sandwiches

How to Make Homemade Sloppy Joes

Forget the cans of Manwich sloppy joe sauce, because my mom’s homemade sloppy joes recipe is just as easy to make and sixty-four (or more) times as good, especially knowing there’s a generous helping of vegetables inside this homemade, ground hamburger-ed, comfort food, beef-ey sandwich.

Remember the days when licking your plate was encouraged? They still are. And your fingers, and your chin too.

I originally published this recipe in the earlier days of le FoodieCrush blog, and after making it time and time again, I felt it was time for a little refresh. It’s totally worthy.

One of my favorite dinners as a kid was always Sloppy Joes, and the memories of stealing tastes of this burger/veggie mixture as it simmered on the stove still renders the same take-a-bite-then-burn-the-top-of-my-mouth-oh-no-it’s-now-become-a-blister result today as I hear the subliminal retort of my mom echo in my adult ear to “leave it alone or there’ll be nothing left for the rest of us to eat.”

Guilty as charged. But, sorry mom, I still can’t help myself. And if you’re a fan of easy recipes and you make this one, my mom will tell you it’s okay that you taste-test your way through the making of it, too.

And I’m here to attest, the top-of-the-mouth-blisters are totally worth it.continue to the recipe… about How to Make Homemade Sloppy Joes

Bratwurst In Beer With Onions

Simmered in beer with onions that become sweet and caramelized, this bratwurst recipe is a familiar German meal with a Wisconsin twist for the best reason to cheer at tailgates or clink cheers for Oktoberfest.

Hello, my name is Heidi. A classic German name, right? I even fit the demographic, with blue eyes and blonde hair—thanks more to my colorist than my genes as I’ve gotten older. But I can still claim it, right? Please say yes. Please.

Growing up, dishes from my youth like Weinerschnitzel and rouladen and often displaced the classic American favorites like pot roast and roast chicken or Liverwurst and pickles instead of peanut butter and jelly. German food is in my DNA.

So when fall festivities like football tailgates and Oktoberfest roll around, I’m happy to belly up to classic the cornerstone of nearly every German-American picnic or Superbowl game day: classic German bratwurst sausages with onions with a Wisconsin spin.

Our friend Tim hails from Wisconsin, a state with a bevy of German descendants. Who like beer. And football. And sausage. Years ago, Tim cooked his famous bratwurst for a Superbowl party at our house. Stewed in beer with sliced onions and then loaded onto soft rolls with my favorite grainy mustard, this style of bratwurst sandwich quickly became my favorite.

continue to the recipe… about Bratwurst In Beer With Onions

How to Cook Instant Pot Chicken Breasts (from Fresh or Frozen)

Healthy boneless chicken breasts can be shredded, sliced, or diced, and used as the base for countless healthy recipes, and when you cook them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker they can go from frozen OR fresh chicken breasts to fully cooked with just 10 minutes cooking time.

Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipe

How many times have you come home and realized you’ve forgotten to pull the chicken from the freezer for tonight’s dinner? If you’re like me, it’s way too many.

But since I discovered how to cook both frozen chicken breasts and/or fresh chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, those days are over.

It seems like all too often us recipe creators, aka food bloggers, get caught up in creating that totally unique recipe.

The recipe that intrigues.

The recipe that nobody’s ever thought of before.

But the reality is, while those recipes are fun to bookmark and make every so often, it’s the basics for daily cooking that we really need. Like how to cook the basic boneless chicken breast, and how to cook it fast.

I’ve shared my recipes for the Best Grilled Chicken Breast and the Best Baked Chicken Breasts and you guys love them. So when I received requests for an Instant Pot version, how could I not oblige?

And once I started cooking chicken breasts STRAIGHT FROM THE FREEZER in my Instant Pot, I realized I needed to share with you how you can do the same.

So let’s talk basics.continue to the recipe… about How to Cook Instant Pot Chicken Breasts (from Fresh or Frozen)

20 Caprese Recipes You’ll Go Crazy For

From the best caprese salads to caprese skewers and the classic caprese sandwich, this list of 20 favorite tomato, mozzarella and basil themed recipes will have you going crazy for caprese.

You know those quizzes you see all over the internet touting, “Choose your favorite XX and we’ll tell you your personality type”? Well, if I had to choose, my favorite-salad-personality-clone would be the caprese salad.

There’s not much you can’t do with the basic ingredients of the classic caprese salad, from the classic caprese salad to caprese skewers to caprese-topped chicken dinners, all you need to get started is:

fresh and creamy mozzarella (any shape or size, and ultra-creamy burrata makes things even that much better)
the season’s best tomatoes (hopefully still warm from the garden)
spicy basil that smells of summer
the best fruity olive oil your wallet can afford
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper for that hit of spice we all need in our day

Alone as a preamble salad or served as a potluck side dish that will be the first to disappear, a classic caprese is pure love on a plate, in a bowl, or on a platter. But take those classically fresh Italian ingredients and add a dose of inspiration and you have so much more: a topper for chicken, or spritzing up toasts, or making breakfast eggs even more of the best way to start your day. The caprese personality is one everybody will love.

