
I love an amazing pork schnitzel sandwich as much as the next person. I also love making creative sandwiches. So I experimented with this for a bit and landed on the recipe I'm sharing with you now. It's crispy, cheesy, savory, it's got the pickled red onions going on, arugula, melty swiss, and most importantly: incredible bread.
High Quality Bread: The Cornerstone of This Pork Schnitzel Sandwich
If you live near Boston, you've got to get to Iggy's Bread of the World in Cambridge. Whenever I'm making my pork schnitzel sandwich, I load up on all my favorites. Rosemary foccacia roll, onion foccacia roll, French bread roll, ciabatta roll. I plan my trip there for when they put out their pizza at 11 a.m. In addition to amazing bread - they make incredible pizza. They put out a few sheet pans at 11 a.m. each day. And that's it. It is what it is. They have what they have and the flavors change every day. Get there early because it goes fast and you want to get it while it's hot.
The Anatomy of My Pork Schnitzel Sandwich
There are several components involved in making an amazing pork schnitzel sandwich, but don't let that deter you. The marinade. The pickled red onions. The savory caper spread. The schnitzel. Luckily, you can make things ahead depending on your preference.
The pork needs to marinate overnight, and you can make the pickled red onions at the same time and stick those in the fridge too. Or you can make the pickled red onions a few days earlier - whatever works for you. Same with the caper-sage-dijon spread. You could make it a day or two before or the day of. Each component adds a unique layer of flavor to the sandwich, and you will get the best result if you don't skip any.
Bobby Flay's Pickled Red Onions are a must for this
Have you ever watched Beat Bobby Flay? One thing Bobby commonly does is pickle some red onions. I like how he uses red wine vinegar and grenadine, but I could never find that recipe anywhere. Well, it's in his 2019 cookbook called Bobby at Home: Fearless Flavors from My Kitchen and this is the pickled red onion recipe I chose for this sandwich. To. Die. For.

In addition to the crunch of the schnitzel, the toasted rosemary foccacia roll from Iggy's and the other kind of crunch from the pickled red onions - there's a lot going on... in the best possible way. The melty Swiss cheese and peppery arugula add a nice balance to the crunchy texture.
Gourmet Sandwiches Deserve Gourmet Condiments
I made a savory dijon caper spread for this sandwich and I'm pretty sure it didn't exist in the world prior to this recipe. It's really delicious and unique and in this version, I added some toasted pine nuts at the end. This took my caper spread to a whole other level. I had them on hand from a goat cheese and pine nut salad I made and couldn't resist the experiment. My savory dijon caper spread will now always contain toasted pine nuts. It was a delicious spread before, but the toasted pine nuts are a game changer.




This is a great sandwich and could really be enjoyed for lunch, brunch or dinner. It's a little extra work but worth every bite.
So go forth and cook for yourself and your loved ones. Enjoy your time in the kitchen. Share your meals and your stories around a plate of delicious food. Pass on the tradition of enjoying meals together. It's an important part of our culture.
Looking for More Awesome Sandwiches? No Problem! Let's Start Here:
- Anthony Bourdain's Macau-Style Pork Chop Sandwich
- Korean Bulgogi Sandwich with Spicy Cucumbers & Cheddar
- Cheesy Sausage & Broccoli Rabe Sub
- Fried Green Tomatillo Sandwich with Bacon & Dill Sour Cream
- Croque Monsieur: The Best Ham & Cheese Sandwich You'll Ever Eat
- The Kackle Burger
- BBQ Chicken Panini w/Cheddar & Basil
- French Onion Grilled Cheese w/Bacon
- The Ultimate Roasted Veggie Sandwich
- Grilled Chicken Sandwich w/Romesco, Dill Havarti & Arugula

