Here's a tasty vegan spin on New Orleans' muffaletta sandwich, a multilayered vegan muffaletta casserole made of Italian bread sandwiching deli meat, cheese and a delicious olive spread, all smothered under a creamy, savory custard. It bakes up wonderfully delicious and golden and crispy, and it makes a show-stopping vegan casserole dish to serve family or guests. You can easily modify this recipe for a gluten-free, nut-free or low-carb diet.
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What is a muffaletta casserole?
Muffaletta, sometimes spelled mufuletta, is a sandwich that originated among Sicilian immigrants in New Orleans. A large Italian sesame seed bun is layered with various kinds of cured meats, including ham and salami, an olive paste and provolone cheese, then cut into pieces and served as individual sandwiches.
If you love the food of New Orleans, particularly such classics as Vegan Dirty Rice, Vegan Gumbo, Vegan Jambalaya, Vegan Etouffee, and Vegan Fricassee, you will love this vegan muffaletta casserole. I designed it with Mardi Gras in mind, and it is tasty and traditional albeit unique.
Muffaletta is a meat-heavy sandwich, with cheese as one of its other key ingredients, so it can appear to be a dish that's hard to veganize. But it is very possible thanks to the easy availability of vegan deli meats and cheese. I will not pretend that this casserole is health food, but it's delicious, has lots of protein and some veggies. It is certainly far better for you than any dish made of cured meats, which come not only with oodles of cholesterol but are also known to be carcinogenic.
To make things easier for the cook (because who wants to be in the kitchen when you can be out partying?) I put all of the muffaletta ingredients in a casserole dish and bake it all up at once, instead of making individual sandwiches. This also results in a particularly delicious variation, with the crispy, cheesy top.
Jay, my 13-year-old son, adores vegan deli meats in sandwiches and this casserole was one I designed as a treat for him. If you have kids or teens of your own, or are cooking for some, you will find it passes their taste test with flying colors.
Recipe card
Vegan Muffaletta Casserole
Ingredients
For the olive salad
- 1 cup kalamata olives (or any black or green olives, pitted)
- 2 stalks celery (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
- 2 roasted bell peppers (any color. Use jarred or homemade)
- ¼ medium onion (chopped. Or use 1 small shallot)
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 2 level tablespoons capers
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
For the creamy custard
- 2 cups nondairy milk (I used cashew milk but any creamy milk like oat milk or soy milk is fine)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion flakes (or onion powder)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Other ingredients for casserole
- 14 oz Italian loaf
- 30 vegan deli meat slices (use an assortment of flavors, if possible. I used a mix of hickory-smoked, oven-roasted and peppered deli slices from Tofurky. If you are soy-free or gluten-free see notes below).
- 10 slices vegan provolone
- 4 oz vegan mozzarella shreds
Instructions
Make the olive salad
- Place all of the ingredients for the salad in a food processor. Pulse 10 times or until the ingredients are finely chopped. Don't make it a paste. You can chop the ingredients by hand but make sure you chop them as finely as possible.
Make the creamy vegan custard and prep bread
- Place all the ingredients for the custard in a blender or a bowl. Blend or whisk until everything is well incorporated. (Expert tip:Â If whisking by hand, add the cornstarch and other dry ingredients to the bowl first. Drizzle in about a quarter cup of the milk, whisk until everything has mixed and there are no lumps, then add the rest of the milk.)
- Cut the bread into 20 slices.
Layer the casserole
- Coat the bottom of a four- or five-quart baking dish with olive oil or cooking spray. Layer in half the slices of bread (10 slices). You can either overlap them, as I did, or lay them down flat.
- Spread the olive salad on the bread. If you overlapped the slices, get in there and make sure you cover the entire slice with the salad. If you have some salad left over reserve it to layer it on later.
- Layer on the deli slices. I folded each slice in half and placed it on top of each slice of bread, for a total of three deli slices for every slice of bread.
- Layer on the cheese. Again, I folded each slice in half and layered it on top of the deli slices.
- Sprinkle any remaining olive salad over the deli slices.
- Add a final layer of the remaining 10 slices of bread.
