Grinder salad salami cups have all the flavors of a classic Italian grinder sub packed into a perfect bite-sized appetizer!

Why you’ll love this easy appetizer:

If you’ve been on social media the past few years, I’m sure you’ve seen some variation of the viral grinder salad sandwich. Just in case you haven’t, it basically consists of a roll topped with a variety of deli meats and sliced cheese, layered with an Italian style grinder salad that gives tons of freshness and crunchy flavor to the sandwich. Believe me, it’s delicious and viral for a reason!

There’s nearly nothing I love more than a fun twist on a classic recipe and these grinder salad salami cups are just that! This low carb spin on the viral grinder salad sandwich is made by forming thin pieces of salami into cup shapes and baking in the oven until perfectly crispy. The salami cups are then filled with an Italian grinder salad that’s tossed in a creamy, savory dressing. They’re easy to make and will disappear in no time!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Hard salami slices

For the dressing:

Mayonnaise
Red wine vinegar
Banana pepper juice
Garlic powder
Dried oregano
Salt and pepper

For the salad:

Iceberg lettuce- thinly sliced
Cherry tomatoes- diced
Pepperoni- chopped
Banana peppers- chopped, pepperoncini’s will work as well
Red onion- diced
Mozzarella cheese- shredded

Chopping the salad ingredients and mixing the dressing is all this filling requires. Each bite is loaded with pieces of pepperoni, banana peppers, onions, tomato, and crunchy lettuce. And don’t even get me started on that salty, crispy salami cup! YUM.

How to make the best grinder salad salami cups:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Place a piece of salami on top of each muffin tin cavity, then press down with a shot glass to form the cup shape.
Bake for 8 minutes, then remove them from the pan and finish cooling on a wire rack to drain off any excess grease.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine mayo, red wine vinegar, banana pepper juice, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt, and pepper. Whisk to form a creamy dressing.
Add finely chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped pepperoni, chopped banana peppers, and diced red onion. Toss the coat in the dressing.
Fill each salami cup with the salad mixture, then sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top before serving!

Feel free to make this salad filling custom to your tastebuds! Swap out the pepperoni for chopped ham, use pickles or pepperoncini’s instead of banana peppers, or top with grated parmesan instead of shredded mozzarella! The possibilities are endless!

My top tips:

I highly recommend using a shot glass to help form the salami slices into cup shapes. It’s important that the salami is formed tightly to the muffin tin cavities so that the cups hold their shape while baking. If you’re worried about the salami cups losing their shape while baking, you can add little balls of foil in the center of each cup while they bake too.
If you notice the salami cups are sitting in too much oil once baked, remove them from the muffin tin and let them finish cooling on a wire rack. This will prevent the salami cups from being too greasy.
Be sure to chop everything up nice and small for the grinder salad filling. The finer these ingredients are chopped, the better! This way you’ll get a little bite of everything inside of each salami cup.
This salad can become a bit soggy once its dressed, so I don’t recommend prepping it in advance. You could chop everything for the salad and bake the salami cups ahead of time, I just don’t recommend dressing the salad or filling the salami cups until you’re ready to serve.
Let the salami cups cool completely before filling them with grinder salad. This ensures the cups will be crispy and the salad won’t wilt.
If you aren’t a fan of salami, you can do the same thing with sliced pepperoni from the deli as well. You can also make these in a standard sized muffin tin depending on how big you want the salami cups to be.

Looking for more easy appetizers? Try these out!

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