Kerry’s Kitchen: DIY Hot Subs (With 15 Variations and Freezer Friendly too)

Updated: Kerry’s Kitchen: DIY Hot Subs (Freezer Friendly too)

Game night= Quick delicious food night! Our family loves game night, but what oh how much better it is with great food and drinks. Although we change it up often, one of their favorites is Hot Subs. If made ahead, it’s as simple as pulling it from the freezer, unwrapping the first layer and placing it on a cookie sheet in the oven for 25 minutes while we get everything else together. Here are 10+ delicious subs you need to try:

Kerry’s Kitchen: DIY Hot Sub Ideas

1. Meat ball– Homemade or store bought works. A quick recipe is 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce and a package of frozen Italian meatballs from the freezer section. (Heat them stove top, then place on sub.) Top sub with mozzarella cheese. Heat & EAT!
2. Pizza– Any favorite toppings work. A family favorite that keeps it simple is a little bit of pizza sauce added to the toasted bread, top with pepperonis, loads of cheese, and sliced black olives. Heat & EAT!
3. Hot Ham & Cheese– Simple as it sounds. Your favorite ham, or left over holiday ham, cheddar cheese OR your favorite, either sub sauce or mustard. Heat, then EAT!
4. Philly Cheese Steak– My hubby’s favorite. Shredded seasoned steak, sauteed onions, sweet peppers, banana peppers and provolone cheese. Once heated and ready to serve, top with french fried onions.
5. Ham & Swiss– Ham, Swiss cheese and your veggie toppings. Heat and Eat!
6. Roasted Chicken, Bacon & Provolone-Mom’s favorite. Roasted seasoned chicken topped with provolone cheese and crisp bacon. Load up on peppers, spinach, tomatoes and your favorite vegetables (with no sauce, just garlic butter on the bread), then heat and EAT!
7. BBQ Chicken-All this one takes is a helping of pulled chicken, topped with a little BBQ sauce and the kids will devour these too.
8. Loaded Wild Rice Sausage-This is amazing if toasted & assembled right! Start with toasting the sub well. For this particular sandwich we enjoy it garlic buttered and slapped on the grill. Next, load it up with your leftover, sliced, wild-rice sausages. (We just cook extra when they are on my weekly menu.) Then top with your favorite cheese and oven broil. (Again, this is your favorite.) However, the local homemade we get are great with fresh mozzarella, Pepperjack and Colby cheddar. After removing from the oven, top with your favorite toppings. Toppings of choice range from sauerkraut, hot peppers, fried cabbage and hot sauce to marinara sauce with more cheese. Or as the kids say, pickles, relish, ketchup, and coleslaw. This can be done with any sausages/ brats/ links/ etc. De-lish! Heat it up & enjoy!
9. Chicken Parmesan– Left over Chicken Parmesan or you just can’t get enough of it? Place your favorite recipe on a sub instead of a bed of pasta- Oh so good! Not familiar? Oven bake Italian breaded chicken on a cookie sheet for 35 minutes and cooked thorough. Remove, top with mozzarella cheese and broil 1 & 1/2 minutes or until it begins to turn brown. Remove. Toss the chicken on your sub, add a bit of marinara or spaghetti sauce, any additional toppings you desire. Heat and Eat!
10. Roast Beef-Roast beef, Asiago (or your favorite) and add your desired toppings now. Don’t forget the horseradish sauce too, De-lish! Heat it up & enjoy!
11. Hot Tuna Melt-Start with your preference of fish. Tuna goes on the toasted loaf smothered in cheese. Cheddar is our preference, (or your favorite) and add your desired toppings. If you have kids like mine, our families go-to for this sub is to toast it with just the tuna and cheese well, then heap the toppings on. To top this sub, they love the sub sauce oil that you can pick up at any local deli.
12. Steak– Slice steak in strips, top with provolone cheese, and your favorite toppings. (Saute onion, peppers and mushrooms taste amazing.) Top with a little A1. Heat and enjoy!
13. Hot Turkey– Sliced turkey, Swiss cheese and your favorite toppings. Don’t forget a little ranch dressing or chipotle mayonnaise. Heat & EAT!
14. Breakfast Skillet– Just as it sounds, (2) fried sausage patties per single loaf 4-5 per long, toasted french bread. Top with cheese, eggs (we like over easy), tomato, lettuce and guacamole sauce. Loaded over with your favorite sides. A personal favorite in our home is fried mushrooms, peppers, onions and cabbage. But load it up with the favorites of your house hold.
15. Fajita Slide– Stove top your favorite fajita recipe and place in a loaf of bread. Top with cheese and your favorite sauce, then heat.

Any bread homemade or store bought will do. A little secret for us is we head in to our local grocery late at night (not on purpose) usually Thursday or Friday. Most often we see the long loaves of Italian bread are 50 cents or even a quarter. At times there is only a couple loaves and we decide on hot subs for the weekend meal plan. However, sometimes there is a giant stack and we will by ten loaves and make subs that weekend, but freeze the rest to pull out for a quick meal. If sealed properly, they do not get soggy and taste great! **Don’t forget, if you are only cooking for yourself or a small family, this works well with the individual hoagies too!

Of course the family favorites are Pizza varieties, Meatball w/ shredded cheese, and Roasted Chicken & Bacon.

Slice your loaf of bread or hoagie horizontally. On a tin foil lined cookie sheet, place your loaf of bread or hoagies. The next step is optional, but we love it and if freezing, found it helps the bread from being soggy upon heating from frozen. **Broil the hoagie or sub open until it starts to turn slightly brown.

Next remove from heat and add your choice of meat and cheese. Toast again for a few moments under the broiler. Be careful it only takes a few seconds once your broiler is hot. Remove and add your toppings, then sauce. Turn oven to 400 degrees.With everything inside, close the sub and bake if you are planning to eat. Bake for 15 minutes or until it reaches your desired preference.

If you are looking to freeze extra subs, simply let the subs cool. After completely cooled, wrap your subs in tin foil. If you are familiar with vacuum sealing breads, do so now. If you will eat within a few weeks time, just wrap an extra coating of plastic wrap around the tin foil and cover in freezer paper. Place in freezer.

When you are ready to bake them, remove from freezer. Place on cookie sheet AFTER removing freezer paper and plastic wrap. Bake on 300 for 20 minutes, then adjust your oven to 400 degrees. Most take 10 more minutes at 400, depending on how well you stuffed your loaf of bread. The single hoagies at our grocery store take about 15 minutes total to bake.

So, the next time you are planning company, a fellowship or teen night, or just looking for a delicious, but unique way to sneak in extra meals as you meal prep; remember, you can get as many options for subs as you desire. A wonderful way to save time in your meal prep, slash your budget, try a simple-but delicious game night food, feed a crowd, and/or offer variety to company. It is also super easy to make the subs and have a buffet line of toppings for company to put over top. One way to inexpensively feed a crowd or enjoy variety.

Happy Homemaking, Happy Ministry!