Fried Bologna Sandwich
Fried Bologna, or Fried Baloney, is one of those old school sandwiches. Soft white bread, a schmear of mustard and crisp fried bologna!
FRIED BALONEY SANDWICH
I know the title of this says “Fried Bolgona Sandwich” but does anyone actually pronounce it as “Bologna?” We don’t. It’s baloney to us. So I guess I should have titled this Fried Baloneys since we don’t really say the sandwich part either. It is understood that when you say you want some fried baloney that you are referring to a sandwich.
TIPS FOR MAKING FRIED BOLOGNA:
- For those of you who have enjoyed a fried baloney, you are probably particular about the way you like yours. There are all kinds of techniques and toppings and condiments folks like. And you probably like it whatever way your Momma made it. And of course, that will always be the right way.
- If you don’t cut any slits in it, it will puff up into a bowl shape. I like to cut out little triangles and fry those separate for a crispy treat but you can just cut slits on each side too. I just learned to make it by cutting out the pieces.
- If tomatoes are in season, a nice ripe slice of tomato on top is outta this world. It’s all on what you grew up with. But no matter what you put on it, it is still a cheap but yummy sandwich that takes you back to your childhood.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR FRIED BOLOGNA:
- salted butter (or margarine)
- thickly sliced bologna
- white bread
- yellow mustard
- any other condiments you like: mayo, sliced tomatoes, sliced cheese, pickles, lettuce
HOW TO MAKE A FRIED BOLONEY SANDWICH:
Cut two Pac-Man shaped triangle in a slice of bologna or make two slits on each side of the bologna (optional). Put a skillet over medium heat and throw a pat of butter in (about a tablespoon). If you need more butter as you’re cooking these, just add a bit more in. Butter is gonna give you those nice crispy edges. When butter is melted, start frying up your bologna.
At this point, you want to fry it until it reaches your desired color. My husband likes his pretty dark. I like my edges to be crispy. Whatever your personal preference is. I also throw in those little shapes I cut out. They are so good crisped up! When it is finished, put it on your bread.
Also, if you prefer, you can toast your bread too. It gives it an extra little crunch. I like to put a little mustard on my bread.
My husband likes mayo only on his.
If it makes a funny little bowl shape, don’t worry, you can just push it down a little when you stick your other piece of bread on top.
But it makes a handy little holder for a nice slice of tomato on top.
Serve with some chips and an ice cold glass of Coca Cola. And take a trip back to some simpler days….
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Fried Bologna Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tablespoons salted butter
- 4 slices thick bologna
- 8 slices white bread
- yellow mustard,mayo, sliced tomatoes, American cheese, pickles, or lettuce
Instructions
- Cut a Pac-Man (triangle shape) on each side of the slice of bologna (optional). You can just cut slits if you'd like.
- Put a skillet over medium heat and throw a pat of butter in (about a tablespoon). If you need more butter as you're cooking these, just throw a bit more in.
- When butter is melted, start frying up the bologna.
- At this point, you want to fry it until it reaches your desired color. Flipping it over at least once.
- When it is finished, put it in between a couple of slices of white bread with a spread of mustard.
Video
Notes
- Also, if you prefer, you can toast your bread too. It gives it an extra little crunch. Put on whatever condiments you like such as mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: August 2012
Updated & republished: February 2020
Hello all, I know this is super old so might not get any replies but
has anyone found bologna that has any fat in it? All the bologna I have found is completely fat free, not a drop in the pan. I thought I remembered that bologna had fat (from my childhood). Maybe I’m wrong.
Writing this after a tasty, but fatless, fried bologna sandwich!
Fried baloney with peanut butter on toast. Pure heaven.
You should try peanutbutter on your hot dog
More mustard on that thing than there are baloney. Good call on the mustard and toasted bread, everything is better toasted.
Slap a fried egg and a slice of American cheese on that baby and a finer breakfast sammich you will not find.
As kids we didn't have a lot of money. My mom would buy bologna in a "roast" size piece. She would score it across the top and stick some whole cloves in it. Then the best part was, she put brown sugar over the top and baked it in the oven. The top got very crispy, and caused many a fight over who got the top pieces…lol….it was delicious!!
Thanks for this post! I grew up with the non-fried version, with mustard on white bread, but always wanted to try this, so thanks very much, it was really good!
What wonderful memories! Thank you all. My mom's sandwich was pan fried bologna , with a slice of cheese and mayo on Wonder Bread. We had so little money in the 40s and 50s.. but we thought we ate like kings! What a wonderful thread.
