The Ultimate Chicken Club Sandwich and Chicken Melt Recipe
Published October 7, 2018. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These two sandwiches are completely different but both the club sandwich and the melt are nothing short of amazing!
Call me an overachiever but when it comes to eating anything I always want choices, so that’s the reason for both of these recipes. I thought I’d take the time to use almost the same ingredients to make a beefed up club sandwich and then totally change things up and make a melt recipe.
Not only do I like being able to have options, my wife and daughter really appreciate it because oftentimes they don’t like all the things that I do, so it’s important to be able to make a few different things utilizing the same ingredients.
To change things up, try serving this on some homemade pita bread!
How to Marinate It
Regardless of which sandwich you want, it all starts with marinating some boneless skinless chicken breasts overnight. Sure you can marinate for 30 minutes or so, but if you want tons of delicious flavor then you really have to marinate them overnight. I used a combination of dry oregano, dry basil, finely minced fresh garlic, and extra virgin olive oil.
You can absolutely change this marinade up by adding in some sort of acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, or feel free to change up the herbs a bit to get the desired flavors you’re looking for or enjoy. After the marinating process is over it is essential to remove the breasts from the marinade and season both sides with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.
While all of the herbs and garlic in the marinade provide a lot of flavors it can still have a bland taste without salt and pepper. From there it’s as easy as sautéing it up until golden brown and finishing it in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until it’s cooked in the center. Remember with chicken there should be no pink in it. Be sure to rest it for a few minutes before thinly slicing it.
How to Make a Chicken Melt
Now that the chicken is out of the way we can focus on all of the delicious toppings we want to put on this recipe. Both sandwiches are going to use the same spread on it, which is a really tasty sun-dried tomato basil and Asiago mayonnaise.
I always make extra of this mayo because it’s so good and I put it on sandwiches I make all week long :-). I wanted to make the chicken melt a little meatier so the Canadian bacon added some more girth to this ultimate deliciousness.
While both of these beasts of a sandwich are big boy sandwiches, I tend to favor the melt because it’s extra cheesy and gooey. To really elevate the flavor of this chicken melt sandwich I made my world-famous balsamic onions. Ok, they aren’t world-famous, but everyone that eats them absolutely loves them, even if they don’t like onions, and the dude does it go amazing on this recipe.
Simply whisk some balsamic vinegar together with some olive oil and sugar and baste some sliced onions every 5 minutes while they roast in the oven for a total of 30 minutes. These go amazing on this chicken melt! Do you want flavor? These onions will blow your mind by just how tasty they are, and not to mention they go amazing on this sandwich or even a burger.
The next thing you want to do is load up the toasted bread with cheese, bacon, ham, sliced chicken, balsamic onions, and the tasty tomato aioli and toast it on each side so that it becomes a chicken melt!
How to Make the Club Sandwich
For the club, I piled it high with mashed avocado, ham, bacon, butter leaf lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and microgreens, of course in addition to the chicken, onions, and mayonnaise spread. I always like to make my food in the same manner that would get it from a restaurant, stacked high and absolutely beautiful.
I don’t really have a preference on how to add the order of the ingredients to this chicken club, just make sure it’s on there.
You may be asking yourselves why I mashed the avocado, and really it’s because it’s a lot easier to eat. Ever tried to eat a sandwich or burger with avocado slices on it and when you take a bite they go shooting off of the sandwich? Yeah, I don’t like that either so they need to be mashed for this version.
Here’s another look at the melted sandwich below so pin away!!
My Favorite Sandwich Recipes
Here’s a quick list of some of my favorite sandwich recipes!
- Kentucky Hot Brown
- Crab Cakes Sandwich
- Roast Beef Sandwich
- Jibarito Sandwich
- Smoked Chicken Sandwich
Be sure to follow me on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest, and if you’ve had a chance to make this then definitely drop me a comment and a rating below!
The Ultimate Chicken Club Sandwich and Chicken Melt Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 2 tablespoons of dry basil
- 1 tablespoon of dry oregano
- 5 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of olive oil
- 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Onions and Spread:
- 1 peeled and sliced red onion
- ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- ½ cup of shredded Asiago cheese
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup of julienne sun dried tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Sandwich:
- 1 loaf of bread
- 1 pound of cooked crisp bacon
- ½ pound of deli sliced ham
- ½ pound of sliced and cooked Canadian bacon ham
- 6 leaves of butter leaf lettuce
- 4 thinly sliced vine ripe tomatoes
- 2 peeled and seeded mashed avocados
- 1 pound of sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup of microgreens
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Chicken: Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat a very large frying pan over medium-high heat and add in the chicken breasts. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or golden brown and then flip the chicken over and add the pan to the oven and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until browned and cooked throughout. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes on a cutting board before slicing.
- Onions: Place the onions on a sheet tray and place in the oven at 375° for 30 minutes.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sugar and baste the onions using a brush every 5 minutes. Remove the onions once they are done cooking.
- Spread: Whisk together the mayonnaise, Asiago cheese, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and salt, and pepper until combined. Cool before serving.
- Chicken Club Assembly: Toast 3 pieces of Cobblestone Million Dollar White bread and layer the sandwich as followed: mozzarella cheese, sliced chicken breasts, balsamic onions, lettuce, tomato, toast, mashed avocado, bacon, ham, microgreens, spread, toast.
- Chicken Melt Assembly: Place the slices of Million Dollar White bread on a griddle. Once brown flip over and add cheese to each slice. Layer on as followed: bacon, Canadian bacon, sliced chicken breasts, onions, and spread and place on the other sliced of toasted cheese melted bread.
- Enjoy!
I am actually grateful to the holder of this website who has
shared this fantastic article at at this time.
Yum! I’ve gotta try those onions!
They’re ridiculous and honestly would go great on anything!
That sandwich looks delicious!!
Thanks Elaine! Super good and actually really easy to make!