This Club Sandwich has had a healthy makeover for your guilt-free pleasure. What’s the secret? Fresh, wholesome, minimally processed ingredients, like juicy chicken, crispy bacon, runny eggs, ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber, fresh lettuce all sitting between two slices of wholegrain bread.

club sandwich cut in half with each half stacked one on top of the other

A Club Sandwich is my top menu choice when it comes to a British pub lunch. But unfortunately, a Club Sandwich can be loaded with unhealthy fats and excess salt. And, not forgetting the highly processed white bread and sugar-filled condiments. Oh and most likely, the massive pile of fries on the side (yes, I would almost certainly order the chips!).

But, there is hope. This blog is all about creating healthier versions of foodie favourites, and this is one pub lunch that I needed to make with real food ingredients.

A Healthier Club Sandwich

When it comes to making healthier versions of the recipes you enjoy, heck, I’d go as far as saying, recipes you can’t live without, it’s essential to take a look at each of the ingredients. Often, by making some simple swaps, you can turn most recipes that are typically highly processed into nutritious meals. Here’s how to tackle a club sandwich.

Use Healthy Fats

What’s fantastic about home-cooked food, is that you have complete control over the type of fats you use. When griddling (or frying, or baking) your chicken, use a small amount of healthy fat, like extra virgin olive oil and AVOID unhealthy, processed, fats like vegetable oils and your body will thank you.

Choose Complex Carbohydrates

Choosing a wholemeal, wholegrain or multigrain bread instead of white bread is an important consideration. Wholegrain bread is a complex carbohydrate, that is high in fibre as well as other nutrients and minerals. High fibre foods take longer to digest and will help you to stay fuller for longer.

Mindfully Select Your Meat and Eggs

Meat and eggs are excellent sources of high-quality protein. When it comes to your buying choices, my advice is to buy locally wherever possible and the best quality you can afford. That’s all any of us can do, right?!

As for bacon, this is where things get a little more tricky. Bacon is highly processed. It is smoked, cured with sugar, salt or chemical preservatives. Bacon that can be considered real food is hard to find in the UK. If like me, you’re not quite ready to give it up completely, Artisan Finnebrogue Naked Bacon is probably our best option when buying from UK Supermarkets. This brand has a nitrate-free, grass-fed, sugar-free option.

Invest In Real Food Condiments Made with Unprocessed Ingredients

The off the shelf versions of Mayonnaise and Ketchup tend to have large quantities of sugar and unhealthy fats. But, I understand that you can’t be making homemade versions of this stuff every time you want to fill a sandwich. I mean, who’s got the time? I get it!

Thankfully, some great real food products are becoming available here in the UK. Check out the Hunter and Gather Avocado Oil Mayonnaise and Dr Will’s Tomato Ketchup which is sweetened with dates.

Use a Mature Cheese and Grate It!

By using a sharp cheese (like a mature cheddar), you won’t need as much to get that cheesy hit of flavour. Will you get that infamous cheese pull? Well, no! But that’s not what a club sandwich is all about. It’s more about balance amongst the combination of flavours, and because of that, a sharp cheddar works perfectly.

Also, I finely grate my cheese because, with the smallest amount, you can get excellent coverage.

Turn Your Club Sandwich into a Complete Meal with Healthy Sides

On its own, this club sandwich cannot be considered a complete meal, because it just doesn’t contain enough vegetables. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve crammed a tasty variety of veggies in here. But, I would still recommend you serve it up with a portion of oven-baked mixed vegetable fries (cooked with a light coating of extra virgin olive oil) or a large salad with a variety of wholesome veggies.

How to Make a Real Food Club Sandwich – Step-By-Step Recipe Photos

club sandwich ingredients — Collect and prepare your ingredients

8 slices of raw streaky bacon on a baking sheet — Add bacon to a baking tray…

8 slices of cooked crispy streaky bacon on a baking sheet — …and bake for 15 minutes until crispy.

Seasoned raw butterflied chicken breasts — Butterfly the chicken breasts so that they cook evenly. Season well with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Two butterflied cooked chicken breasts on a griddle plate — Cook the chicken on a griddle pan or in a frying pan. 6 minutes on each side should do it.
If you prefer, bake your chicken in the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on size, whatever suits you. I love using my griddle plate because those scorch lines are EVERYTHING! But, they don’t just look pretty, they add bags of flavour.

Toasted wholemeal bread — Toast your bread. Don’t neglect to do this! It adds so much flavour as opposed to a slice of soft bread! It will go too soggy and fall apart as you load the sandwich.

Assembling a club sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers — Once your chicken and bacon is ready, start building your sandwich. Add tomato ketchup to one slice of the bread, and mayo to the other. Then pile up the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber on one side – as much as you can physically fit on without the whole thing collapsing.

Assembling a club sandwich with bacon, chicken and cheese — Now add some grated cheese to the top (so it sticks to the ketchup) and pile the bacon and chicken on top of the salad layer.

Assembling a club sandwich with fried eggs — Finally, fry an egg and balance on top. Pop the lid on and devour! My question to you is, can you get your mouth around it? Er, I don’t think so! 😂

Portion Sizes

As you can see the portion size of just one sandwich ends up being pretty substantial. Now, I LOVE food, and big portions make me happy, but I can honestly share this sandwich with someone else and still feel satisfied, especially if you’re serving it up with a side of veggies.

Another way to manage the portion size is to use one slice of bread and have an open-top sandwich. You could also use half a chicken breast per sandwich. Make it work for you and your dietary needs. Just do you!

Recipe

If you get the chance to give this Real Food Club Sandwich recipe a try, drop me a note in the comment section and provide a star rating. I’d love to know what you think!

For more real food recipe ideas, you can check out the recipe page. Or, come on over and say hi on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I look forward to seeing you there! 👋

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Thank you so much for reading.