Oh I do remember thoses days. Eat them for breakfest and lunch and a few times for diner. From grade school through to high school . Mom just had one for lunch today. My this brought back memories.
If I wanted my kids home for supper all I had to do was tell them we was having bologna burgers. I like the small rolls of bologna cut in thick slices and cooked on the bbq and then put on a hamburg bun topped with ketchup mustard relish cheese slice and slices of dill pickles. Quick easy supper.
We use to have" Potato Boats" fried bologna topped with mashed potatoes with a slice of cheese melted on top! Oh so good.
We did this as a child and placed the bologna with cut up cheese placed in the center and microwaved. The bologna rolls up around the cheese then place on bread with mustard and half into sandwich. YUM
Was browsing through your wonderful recipes tonight and came across this oe for fried bologna. I just had to smile thinking of all the fried bologna sandwiches I ate as a child. My mom and dad had 6 kids to feed and 2 of them were boys who were bottomless pits! I was blessed with 3 boys of my own and they had never known the beauty of this simple sandwich until the oldest was visiting a friend and e came home telling me all about how his mom had made fried bologna sandwiches and did I know how to make them!? I nearly fell over! This was my child who was such a picky eater telling me about fried bologna! Needless to say all my sons became acquainted with this sandwich. Thanks for posting it and bringing back this memory.
Our favorite is our version of the South Boston Speedway boloney "burgers". Thick cut baloney either grilled or pan fried, lots of sauteed sweet onion. Use the pan drippings to "butter" the buns, grill or broil them til lightly browned,then top with "secret sauce" which is a mixture of mustard and mayonnaise.
Elbow lickin'good!
OH MY I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! THIS WEBSITE IS MAKING ME SOOOOOOO HUNGRY!!! I LOVE IT!
I ate this growing up as well (what kid didn't?) but, fried baloney is the ONLY way I like boloney — never cold or "raw" as I would call it. We fried it in a pan with a slit cut into it (made a pac man shape) and fried it until it was literally black. Slap it on Wonder white bread, no condiments at all, and there you have it. I don't like the idea of mayo because fried baloney is already fatty, but, I really like your idea of mustard and fresh tomato a lot, I think I will try that next time!
Thank you for the wonderful memories of fried bologna sandwiches. Loved them as a kid and love them now. Did not know about making the X – will have to try it next time. Again, thank you.
My "uber-healthy-eating" youngest daughter is expecting her first child and we were talking about how nowadays they can't eat raw lunch meat b/c of listeria. I told her she'd just have to fry her baloney..she immediately said,"oooh, fried baloney. with mustard. GOSH that sounds good." You can take the girl out of the country…….
This is a totally retro sandwich, and the only way I like bologna!! We used to have the fried bologna with scrambled eggs for dinner !
Oh my! This is the first time I've seen a recipe for fried baloney! LOVE IT!!!! I grew up eating them…introduced to them by my grandmother. Crispy edges and a little brown…the softest white bread…yellow mustard!
I had a few of those growing up…yum!
Like some of the other posters Mother sometimes fried up some baloney for breakfast, slits cut around the outer edge so it didn't curl up in the skillet. And now with my children, one of their favorite things is to head to the mountains with a picnic of "loney", cheese, chips, dip and some whole dill pickles … ahhh!
This is what Ernest Matthew Mickler would call White Trash Cooking. Makes me hungry just looking at it. And, reminds me of happy childhood lunches!
Ijust love mine with hot mustard on toasted caraway rye bread, but i make little cuts in the side of the meat so it does not curl around the edges, all times are still good, we had it often
Mama made ours out of rag baloney and we called it Cup Steak!! lol! My favorite is baloney salad! YUM! YUM!
Baloney is worth more then ham where i live, i love mine fried crisp,so i can break off pieces
Girlfriend this is one of my favorite things! My mom used to just cut a slit on the side and fry hers. I also like mine with tomato and salt and pepper, oh and can't forget the cheese! Great share.
My childhood fried baloney was jumbo baloney with white bread lots of ketchup and sliced white onion. The baloney had to be thin and fried brown and crispy. Still succomb to this once in a whiley.
My Mom use to fry bologna when we were kids for sandwiches. I went to a restaurant a few years ago and my cousin ordered a fried bologna sandwich with peppers. It was put on Italian bread and the peppers were fried. Personally I don't like that but she thought it was really good.