The season is now to capture the rapt ripeness of the best tomatoes. Get them before the getting’s gone. It’s time to get your caprese on.

Start with this list of 20 caprese recipes to crush on now.continue to the recipe… about 20 Caprese Recipes You’ll Go Crazy For

Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

This easy and flavorful healthy chicken gyro recipe starts with a simple 5-ingredient yogurt lemon marinated chicken that can be pan-fried, baked, or grilled, and is topped with a simple cucumber and dill tzatziki sauce. It’s as easy as that.

Creating This Chicken Gyro Recipe

I’d have to say I’m just like 97.99% of the rest of the home cooks out there. We’re busy. Our days are full. And that makes our nights even fuller. It’s the reason why one of my most often heard of requests is for more meals that are easy to make, don’t take a whole lot of time or a laundry list of ingredients, but still have that from-scratch, seasonal-eats quality.

Well here is one recipe 97.99% of you and more are going to love. It’s simple. It’s fast. It’s practical with just a few simple ingredients. And it’s totally flavorful thanks to its Mediterranean roots. continue to the recipe… about Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles

This recipe makes a BIG batch of homemade bread and butter pickles. These can be made as refrigerator pickles, or they can be canned for later!

Creating This Homemade Pickle Recipe

Growing up, we were a house of dill. Everything I ate had to have a dill pickle on it. My lunchtime tuna sandwich wasn’t complete without long slices of kosher dills (plus one or two on the side.) My after school snack of Triscuits, liverwurst, mustard and dill hamburger chips was my favorite treat as I watched Gilligan mess up the rescue attempts of Ginger and MaryAnn every. single. episode. And I will never, ever be able to eat a cheeseburger without some sort of cucumber stick topping (can I get extra pickles please?) thanks to the memories of stacking my mom’s homemade dills high on just-off-the-grill summer cheeseburgers.

I haven’t changed much. You’ve heard of Wisconsin Cheeseheads? I know you’ve heard of Deadheads. Well call me a Picklehead, perhaps in need of a hat or maybe some pickle earrings…

continue to the recipe… about Zesty Bread and Butter Pickles

31 Plant-Based Recipes That Aren’t Salads

There’s no need to go fully vegan or vegetarian to take advantage of the benefits of a plant-based diet, and there’s no better time than now to start adding more of them into your diet with gusto.

The two main reasons we as humans eat are a) for health and b) for taste. Food is what makes life possible, and that much better, and so much more tasty and delicious.

But eating for health doesn’t have to mean sacrificing all of the things that make food so enjoyable. But with so many popular elimination diets out there right now (that often contradict each other), balancing this issue can seem complicated.

But it doesn’t have to be!

continue to the recipe… about 31 Plant-Based Recipes That Aren’t Salads

10 Ways to Waste Less and Save Money at the Grocery Store

These 10 helpful tips for how to grocery shop smarter will not only save money, but waste less food at home so you’ll eat healthier too.

This post is sponsored by Kroger

I hate wasting food and yet I do it almost every week. I’m one of those shoppers who has grand aspirations to cook every meal, and then life gets in the way, plans change, and I don’t. I see my veggies languish in the crisper or watch bread go moldy in the pantry. I’m guilty of buying too much and not using what I have.

If you’re like me, you’re probably asking how can I spend less money and shop smarter at the grocery store? It starts by answering the question, how can I stop wasting food?

That’s why I’m changing my food wasting ways by thinking about the end result first, before I even start my grocery shopping.continue to the recipe… about 10 Ways to Waste Less and Save Money at the Grocery Store

Pulled Chicken Sandwich with Creamy Ranch Sauce

For this pulled chicken sandwich, pre-made crockpot chicken is shredded and then piled onto a soft ciabatta bread and drizzled with a creamy homemade ranch dressing and topped with sliced avocado and melted Monterey Jack cheese.

Earlier this week I posted a recipe for Slow Cooker Whole Chicken, a recipe I deemed far from sexy. It’s a very useful recipe, and makes having ready-to-use chicken for lunches and dinners super convenient and obviously tasty.

But sexy? Not so much.

But this pulled chicken sandwich? I’d say it’s looming on sexy. In fact, I’d say it’s already arrived to the party.

The inspiration for this sandwich comes from one that I had at one of my favorite Park City eateries, Sammy’s Bistro. It’s actually Smudge’s favorite spot to eat because of their Grilled Cheese and Tomato Basil Soup combo meal. She always pairs it with a caesar salad. The girl’s got taste, what can I say?

