Smoked Turkey, Apple, and Brie Sandwich with Bacon
This upgraded smoked deli turkey sandwich recipe is made on ciabatta with brie, green apple, and bacon. It’s an easy upscale lunch idea that’s truly restaurant-worthy!
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It’s no secret that I love sandwiches. I rarely make one for lunch without including some sort of special sauce or fancy cheese, toasting it under the broiler or grilling it on a panini press.
I like to think of a unique sandwich combination and make lunches of it for a week or two, or until I get tired of it and decide to switch it up to a different recipe. I made this hot roast beef and brie sandwich with tomato for several weeks and is a recurring favorite, and this prosciutto and brie baguette sandwich with fig orange spread is perfect for taking on a picnic. Recently I’m into chicken paninis made with balsamic chicken and mozzarella.
Sandwiches, to me, are not a boring fallback for lunch, but an opportunity for creatively and artfully pairing complementary flavors and textures. Okay, I may be waxing poetic and a little over the top, but truly, I’m passionate about my sandwiches.
This smoked turkey sandwich is my latest creation, and I’m pretty stoked about it.
About this deli turkey sandwich with bacon, brie, and green apples
This is truly a restaurant-quality sandwich if there ever was one. And apart from cooking some bacon, it’s hardly more complicated to make than your standard deli-meat sandwich with a slice of tomato and cheese.
Just upgrading the cheese and bread, adding bacon, and swapping out the tomato for some apple is all it takes to make a sandwich you wouldn’t blink at spending $12 on at a restaurant.
Smoked turkey apple sandwich ingredients
The key to any good sandwich (or recipe!) is contrasting flavors and textures, and boy does this sandwich fit the bill! Here’s everything you’ll need to make this sandwich.
- Ciabatta roll or sourdough bread, toasted
- Thinly-sliced smoked deli turkey
- Granny Smith apple
- Brie cheese
- Bacon
- Mayonnaise
- Garlic powder
Flavor-wise, you’ve got smoky turkey, sweet and sour Granny Smith apples, and salty bacon and brie. Texture-wise, the turkey provides a tender bite, contrasted by the crispy bacon, crunchy apples, and creamy brie cheese and mayo.
While you can make this on any sandwich bread, my first choice is to use ciabatta rolls. Sourdough would be another good option and would provide yet another contrasting and complementary flavor.
How to make this smoked turkey sandwich
This smoked turkey sandwich, like most of my sandwiches, is slightly more involved than just slapping some meat on a piece of bread and calling it a day, but the extra effort is worth it.
- I start by cooking some bacon while toasting my ciabatta roll in the oven under the broiler (you can use a toaster oven if you have one). After that, it’s just cutting and piling on the ingredients.
The final sandwich is not heated, but the bread is toasted and the bacon should be freshly-cooked. You want to cook the bacon until it’s crisp but still has a little chew left in it, or it will crumble into tiny bits when you try to cut or bite into your sandwich. Thick cut bacon is a great option to use that has a great cooked consistency for using on sandwiches. - For the apples, it’s tempting to cut them super-thin, but I’d leave them at least about 1/4-inch thick or you won’t get enough crunch and tartness to balance out the sandwich.
- Add a nice thick slab of brie (about 1/3-inch thick), a healthy portion of smoked turkey, and a generous portion of mayonnaise sprinkled with some garlic powder (you don’t need salt here because of the bacon), and there you have it!
Okay, so apparently there are people who just grab a stack of sliced deli meat out of the package and slap it on a sandwich in one big slab. This is just flat-out wrong and I won’t let you do it.
Get that deli meat sliced very thin, but not shaved. Pick up one slice at a time and drape it on the bread in little waves so each piece has some air in it. Trust me, this makes a difference in the sandwich-eating experience. Plus, it looks so much prettier, and you eat with your eyes too, right?
What should I serve with smoked turkey and brie sandwiches?
I’d pair this sandwich with some nice crunchy salt and vinegar kettle chips, a homemade refrigerator dill pickle spear or maybe some of my favorite sun-dried tomato pasta salad.
More delicious sandwich recipes
If you’re a sandwich connoisseur like me, you won’t want to miss these other sandwich recipes!
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Smoked Turkey Sandwich with Brie, Bacon, and Green Apples
Ingredients
- 1 ciabatta roll or 2 slices sourdough bread
- 2 slices bacon
- 4 oz smoked deli turkey sliced thin
- 2 oz brie cheese
- 1 oz granny smith apple you can get probably 6 sandwiches out of a single large apple
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- garlic powder
Instructions
- Cut bacon in half and cook over medium heat on the stove until cooked but not overly crispy (too crispy will fall apart on your sandwich). Remove 4 half-pieces of bacon to a paper towel to drain.
- Meanwhile, toast the ciabatta roll or sourdough bread under the oven broiler or in a toaster oven until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
- Cut about five quarter-inch half-moon slices out of the Granny Smith apple, and a 1/3-inch slice or two of brie cheese (however much is needed to cover the surface area of your bun).
- Arrange each slice of turkey over the bottom half of the bun in waves so there is air in each piece. Top with apple slices, slightly overlapping, followed by brie and then bacon. Spread mayonnaise on the top half of the roll and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder. Place top of roll on the sandwich. Enjoy with salt and vinegar chips or pasta salad!