We love fried baloney sandwiches. We have them quite regularly, not as often as when I was a kid, but they still are alive and well in this TN household. My kids never really learned to appreciate baloney, but that's okay, they are old enough to buy their own food! I prefer it thin, fried crispy and dark around the edges, on white bread with melted American cheese with mustard. My hubbie prefers mayo, must be Hellman's, of course.
My X husband used to love fried bologna sandwiches with cheddar cheese on it.. with ketchup (ewww). I prefered mustard the few times I ate one.
Raw bologna I wont touch with a 10 foot pole (bad experience in Mexico when I was a kid) but the fried was actually not bad & tolerable..
I honestly can't remember the last time I had a fried bologna sandwich. It's definitely been too long! I like mine with toasted white bread and a smear of miracle whip.
I have just LOVED reading the comments on this post. Y'all have really warmed my heart. I thought this might be too basic a "recipe" to share. Let me tell ya, it has been so wroth it just to read the comments and share in everyone's memory of this sandwich. It's kind of the All-American classic really that gets overlooked. Yet, so many of us enjoyed this as kids! My parents did lots of sandwiches like this for us because we were always on a tight budget. It holds such a good memory for me and I can see it does for y'all as well. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with me!
Luv fried baloney sandwiches, definitly mayo and cheese for us
We also had a fav growing up. Baloney boats!,
Same concept only dont cut the slits and it will curl up like a boat. Fill with warmed up leftover mashed potatoes and top with shredded cheese yum-yum!
Oh yum what great memories!
I grew up on it two ways…
Fried crisp with ketchup on white bread.
And also thin cut cold on white bread with a touch of mustard!
Greasy Potato chips with both of course and a Dr Pepper or R.C. Cola!
We lived on this stuff as kids.
We would be out playing( all day) and run home when we got hungry to make a quick Boloney sandwich for lunch ..Oh the Memories Thank you so much for that:)))))
We grew up with 2 kinds of fried baloney, breakfast and as a sandwich. As a sandwich, just a little mustard on bread with a crispy fried piece of thick baloney. But times were tough and some mornings we had baloney (or the real deal hotdogs, tip to tail we call them now, split down the middle – we are talking the early 70's people) fried all crispy and with a little syrup or molasses drizzled over it. I loved those mornings. Before anyone says 'yuk!' baloney & hotdogs are sort of another version of sausage… Especially back then.
Everyone have a wonderful morning!
You had a great mom. That sounds fantastic!
My fav when growing up in Chicago in 50s &60s – often a late night snack when studying or sharing one with my dad when he came home from the night shift.
I am absolutely smiling so big right now. This has brought back some memories. One of our favorite breakfasts growing up was fried bologna and scrambled eggs. Mom always cut slits in the side so it cooked up like a flower. Thanks for the memory! (I really can't believe she served us fried bologna for breakfast!)
One of my favorite sammiches! Fried crispy on toast with spicy mustard….only way I'll eat baloney! Every once in a while I'll roll one up into a baloney cigar.
One of my favorites….but I like my bread toasted!
Innnteresting – I don't really love bologna, so I'm not sure this one would be for me, but Cleveland has a love affair with it.
I grew up in Georgia. Mama bought bologna by the roll. These sandwiches were a big part of our summer days! Yum!
I haven't had these in years! Mmm.Mmm..Good! My poor kids have never even had these, a great reminder maybe I will treat them to 1!
Yummy! This is my boyfriend's favorite 🙂
I though I was the only one…I crave these every so often. I like them like your husband, thin, dark, with mayo. But my husband has his preferences, so I tell him to fix his own!
Yum! This is my husband's request for his birthday every year. Of course, he has it "his" way: red onion, tomato and lettuce. "my" way is with cheese and a fried egg on top. But, we only have them once year so it's okay. Since we are both off work today, and there's baloney in the fridge….I could be making this for lunch!
I grew up eating it with mayo, scrambled egg and a slice of cheese. Its a great breakfast sandwich on the go! 🙂
It's been years since I had a fried baloney sandwich! I love mine thin cut, fried dark, and spicy mustard! Yum! Thanks for bringing a sweet memory of my Mama today!
I lived on bologna sandwiches as a kid! White bread, mustard, and a couple pieces of bologna 🙂 yum! I've never had a friend version though, looks dangerous! I woulda eaten one of those every day growing up!
My Mimi used to always make these for me when I was younger. I can't say I liked them all that much when I was younger, but I do now! lol
Baloney of course! Preferably with tomato and mayo. Love it. Also, fried egg and baloney is great.
No "baloney" in Australia so I haven't had one of these since I was young. 🙂