Sammy’s Bistro is a simple place with a decent bar to belly up to watch a Sunday football game, a friendly staff, and a surprisingly innovative menu. I usually order one of their salads (the Mahi Mahi Salad with Mango Salsa is a fave) but on my last visit I went for more basic fare and ordered their version of this sandwich, a pulled chicken on ciabatta sandwich, but served with a tomatillo aioli.

As I usually do, I asked our waitress how in the heck they make it so good. The slow cooked chicken is key, along with super soft ciabatta bread (I use buns from Stoneground, a local bakery), and a good slather of sauce. Instead of tomatillo flavors I went with a homemade ranch sauce.

And let me just say, this is one pulled chicken sandwich you’ll want to order again and again.

continue to the recipe… about Pulled Chicken Sandwich with Creamy Ranch Sauce

How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Wondering what to serve a crowd at your next party? Make it easy on the hostess with this breakfast and brunch buffet idea: Serve a DIY bagels and lox brunch bar.

Last year when my niece Chandler announced she was engaged, I knew I wanted to host a bridal shower for her. With her wedding date set for early May, coming up with spring shower ideas would be perfect timing.

So this past weekend with 20 to 30 guests arriving for her bridal shower party (why doesn’t anyone RSVP anymore???) something totally unexpected happened, and it pretty much blew my mind.

For probably the first time in my hostessing career, I didn’t freak the freak out while prepping for the party.

Why didn’t I have my usual pre-party hostessing melt down? Because you guys convinced me to make it easy on myself and create a build your own bagel and lox brunch bar as the centerpiece of our day.continue to the recipe… about How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Healthy Caprese Breakfast Sandwiches

Healthy breakfast sandwiches you can make fast at home can be the saving grace when you don’t have time to eat at the start of your day.

This recipe is brought to you by Dave’s Killer Bread

We’ve all lived in that split-decision moment of choosing whether to make your healthy breakfast at home, or say there’s not enough time and instead do the drive thru cruise to pick up a bagel and coffee or a not-always-so-good-for-you breakfast sandwich on the go.

The thing is, you can totally have the best of both worlds.

Breakfast sandwiches don’t have to be exclusive to the drive thru and are one of the easiest solutions to your morning meal dilemma—and a healthy one at that.

Whether it’s a make-ahead freezer breakfast sandwich, egg and avocado toast on the fly, or an egg sandwich cooked in the microwave, breakfast sandwiches made at home (or at the office) are the quick and easy way to get breakfast on the go.continue to the recipe… about Healthy Caprese Breakfast Sandwiches

Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Grilled rosemary bread is a delicious base for this grilled chicken caprese sandwich. It features fresh buffalo mozzarella, basil, farmer’s market tomatoes, and a balsamic reduction for a classic flavor combination you just can’t beat.

Did you do a double take?

In this season of slow cooker soups and hearty comfort food, you might be wondering what in the heck this fresh take on a summer classic is doing on the bloggity blog right smack dab in the middle of winter?

Personally, I can think of no better time. Even if you can’t ditch the snow shovel yet, you can still eat like it’s all sunshine and tan lines. Because soon enough, it will be.

I am a huge fan of anything caprese. The fresh flavors of sweet tomatoes, sliced mozzarella cheese, basil draped in balsamic anything and everything, and a drizzle of fruity olive oil. If you’re looking for caprese recipes here on FoodieCrush, you’ll see the combo is pretty much my fave. And judging by your response to them, you’re digging them too.

These days, fresh tomatoes are pretty easy to come by all year long. Summer sports fresh ‘maters at farmer’s markets and of course there’s the labor of love of harvesting them straight from your own garden.

But wintertime can pose a new set of challenges, so unless you live under the sunny skies of California or Florida, your best bet is to head to the market and hope for the best.

At certain times of the winter I can find plastic containers of potted basil plants in the produce section of my grocery store. As soon as I spy them, I pick one or two up and plant in a container to keep on my counter. Not only is it convenient for fresh cooking, but it gives a perk of brightness to an otherwise dreary winter view.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Slow cooker pulled pork is one of the easiest, foolproof recipes to make in the CrockPot. Since it makes plenty of leftovers, it should be a staple for every home cook’s meal prep plans.

Pulled Pork in the CrockPot

Whether serving to a crowd to cheer for on game day, or adding to your weekly meal prep plans, slow cooker pulled pork made in the CrockPot is one of those meals that keeps the masses happy. And since it’s so easy to make, it’s a natural favorite of the cook in the kitchen, too.

Next to classic baked chicken breasts, pulled pork is pretty much the gold standard for batch cooking. It’s plentiful in portions yet still leaves enough for leftovers to be turned into loads of different recipes stemming from just one base.

With just a few basic rules to follow, the method for making CrockPot pulled pork is a cinch to master:

Choose the right cut of meat
Layer your flavor builders
Low and slow is the way to go
And finally, shred it like you mean it

You can also take these same methods and cook this pulled pork recipe in the oven.

