The Ultimate Protein Sandwich Recipe

Sandwiches are often seen as an unhealthy lunch option, something that our un-evolved, non-fitness brethren eat while gaining weight and losing muscle. But the purpose of this article is to posit that the humble sandwich could become one of the most anabolic foods ever. We will find a low calorie, high protein sandwich that is quick to make, tastes delicious, and is healthy. Making it the perfect lunch solution for the fitness follower.

The Bread

This is a difficult place to start, on the one hand, we’re looking for a healthy sandwich (low calories, high protein), but we’re also looking for a tasty sandwich. Many food experts talk about the benefits of Ezekiel bread, which is only 80 calories per slice and contains 4g of protein, but it’s not exactly the nicest tasting bread! Nor does it make for a great sandwich. On the other hand, you have a standard slice of wonder bread, which is only 95 calories per slice and has 3g of protein. On the other hand, you have a French stick which is probably seen as the soul of decadence, but if you limit yourself to a 60g serving you’re only hitting 162 calories and still getting almost 6g of protein. Finally, there is protein bread, you might not have heard about it before but certain supplement companies have started selling it. This bread contains 30g of protein per 2 slices while staying low on fat and carbs. But customer reviews are not favorable, and you can’t make the “Ultimate Protein Sandwich” with bad bread. Type of breadCalories per servingProteinFatCarbsTaste /10Ezekiel Bread1608g2g28g3/10Wonder Bread1906g3g35g5/10French Stick1625.8g1.6g33.2g10/10Protein Bread30230g5.2g30g2/10It’s up to you which type of bread you use to make your sandwich, but as the table above demonstrates, there isn’t too much difference. Provided that you are strict with your serving size of French stick (actually weigh it) there is no reason why you can’t use it to make your ultimate protein sandwich.https://www.instagram.com/p/BWjSrFJFhKf/?tagged=proteinbreadco

The Meat

The first thing we are going to add is 200g of turkey breast slices, ones you can buy in the deli as sandwich meat. This works out at 194 calories, 37.2g of protein, 2.8g of fat, and 4.2g of carbs. Next, we are going to add 100g of roast beef slices. This will add a further 116 calories, 24g of protein, 1.9g of fat, and 0.5g of carbs. This brings us to a total of 310 calories from meat, with 61.2g of protein, 4.7g of fat, and 4.7g of carbs. Added to the 162 calories of bread this makes our sandwich 472 calories with 67g of protein. But now we need to add some sauces and some garnish.

The Sauces

This is obviously a personal preference, but there are few people who would argue that mayonnaise and mustard are appropriate for both turkey and beef. But we’re already high on calories so we’ll be using light mayo which contains only 40 calories (for a tbsp). The mustard is only 8 calories for a teaspoon. So let’s call that 50 calories from a sauce. Bringing us a total of 522 calories.

The Garnish

We’ll add some romaine lettuce to the sandwich as it is 1) healthy, and 2) almost zero calories. Then we will top the sandwich off with an 11 calorie pickle (super small ones). Our ultimate protein sandwich now contains 533 calories and is made up of 67g of protein. It also tastes incredible. You could obviously make it healthier by removing one of the sauces, switching the bread, and reducing the amount of meat .... but you’d also be committing a crime against sandwiches.Read more Food and Drink articles here.