- Pour the vegan custard over the bread, making sure you soak every slice. It is best to wait at least an hour after this to ensure the custard has soaked into the bread. You can help this process along by placing a similar-sized baking dish on top of the bread to weigh it down.
Bake the casserole
- About 15 minutes before you are ready to bake the casserole preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.
- Sprinkle the tops of the bread with the vegan mozzarella cheese shreds. Or, if using vegan butter instead of the cheese, melt it and drizzle it over the tops of the bread.
- Place the casserole in a preheated oven and bake 45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bread looks puffy. In the last two minutes of baking turn on the broiler to help the bread turn crispy and the cheese turn golden.
- Sprinkle the top with more chopped parsley, if you desire. Let the casserole stand 15 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Information
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How to make the vegan muffaletta casserole
- Make the olive salad/tapenade:
- Place all of the ingredients for the salad in a food processor. Pulse 10 times or until the ingredients are finely chopped. Don't make it a paste. You can chop the ingredients by hand but make sure you chop them as finely as possible.
- Make the creamy vegan custard and prep bread:
- Place all the ingredients for the custard in a blender or a bowl. Blend or whisk until everything is well incorporated. (Expert tip: If whisking by hand, add the cornstarch and other dry ingredients to the bowl first. Drizzle in about a quarter cup of the milk, whisk until everything has mixed and there are no lumps, then add the rest of the milk.)
- Slice the bread into 20 slices.
- Layer the casserole:
- Coat the bottom of a four- or five-quart baking dish with olive oil or cooking spray. Layer in half the slices of bread (10 slices). You can either overlap them, as I did, or lay them down flat.
- Spread the olive salad on the bread. If you overlapped the slices, get in there and make sure you cover the entire slice with the salad. If you have some salad left over reserve it to layer it on later. (I didn't get a photo of the olive salad layered on the bread but if you look at the second photo in the gallery below you will see it peeking out from under the deli slices).
- Layer on the deli slices. I folded each slice in half and placed it on top of each slice of bread, for a total of three deli slices for every slice of bread.
- Layer on the cheese. Again, I folded each slice in half and layered it on top of the deli slices.
- Sprinkle any remaining olive salad over the deli slices.
- Add a final layer of the remaining 10 slices of bread.
- Pour the vegan custard over the bread, making sure you soak every slice. It is best to wait at least an hour after this to ensure the custard has soaked into the bread. You can help this process along by placing a similar-sized baking dish on top of the bread to weigh it down.
- Bake the casserole:
- About 15 minutes before you are ready to bake the casserole preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.
- Sprinkle the tops of the bread with the vegan mozzarella cheese shreds. Or, if using vegan butter instead of the cheese, melt it and drizzle it over the tops of the bread.
- Place the casserole in a preheated oven and bake 45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bread looks puffy. In the last two minutes of baking turn on the broiler to help the bread turn crispy and the cheese turn golden.
- Sprinkle the top with more chopped parsley, if you desire. Let the casserole stand 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Nut-free: Use oat milk or soy milk or any other creamy non dairy milk.
Gluten-free/soy-free: Use a gluten-free sandwich bread for the casserole and make sure you buy gluten-free and soy-free deli meats. I used Tofurky slices which do have gluten and soy, but Green Slice and Quorn, among others, make a variety of soy-free, gluten-free, vegan deli meat
Low-carb: Use a low-carb bread--there are so many on the market now and they are quite amazing. I especially love the Old Tyme Italian 647 loaf for this recipe.
Yes! Just skip the custard and layer on the sandwiches as you would the casserole. Layer the olive salad over a slice of buttered bread, followed by the deli slices, the cheese, and finally another layer of buttered bread to make a sandwich.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to three days in the baking dish wrapped in cling wrap. For longer storage, wrap the prepared casserole in freezer-safe wrap and freeze for up to three months. Thaw to room temperature and bake. Leftovers can be frozen in a freezer-safe container, also up to three months.
To make this recipe ahead, you can assemble the casserole, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to two days before baking. You can also assemble the casserole, wrap with freezer-safe wrap and freeze. Thaw completely before baking.
Margaret says
Made this for Mardi Gras and yummy, so many delicious flavors. We all enjoyed this casserole so much, even the kids couldn't have enough.
Vaishali says
So happy you loved it!