Let’s do this.

continue to the recipe… about Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Daddy’s Baked Hamburgers and Friday Faves

Yep, you read that right! These baked hamburgers are a breeze to make and come together in about 15 minutes. You’ll definitely want seconds!

Hamburgers in the Oven

With The Super Bowl blowing up television screens and beer kegs nationwide, there will be plenty of eyeballs glued to the screen. Will they be watching the game? Shhushing fellow T.V. watchers during the commercials? Or anxiously awaiting to judge the lip syncing skills of Beyonce? You go girl.

Sure that’s all part of the fun, but for wayyyyy more of us it’s all about the food. Americana at its gluttonous best with antacids and Ibuprofen on stand-by, ready to remedy too much revelry when the San Francisco 49ers come home with the ring. That’s right. My team is coming home with the big V.

The recipe for Daddy’s Hamburgers is an homage to the 49ers in a way. My grandparents immigrated to San Francisco, the only place they lived besides communist Germany, and it’s where my dad was born and raised until he came to Utah to play college basketball and, much to my mom’s distress, stayed because of the great hunting in Utah and Idaho. SF is in my family’s blood, it’s one of my favorite cities, and the niners were always a special connection with my dad, the ultimate T.V. sports fan.

Watching 49er games with D was a ritual, not in a weird get dressed in a jersey way—which my husband has done for each game this season—but in a let’s get behind this team and show we care way. Somehow I married a niner’s fan, it was where we took our first trip together, and it’s now Smudge’s favorite team too. What a surprise, she’s such a daddy’s girl.

These baked burgers are my dad’s specialty, one that when I called him to get the recipe, he had made just the night before! When my dad cooks, he is very precise, making even cuts of cheese squares to top basic hamburgers with french rolls or ciabatta. We still call them hamburgers even though they’re topped with cheese, because that’s how my dad has always done it.

It all looks way too simple to taste as delicious as it does. The secret is the pat of butter atop each oven baked hamburger that melt down into the burger meat co-mingling with Worcestershire sauce to create a juicy, lickable drip down each side of your cheering for the 49er’s game face. (Please win. Please win.)continue to the recipe… about Daddy’s Baked Hamburgers and Friday Faves

50 Favorite Mediterranean Diet Recipes

The Mediterranean Diet has been named 2019’s diet of the year, and this list of 50 breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes makes it easy to add more of the Med-inspired lifestyle to your weekly meal plan.

The Best Diet of 2019

Just as we were setting our sights on eating better with the New Year, US News and World Report came out with their standings of the best diets to follow for 2019, and for the first time, the Mediterranean Diet took top honors. CNN reports the diets were ranked on: “how easy it is to follow, its nutritional completeness, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.”

Unlike many of the trendy, silver bullet diets that are at the bottom of this year’s list and you see everyone jumping through hoops to try (and ultimately bail out on), the Mediterranean diet is a centuries-old lifestyle for long-term health and wellness instead of a quick weight loss fad that never seems to really last.continue to the recipe… about 50 Favorite Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Italian Chicken Wrap

You may see pinwheel wrap sandwiches so often at the store or the quick mart you don’t even realize how easy they are to make at home. But this healthy Italian Chicken Wrap sandwich has a few secrets up it’s tortilla that’ll make it so you’ll never want a take-it-with-you lunch any other way again.

This recipe is brought to you by DeLallo Foods

It seems that lunches are the meal that can make or break your best eating intentions.

I know you know what I’m talking about. And I know that if you’ve said it to yourself once, you’ve said it 4053 times.

“This week I’m totally taking my lunch every day.”

But then it’s the night before and you’re too tired to pull a lunch together, or your morning is in a frenzy, or your delicate ingredients have all gone bad.

And then there you are. Once again, your intentions are dashed, leaving you staring emptily at the vending machine or forking over $13.84 for a lame something or another that really is just not that good. And worse, that marginal lunch is both taking away from your budget’s bottom line while adding too many calories to your very own bottom that soon won’t fit into your jeans if you keep this up young lady. (oops, did I say that out loud?)

But this easy Italian chicken wrap lunch is different. And here’s why.continue to the recipe… about Italian Chicken Wrap

Healthy Homemade Egg McMuffin

Grab and go breakfasts can be the saving grace of any weekday morning. The eggs in this homemade Egg Mcmuffin sandwich recipe can be batch cooked in the oven, on the stove top, or in the microwave, and make eating a healthy breakfast your easiest decision of the day.

This recipe is brought to you by Kroger

We’re all guilty of it. The alarm blares at some ungodly time of the morning (no matter what time it is) and our first reaction is to fumble about and emphatically hit that snooze button for just.10.more.minutes.of.I.NEED.MORE.SLEEEEEP.

And that my friends is how you your morning time table suddenly becomes irrevocably out of whack. So what’s the first thing to go in your morning routine? Breakfast.

