread could be a bit softer?” Then the medianoche is the sandwich for you.

The medianoche and Cubano are extremely similar
The medianoche’s distinctive name allegedly comes from when and where it was traditionally sold — after 12 a.m. to night-shift factory workers getting out of work. Interestingly, the bigger question isn’t so much why the medianoche has that moniker, but where it originated. There’s plenty of debate on this, but the theory is that the Cuban sandwich (and possibly also the medianoche) originated with Cuban immigrants in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, in the late 19th or early 20th centuries and became associated with Cuba because of travel back and forth between the Sunshine State and the island. It’s a point of contention between Cuba and Florida over who first came up with both sandwiches.

Both a Cubano and a medianoche have identical inner components: pork, ham, Swiss cheese, yellow mustard, and sweet pickles. Both are cooked in a sandwich press after the components are assembled, meaning they’re served warm and at least slightly crispy on the edges, often with distinctive grill ridges. You can change how you season the pork, and people in Tampa add salami to Cubanos, but other than that, the sandwiches are the same. The biggest difference is the bread.