A French Fast Food Sandwich!
Pan bagnat recipe, or Pan bagna as it is sometimes called, is one of the most popular fast foods you can buy in the south of France. Although the term fast food conjures up images of unhealthy foods, this is, in fact, a truly tasty and healthy snack! This delicious food is really the equivalent of taking a hearty French salad recipe like Salade Niçoise or Salade Auvergnate and filling up a bun with it!
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❤️About Pan Bagnat Recipe & Why We Love It
It consists of a crusty French roll, drenched in olive oil and packed with the fresh, healthy ingredients you would find in a traditional French salad, and believe me, it is truly wonderful.
- Take it with you: it is such a great snack to take along for picnic activities and outdoor games. You will often see the local French people eating them while playing a game of French boules or pétanque.
- Quick and easy: If you buy your buns or rolls at the grocery store, then all that is left to do is mix up a salad!
- Make my Milk Rolls Recipe for delicious Pan Bagnat sandwiches.
Variations Of Pan Bagnat Sandwich
- If you don't like anchovies, you can use tuna instead or simply make a vegetarian version and leave out the fish and meat.
- For a lift in flavor that kids will love, prepare au jus sauce and dunk your beautiful sandwiches!
Top Tip
For this recipe, you will need to use it as a guide and vary it according to how many people you need it for and which variety of salad vegetables you have available.
How To Store Pan Bagnat Recipe?
Refrigeration: You can wrap them in cling film or foil and put them in the refrigerator overnight, and they will be ready for your picnic.
They seem to improve if left this way, as the bread becomes soaked with the olive oil, which is how they should be, as the name pan bagnat means wet bread! To some readers, especially those from North America, this may seem distasteful, but never pooh-pooh an unfamiliar dish unless you have tried it. Ooh-la-la!
Freezing: The bread, if well wrapped with no filling, will keep fresh for months. This will make spur-of-the-moment plans easy!
Freezing the filling (which is a salad) will not be successful, as the vegetables will be quite limp when thawed.
❔FAQ
Are you ready for this? In English Pan Bagnat Recipe means "bathed bread recipe". Why? The bun or roll is well-oiled before adding the filling.
Yes! Simply slice up the vegetables you love most, drizzle olive oil on the bread, and fill it up with veggies. Add pesto or any other sauce to dress it the way you like.
Pan Bagnat Recipe is a popular snack while playing a game of Petanque. Petanque, pronounced "pay-tonk", is one of Europe's most popular outdoor games. It is a cousin of both horseshoes and the Italian bowling game called 'bocce'. The game originated in the South of France in the early 1900's.
✨More French Recipes Like Fast Food
📖 Recipe
Prep Like a Pro
Before you start cooking, chop, measure, and prep every ingredient, and gather your tools.
This simple habit reduces stress, prevents overcooking, and instantly improves your meals. Mise en Place - "Everything in its place."
How To Make Pan Bagnat Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 bread rolls
- 2 tomatoes
- 4 radishes
- 1 green/yellow pepper
- 2 eggs hard-boiled
- 12 anchovy filets or 1 can of tuna
- 16 black olives
- 1 garlic clove peeled and cut in half lengthwise
- 1 onion small
- 1 lemon
- 8 tablespoon olive oil for drizzling on buns 2 tablespoon per bun
- 6 tablespoon olive oil for the salad
- salt
Instructions
- Gently boil eggs for 15 minutes and plunge them into cold water to make them easier to peel. Shell the hard-boiled eggs and cut them into rounds.
- While the eggs cook:- Slice the tomatoes, radish, and onions into thin rounds.- Thinly slice the bell peppers into lengths.- Slice the olives into rounds.
- Dip the anchovies in freshwater to desalt them.
- Cut the bread rolls in half and remove the soft white middle from the centre of each half. (Save the centre of the buns and later cut them into 1-inch cubes (roughly) and toast in a non-stick frying pan to make croutons for later use.)
- Rub the inside of each bun half with the garlic clove.
- Drench the inside with olive oil, using 1 tablespoon per half bun.
- Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Finally, layer the inside of the bread roll with the sliced tomatoes, pepper, radish, onions, egg, olives, and finish with the anchovies.
- Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil.
- Close the sandwich and wrap with clear wrap. Don't skip this step; place the wrapped buns on a plate in the fridge, with another plate on top of the sandwiches, with a weight on top of that. Leave for at least one hour or overnight is even better.
Notes
- Wrap in clear wrap and keep in the fridge for those "need to eat" moments or for a special occasion.
- Make my Milk Buns Recipe and freeze for a ready bun when needed.
Loved it, tweaked it, or not your "cup of tea"... I’d really love to hear how it went for you.