You think to yourself as you hustle out the door, “I’ll just grab something later,” or “Here honey, just eat this pop tart,” and load everyone into the car and buckle up for your day.

But that muffin/bagel/donut you impulsively picked up as your cruised through the drive-thru with your grande skinny latte is loaded with sodium, fat, and calories? Where’s the skinny or the healthy in that? Or worse, you don’t grab anything at all so you overeat at lunch. And your kid finds herself starving thanks to those empty carbs before 1st period is even over.

That’s why having a stash of make-ahead breakfasts ready to run out the door along with you is the secret to your morning’s success.continue to the recipe… about Healthy Homemade Egg McMuffin

17 Recipes to Make with Leftover Ham

From ham and bean soup to ham fried rice, these 17 irresistible leftover ham recipes are the perfect way to put those smoky Easter leftovers to good use.

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself with leftover ham this Easter (this is one of my favorite recipes), that means spring pastas, soups, fried rice, and more are just a bite away. Of course it takes a whole lot of restraint not to just channel our inner caveman and snack on the remaining ham straight off the bone — the porky goodness is just way too tempting.

Baked hams are a celebratory food. Since we tend to make them for holidays and special occasions, they’re typically not something we have on a regular basis, so when we do, we know there’s a wealth of yummy ideas for repurposing that ham are at our disposal.

From classic split pea soup made in the pressure cooker, to gussied up grilled cheese, these round-two leftover ideas are so good, they’ll give your holiday ham dinner a run for its money .

So let’s carve in, shall we?

Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham from Skinnytastecontinue to the recipe… about 17 Recipes to Make with Leftover Ham

Peach Panzanella Salad with Burrata and Bacon

This recipe is not your classic, traditional Italian or Greek panzanella salad, because with sliced sweet peaches, savory bacon, and gooey burrata crunched with sourdough bread chunks and dressed in an easy to make golden balsamic vinegar dressing, this healthy-ish salad goes well beyond the regular old panzanella each and every meal of the day.

Here we are, just three days into spring, and I’m already counting down the days to summer. That would be 72 if you’re wondering.

It’s not the hazy, lazy summer days lounging at the pool I’m waiting for (although that IS always on my summer happiness list), it’s the food I’m craving now. After a winter of simmering soups and savory stews, this girl is ready for the fresh, bright colors of salads of every color. And if it said salad has even a hint of caprese salad fixings—which I classify as a salad that includes some sort of mozzarella dressed in olive oil and balsamic and topped with basil—I am so 100% all over it.

It’s just one reason why I stopped dead in my flipping-the-pages-tracks while perusing the new cookbook of one of my favorite friends, then swiftly scoped my pantry stock for golden balsamic vinegar, checked on my countertop basil plant to be sure it hadn’t expired due to dehydration (those babies dry out fast!), and then headed straight to the grocery store for three loves of my foodie loving life: peaches, burrata, and bacon. Okay, make that four loves, with sourdough bread too.continue to the recipe… about Peach Panzanella Salad with Burrata and Bacon

Chicken and Mango Rainbow Veggie Wraps

If you’re still debating whether a wrap is really a sandwich or not, you can use this one as proof that either which way the vote comes in, we all agree that healthy, crunchy rainbow wrap lunches are what make the world go ’round.

This post is brought to you by Almond Breeze

My daughter is mildly amused with the return to my teenage fascination with rainbows.

Chalk it up to reliving the memories of my eighth grade year as she makes her way through hers. Or it may be thanks to my continuing countdown of the quickly fading days of this age of innocence for my lil’ baby. Or maybe it’s thanks to the ’80s boomerang of denim overalls, scrunchies, boom boxes, Polaroid cameras, casseroles, mom jeans and new remakes of Full House, CHiPs and Roseanne.

🌈 Either/or/and/alloftheabove…ahhh, 8th grade. Best year ever. 🌈

This easy, veg-heavy Thai-flavored lunch wrap represents all the things right with eating the rainbow. You’ve heard it a hundred times. At least I hope you have: Eating the rainbow is one of the best ways to ensure you’re getting all the right nutrients in one fell swoop. And it’s just one more reason that eating a healthy wrap for an easy lunch or quick dinner is a good idea.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken and Mango Rainbow Veggie Wraps

How to Make a Healthy-ish Fried Fish Sandwich

If you think that making a healthier fish fillet sandwich at home is an impossible task, think again. This fried fish sandwich with homemade tartar sauce is golden brown and ready to serve in under 30 minutes, and it’s so good that it puts McDonald’s filet-o-fish to shame.

It’s wasn’t very often that I ate fast food as a kid so my first memory of eating at McDonald’s made quite the impression. Surprisingly, it was my grandma Mary Jane—who was a make-it-from-scratch kind of cook and always made sure I ate all my vegetables—who first introduced me to the fast food chain. Yes mom, she DID take me there!