Amazing Pork Schnitzel Sandwich w/ Savory Caper Spread
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 sandwiches 1x
Description
This crispy, cheesy, tangy, savory pork schnitzel sandwich with pickled red onions and savory caper spread will rock your world. Follow along with my video and we’ll make it together.
Ingredients
Cutlets
- 6 pork sirloin cutlets
- Salt and pepper
Marinade
- 3 cloves sliced garlic
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped sage (approx. 5 large sage leaves)
Bobby Flay’s Pickled Red Onions (makes 2 cups)
- 3 cups red wine vinegar
- 1 cup fresh lime juice (8 limes)
- ¼ cup grenadine
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 large red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of water
Savory Dijon Caper Spread (makes 1 cup or so)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ cup olive oil
- 5 sage leaves
- ¾ bunch of parsley (I used flat leaf)
- 1 cup of bread cubes
- 2 tablespoons capers, plus a little brine
- 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon
- ⅓ cup toasted pine nuts (see note #2)
Cooking the cutlets, breading station
- 4-5 eggs, beaten
- 1 heaping cup of flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 8 ounce container of plain Panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
- Vegetable oil for frying
Sandwich Topping
12 slices of Swiss cheese (2 per sandwich)
Sandwich Bread
6 high quality sandwich rolls like French bread or ciabatta (see note#4 and blog post)
Instructions
Pork cutlets and marinade:
- Take your pork cutlets and pound them down as thin as possible. Salt and pepper both sides. Cut off any obvious strips of fat around the edges.
- Slice garlic and sage then add olive oil and let sit in bowl a few minutes.
- Put pork cutlets in a Ziplock bag and pour marinade in the bag. Squeeze air out of bag and massage the marinade evenly to coat all the pork.
Pickled Red Onions:
- Squeeze approximately 8 limes for 1 cup of fresh lime juice. Add it to a pot. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil on medium to high heat. Stir a few times to make sure salt and sugar is dissolved. Should take about 5 minutes.
- While the liquid is cooking. Use a mandolin to slice to large red onions. I set my mandolin to ⅛” and it was perfect. If you don’t have a mandolin just use a knife and slice as thin as possible. Put the onions in a large bowl or container (non-reactive).
- Once the liquid has cooled a few minutes, pour the liquid over the onions. Press down on the onions with a spatula to make sure they are all coated. I didn’t have a container with a lid so I used plastic wrap and it worked fine. I transferred them to a large jar the next day.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour, but ideally, for 24 hours.
Savory Caper Spread:
- Put ½ a cup of olive oil in a pan with two cloves of garlic. Heat on low to medium heat and let the garlic brown on all sides.
- While the garlic is browning, cut one cup of bread cubes. I used half of a French bread roll from my favorite bakery. Set aside.
- Chop off ¾ of a bunch of parsley and put in a mini food processor.
- Once garlic has finished browning, add that to the food processor.
- Leave hot oil in the pan and add the bread cubes. Fry until golden brown, let cool a couple of minutes, then add the bread cubes and olive oil to the food processor.
- Add the Dijon mustard, capers, splash of caper brine, apple cider vinegar, and fresh sage.
- Now blend it for a minute or so. Then add the toasted pine nuts and blend again. (see note#2 below). After I added the pine nuts, it needed a splash more olive oil so I added that here and blended one final time.
- Taste it here. Since I added mustard I didn’t think it needed salt. But if you think it needs a pinch go ahead and add that.
Cooking the Cutlets (breading station):
- Chop the fresh sage and mix it together with the panko bread crumbs on a plate.
- Put flour and salt on a plate and mix with a fork.
- Beat 4-5 eggs in a bowl.
- Start the breading process. Dip the pork cutlet in the egg, then coat with flour on both sides. Then dip it back in the egg, coat with the sage bread crumbs on both sides. Place breaded cutlets on a plate or small sheet pan. Repeat the process for all cutlets.
- Heat vegetable oil in a pan and heat on low to medium. I usually fill the pan with about a ½ to ¾ “ of oil. Once the oil is hot, add your cutlets. I used a large pan and cooked three cutlets at a time in two batches. Cook them about 3-4 minutes on each side until you can see they are golden brown.
Assembling the sandwich:
- Place a couple slice of Swiss cheese on top of the pork schnitzel. If you want it melty. After you flip the cutlets let them cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the Swiss and let it melt while the cutlets are finishing cooking.
- Plan your time in terms of when you toast your rolls for this sandwich. As mentioned in the blog post: use high-quality bread. I used rosemary focaccia rolls from a local bakery. You can use ciabatta rolls, French bread rolls, or brioche rolls too. I don’t think regular sliced sandwich bread would work well with this.
- Place the cutlet with melted Swiss cheese on your toasted roll. Spread the savory caper spread on the roll. Place the pickled red onions on top of the pork cutlet. Place fresh baby arugula lettuce on top of that. Cut the sandwich and dig in!
Equipment
Kitchen Mallet (Meat Tenderizer)
Buy Now →Measuring Spoons, Stainless Steel
Buy Now →Calphalon Saute Pan with Lid (5QT)
Buy Now →Notes
- Bobby Flay’s pickled red onions recipe called for two large red onions. I actually sliced three onions because I wanted to have more on hand. Sooo – this recipe can hold three red onions without adjusting any of the ingredients.
- The pine nuts. You don’t have to toast them if you want to save a little time. I had some on hand already. It only takes a few minutes on low to medium heat in a small pan. Just toss them around to make sure they don’t burn.
- The limes. I was lucky and had 8 really ripe, juicy limes and I got a full cup of lime juice. I had more limes on hand just in case. Sometimes there are dud limes that are dry with no juice. It happens. If your limes are small, you may need to buy more.
- This is a gourmet sandwich and high-quality bread is a must. French bread rolls and ciabatta rolls work well. I live near an awesome bakery and always use their focaccia rolls for this sandwich.
Kim Akashian Preston
Can’t wait to try this one. It sounds delicious!!
★★★★★
Stacey
Kim! Thank you! Yeah, this is a special sandwich. 🙂 One of my favorites.