But that day, and every trip to Mickey D’s after that, it wasn’t burgers that we ordered. It was always the filet-o-fish. Apparently I’m not alone.

Ever since, I’ve had a love for the simplicity of that fried fish sandwich: A simple fish patty with a dollop of tartar sauce and a slice of melty cheese sandwiched between soft and warmed top and bottom buns. Of course I always had to request extra pickles on mine because some things just never change.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise that while grazing through the gorgeously photographed and totally creative new cookbook Modern Comfort Cooking from my friend Lauren Grier of the food blog Climbing Grier Mountain, my perusing came immediately to a halt when I spied her recipe for Halibut Filet o’ Fish Sliders, a perfect recipe to serve for a crowd.

And that’s how Lauren helped cure my fish sandwich cravings by delivering a totally delicious recipe we’ll definitely be making time and time again.

How to Make a Fried Fish Sandwich That Feels Almost Healthy

Usually when I’m given the choice of going grilled, baked, or fried, 98% of the time the healthier baked and grilled routes are the ones I take. But just like every rule, there are exceptions, and that’s why I always prefer fried fish for my tacos and will once in a while splurge on fried chicken, Because hey, this girls still gotta live.

The methods Lauren provides in making this recipe make me feel totally okay that this fish is fried.

First, there’s no cloyingly heavy batter here. Instead, we use a lighter mixture of panko bread crumbs and finely crushed un-salted Saltine crackers. Un-salted Saltines? Now that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one. The panko breading adheres to the fish thanks to a quick dip in buttermilk, tenderizing the fish while still keeping things light. And because breadcrumbs allow more evaporation to occur, the fish stays crispy longer, where battered foods that keep all the moisture in, get soggy faster.

The second method that keeps things healthy-ish is the fish is cooked quickly in 350°F oil. Each side of fish takes only 2-3 minutes to cook and spends less time in the oil so the fish doesn’t absorb that much of it. I use grapeseed oil due to it’s high smoke point, making it ideal for frying and a sandwich that takes just minutes to make. Be sure to test the internal temperature of your fish fillets for doneness at 145°F and the fish is flaky and opaque.

Once the fish is cooked, place it on a rack placed in a baking sheet rather than paper towels. This allows air to circulate all the way around, keeping your fish crispy on all sides.

The other key ingredients to make this fish sandwich swimmingly sublime are:

A super soft, buttery brioche bun that’s been warmed on a tray in the toaster oven so the top of the bun stays soft, or you could microwave it for 15-20 seconds instead. (*note: Lauren’s original recipe made these sandwiches as sliders, but I had a hard time finding brioche slider buns so I simply used the regular sized bun and made just three sandwiches instead of 4 sliders.)
A thin slice of American or cheddar cheese, melted on the bottom bun.
Tartar sauce made with sweet relish for that tangy zip. Use Greek yogurt instead of mayo and lighten the whole load even more.
Slices of sour dill pickles. Always more pickles. That’s my big twist on Lauren’s original recipe.
If you’re really trying to up your fish sandwich game, sliced tomato, red onion and shredded lettuce could certainly be added too.

Best Fish for a Fish Sandwich

Overall, any skinless, mild white fish will do. The halibut I used here is at the top of my price point and the quality proves why, but a more budget-friendly cod or grouper would definitely be my next choice.

halibut
grouper
cod
bass
snapper
tilapia

What Goes Well with a Fish Sandwich?

Anything you’d serve with burgers or at a barbecue will make this fish sandwich a whole meal, and of course, you can never rule out good old potato chips or french fries on the side.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Bookmark this recipe and leave a comment below, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

5 from 2 votes

Healthy-ish Fried Fish Sandwich

Finely ground unsalted Saltine crackers with panko bread crumbs provide the crunch for these easy to make fried fish fillets. The original recipe called for twice the amount of ingredients for the buttermilk and the saltine mixture and we had a lot left over so I've cut those amounts to what is listed here.To grind the crackers, place them in a zippered gallon bag, release all of the air, close, and use a rolling pin to gently crush the crumbs into a fine meal.

Servings 3 regular bun size sandwiches or 4 sliders

Ingredients

For the Tartar Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish or sweet onion relish
1 tablespoon minced onion yellow or green onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Fish Sandwiches
2 6-8- ounce skinless boneless halibut filets (if making sliders use 4 3-ounce halibut fillets)
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely-crushed unsalted, saltine crackers
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
Grapeseed or canola oil for frying
3 brioche buns or 4 slider buns
Cheddar cheese slices
Dill pickle slices

Instructions

For the Tartar Sauce
In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sweet relish, onion, lemon juice, kosher salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for flavors to combine.
For the Fish Sandwiches
Cut the fish fillets into 3-4 ounce pieces. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fish fillets. Combine the buttermilk, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. On a large plate, toss together the crushed saltine crackers, panko bread crumbs and Old Bay seasoning.
In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 inches of oil until a deep-fry or candy thermometer reads 350°F. One at a time, dip a piece of fish in the buttermilk, shake off any excess and dip into the saltine mixture and set on another plate or small baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the fish pieces. Place a few of the fish pieces in the oil being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Fry for 2 minutes, or if the fillets are taller than the oil, fry for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Use tongs to transfer the fish to a wire rack placed over a baking sheet or something similar to catch any dripping oil and quickly season with a sprinkling of kosher salt while the fish is still hot.
While the fish is cooking, preheat the broiler or a toaster oven. Place the tops and bottoms of the brioche buns on a baking sheet and place a slice of cheese on each of the bottom buns. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese has slightly melted and the buns are warm and toasty.
To assemble the sandwiches, top the bottom bun with the melted cheese with pickle slices, the halibut, and spread the top bun with tartar sauce and top your sandwich.

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31 Healthy Lunches to Make in January

Get a healthy start on your week by creating lunches that won’t derail your best eating intentions. These 31 recipes will keep you on track!

Happy New Year, friends!

Now that we’ve eaten too many cookies, drunk too much champagne, and thrown caution to the wind with our diets (because #holidays), 2018 is upon us and The Ghost of Christmas Future has awarded us a fresh slate. But that doesn’t mean we have to trade in our culinary vices for full force diet deprivation ala Sugar-Free-Paleo-Whole30-latest-diet-trend-to-jump-onto. Though if you are, more power to you.

For me, January is never about diet repentance or deprivation, but always about finding balance. It’s about enjoying comfort food like chicken pot pie or lasagna while also embracing more salads that don’t always require “detox” in the name.

Lunch is a good place to start, because it’s all too often the “chopped liver” of our three daily meals, and sometimes we skip it or eat a protein bar and call it good. Breakfast may get credited as the most important meal of the day, but lunch is a close runner-up and is the fuel needed to power through the day so we don’t succumb to the dreaded afternoon slump where we just want to face plant into our desks.

That’s why 2018’s first 31 day what to cook series installment is dedicated to healthy lunches, with an emphasis on meal prep.

And so here are 31 virtuous (but still totally yummy) lunch recipes to motivate you through the new-you month of January.

continue to the recipe… about 31 Healthy Lunches to Make in January

The 20 Most Popular FoodieCrush Recipes of 2017

I published many recipes on FoodieCrush this year, and while I thought they were all good, this is YOUR list of readers’ top 20 favorites.

The best recipes are the ones we come back to time and time again — the ones that are the heart of of our ever-expanding repertoire and the ones that keep them asking for seconds.

This last year I tinkered and tested, made a lot of messes, and whipped up tons of winners along with a fair share of losers that you never even got to see. Hopefully I’ve inspired you to make memories in the kitchen and to make something good, because honestly, what’s better than enjoying a stellar meal with the ones you love?

I’m happy to bring you YOUR list of the 20 most popular recipes chosen by readers as your favorites. These are the recipes that were most clicked on/bookmarked/and hopefully cooked with by FoodieCrush readers in 2017. Some are new, some are favorites you obviously keep coming back to for more, but all of them were FoodieCrush favorites.

Happy eating, friends. :)
continue to the recipe… about The 20 Most Popular FoodieCrush Recipes of 2017

21 Easy Recipes for Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

This roundup of 21 easy but creative leftover turkey recipes will help you make the most of the lingering bites of Thanksgiving.

Ahhh, it’s the most wonderful time of year. Thanksgiving is upon us, which means we’ll soon be eating our weight in turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. And even though next day leftover turkey sandwiches with all the fixins’ are a gift from the gods, there’s only so many of them we can manage to shovel down our gullets. That’s why we’re determined to leverage our leftovers as best we can, in as many different ways as we can.

From soups and curries, to pot pies and casseroles, and even pop tarts (yes, pop tarts), we’ve got 21 delicious ways to enjoy your leftover T-Day bird. It’s the stuff tryptophan dreams are made of. Gobble, gobble.

continue to the recipe… about 21 Easy Recipes for Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

Avocado and Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

This traditional chicken salad recipe is lightened up with Greek nonfat yogurt and creamy mashed avocado for an added boost of protein plus good for you fats that make this salad so tasty no one will ever miss the mayo.

This post is in partnership with Oikos Greek Nonfat Yogurt who has compensated me to create a recipe using their product. All opinions are my own.

Continuing with tradition is so good in so many ways. But continuing to evolve is even better.

I mean, why use the answering machine when you have voice mail at your fingertips instead? And why tool your baby around in an old-fashioned pram instead of an easy-to-transport collapsible baby stroller? And just think of what we’d all sound like if language didn’t change over time …”If your great umbrage would care to meet my high dudgeon at 12 paces, I would be happy to entertain you at dawn.”

Huh?

So while this chicken salad has a whole lot of the classic flavors (shredded chicken, grapes, celery, pecans, red onion) it has also taken a turn for the healthy by subbing in mashed avocado mixed with Oikos Greek Nonfat Yogurt in place of the typical mayonnaise binder.

This change is good, and good for you, friends.

continue to the recipe… about Avocado and Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad

Bacon Double Cheddar Cheeseburger with Caramelized Onions

These beefy burgers deliver bacon and cheese in every bite, with chunks of both mixed into the patty, then grilled and topped with melted American cheese slices for a double dose of cheesy goodness.

This post is in partnership with Cache Valley Cheese

As a kid, my dad wasn’t much of a griller. He was more of the nacho-making guy. Woman-ing the grill was more my mom’s expertise, and let me tell you, she had her burger game down.

Now, as an adult, with not just one, but two grills ready to be fired up at a moment’s notice, my husband and I share the man/woman-ing of the grill. When it’s his turn, you’re likely to see this ribeye steak action happen in all the best grilling ways. When it’s my turn, you’ll usually see me trying out new things like grilled cauliflower steaks, you know, for those times calling for a bit lighter flare.

But where we always meet in the middle is when it comes to grilling burgers, and when it comes to burgers we absolutely do not discriminate. Bison. Turkey. Chicken. You name it, if we can shape it into a patty, we’ll grill it.continue to the recipe… about Bacon Double Cheddar Cheeseburger with Caramelized Onions

French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Today is a big day in the world of cheese lovers. It’s National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. Two snaps and let’s celebrate.

I know. They make food holidays out of the oddest of food themes: Bologna Day (October 24). Fruit cocktail day (May 13). Bicarbonate of soda day (December 30). What?

But for pretty much every food lover everywhere, Grilled Cheese Day is officially one to break bread for. I mean, it’s cheese. And I’ve made it my goal to share a cheesy fave every GCDay since I started this bloggity blog back in 2011. So let’s dig into this melty onion, cheesy favorite between two slices of sourdough bread.

Who needs brothy soup anyway?continue to the recipe… about French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Avocado Toast with Tomato and Hard Boiled Egg

Healthful, nutritious, and filling, this avocado toast with hard boiled egg is an easy to assemble open faced sandwich ready for eating on the go.

Are you over the “put an egg on it” movement yet? I know. Me neither. It seems like it’s the mantra for making any favorite recipe a little harder to resist.

It’s the most popular way to sexy things up. Simply top whatever you’re making with a golden drippy yellow yolk that oozes down the edges of whatever it’s topping and BAM! You have one Instgrammable dish. I’m certainly a fan of the egg drip over anything and everything, but it can be a bit of a mess, and far from being hand-held fare.

To make my egg topped avocado toast a little less napkin-needy, I’ve taken to topping it with the simple but mighty hard boiled egg. And this time around, this egg gets a shave. continue to the recipe… about Avocado Toast with Tomato and Hard Boiled Egg

Green Goddess Cream Cheese Veggie Sandwich

Garlic and herb-infused cream cheese flavor a bounty of green vegetables to make a healthy sandwich with loads of flavor.

This post is brought to you by Arla USA

It’s back to school and that means I’m back in the sandwich-making game.

When I was a young whipper snapper going to school, I ate school lunch every day. Flying Saucers were a favorite—fried bologna with a dollop of mashed potatoes and topped with melted American cheese served in the tray that didn’t let anything touch.

There were maybe a handful of kids that took their lunch to school, showing off their Scooby Doo or Barbie lunchboxes with boring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But not me. PB&J’s were never on my lunch bucket list, and they’ve never been popular with my Smudge either.

I mean, why would Smudge even be tempted by a peanut butter sand when instead she gets layered beauties of freshness like this packed in her lunch every day.

My girl…she’s got it good. And I’m MORE than happy to provide them to her because it sets my mind at ease knowing she’s eating a healthy meal to keep that brainpower powered.continue to the recipe… about Green Goddess Cream Cheese Veggie Sandwich

How to Build a Better Sandwich

There are a few secrets that make your sandwich instantly Instagrammable. These are the tips I follow to make a good sandwich great.

This post is sponsored by AdobeSpark. All of the photos in today’s post were shot over the past few months on my iPhone, with type added by a super fun app called AdobeSpark. The whole process makes it fast and easy to share on the blog and all of my social channels. See how I do it here.

It was my 8th grade summer when I embraced my independent wings. That was the year we were old enough to take the bus by ourselves to walk the floors of Ogden City Mall. We looked for boys and then looked away when they looked at us. We hummed along to Culture Club as we wandered through the aisles of Contempo Casuals. We sorted through the fishnet gloves ala Madonna and off-the-shoulder sweatshirts ala Flashdance wishing we had the money and the guts to pull off the look the girls in Seventeen magazine did.

Ogden was not the fashion capital of the world, but then neither were we.

continue to the recipe… about How to Build a Better Sandwich