Sandwiches Tier List: Every Classic Ranked
Thirty-two sandwiches, one big argument. We pulled together what fans, chefs and internet forums keep saying about each of these and sorted them into tiers, from the stuff worth fighting over to the stuff that's honestly just bread with a job to do.
This list includes global classics, diner staples, regional cult heroes and a couple of things your grandma made that somehow still hold up. Some placements will make people mad. Good. That means we picked a side instead of hiding in the middle. Argue with us, then go make yourself one of the S-tier picks.
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SS Tier: The icons, no notes
Cuban Sandwich
Pressed, crackling bread, ham, roast pork, pickles, mustard and swiss all fused together like it's one ingredient. The genius is the press: it turns five separate flavors into a single bite that somehow still tastes like all five.
About Cuban Sandwich
A pressed sandwich of ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on Cuban bread, associated with Florida's Cuban communities in Tampa and Miami.
- Key tool
- Sandwich press (plancha)
- Core fillings
- Ham, roast pork, Swiss, pickles, mustard
Philly Cheesesteak
Fans will fight about Whiz versus provolone until the end of time, but nobody argues the sandwich itself is anything less than perfect drunk food and perfect sober food. Griddled ribeye, a roll that can take a soaking, done.
About Philly Cheesesteak
Thin-sliced griddled beef and melted cheese on a long roll, originating in Philadelphia and sold at legendary rival shops across the city.
- Origin
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Cheese debate
- Whiz vs. provolone vs. American
Reuben
Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss and Russian dressing griddled between rye is the rare combination where every single ingredient is pulling its weight. It shouldn't work as well as it does, and that's exactly why people love it.
About Reuben
A grilled sandwich of corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread, popular in American delis.
- Bread
- Rye
- Signature sauce
- Russian dressing
Bánh Mì
A baguette that's crackly outside and airy inside, cold pork or pâté, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, chili, all for the price of a candy bar in most places that sell it well. Texture and acid balance that most sandwiches never even attempt.
About Bánh Mì
A Vietnamese sandwich built on a French-influenced baguette, filled with meats or pâté, pickled vegetables, cilantro and chili.
- Origin
- Vietnam
- Bread influence
- French colonial baguette
Fried Chicken Sandwich
The entire fast food industry spent years in an arms race over this thing, and the result is that a genuinely great fried chicken sandwich, crispy, juicy, pickles doing real work, is easier to find now than ever. It earned the hype.
About Fried Chicken Sandwich
A crispy fried chicken breast served on a bun, usually with pickles and sometimes a spicy or tangy sauce, central to a major fast food trend in recent years.
- Common add-ons
- Pickles, spicy mayo
AA Tier: Excellent, order with confidence
Po' Boy
Fried shrimp or oysters on New Orleans-style French bread, dressed, is the kind of sandwich that ruins other seafood sandwiches for you. The bread matters more than people think: it's airy enough to not fight the filling.
About Po' Boy
A Louisiana sandwich traditionally filled with fried shrimp or oysters, served on New Orleans French bread.
- Origin
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Classic filling
- Fried shrimp or oysters
Katsu Sando
Crispy pork cutlet, shredded cabbage, tonkatsu sauce, all pressed between impossibly soft milk bread and sliced into neat triangles. It looks delicate and then hits like a full meal.
About Katsu Sando
A Japanese sandwich of breaded, fried pork cutlet and shredded cabbage between soft crustless milk bread, often sliced into triangles.
- Origin
- Japan
- Bread
- Shokupan (milk bread)
Muffuletta
New Orleans's other great sandwich, built on a round Sicilian loaf and loaded with olive salad that soaks into the bread overnight. Best the next day, which is a rare and good quality in a sandwich.
About Muffuletta
A round Sicilian-style sandwich from New Orleans loaded with Italian cold cuts, cheese and a tangy marinated olive salad.
- Origin
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Key ingredient
- Olive salad
Grilled Cheese
Simple doesn't mean easy. The difference between a sad one and a great one comes down to butter, patience and the right cheese ratio, and when it's right, there's nothing more comforting in this whole list.
About Grilled Cheese
Bread and melted cheese griddled in butter until golden and crisp, a staple comfort food across the U.S.
- Core ingredients
- Bread, cheese, butter
Lobster Roll
Cold Maine style with mayo or hot Connecticut style with butter, people will argue forever, but either way a toasted split-top bun stuffed with sweet lobster meat is a genuine treat, not just a tourist trap item.
About Lobster Roll
A New England sandwich of lobster meat served in a split-top bun, typically either with mayo (Maine style) or warm butter (Connecticut style).
- Origin
- New England
- Two styles
- Maine (cold, mayo) vs. Connecticut (warm, butter)
BLT
Bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, toast: four ingredients and zero room to hide. When the tomato is actually in season, it's one of the best sandwiches on earth. When it's not, it's just fine, which is the whole risk of ordering one in January.
About BLT
A simple American sandwich of bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on toasted bread.
- Ingredients
- Bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo
Croque Monsieur
Ham and gruyère under a blanket of béchamel and more cheese, baked until it's basically a savory casserole in sandwich form. Add an egg on top and it becomes a Croque Madame and somehow gets even better.
About Croque Monsieur
A French hot ham and cheese sandwich topped with béchamel sauce and baked or broiled until golden.
- Origin
- France
- Variant
- Croque Madame adds a fried egg
Chopped Cheese
Harlem bodega classic: ground beef chopped up with onions and melted cheese, folded into a hero with lettuce, tomato and mayo. It's basically a cheeseburger that got reorganized into sandwich form, and it rules.
About Chopped Cheese
A New York City bodega sandwich of chopped ground beef and onions griddled with melted cheese, served on a hero roll.
- Origin
- Harlem, New York City
BB Tier: Reliably good
Monte Cristo
A ham and cheese sandwich dipped in egg batter, fried, then dusted with powdered sugar and served with jam. It's dessert and dinner arguing with each other, and most people land somewhere between delighted and confused.
About Monte Cristo
A ham and cheese sandwich dipped in egg batter and fried, often dusted with powdered sugar and served with jam.
- Preparation
- Battered and fried like French toast
Pastrami on Rye
Piled high at a good deli with mustard and nothing else, it doesn't need embellishment. The peppery crust on the meat is the whole point, which is why skimping on the pastrami pile is an unforgivable deli sin.
About Pastrami on Rye
A deli sandwich of spiced, smoked, thin-sliced beef pastrami piled on rye bread, typically with mustard.
- Associated cities
- New York City
Italian Beef
Chicago's answer to the French Dip, thin-sliced beef simmered in jus, piled on a roll, dunked wet or dry, with giardiniera if you're doing it right. Messy in the best way, though it demands to be eaten leaning over the plate.
About Italian Beef
A Chicago sandwich of thin-sliced roast beef simmered in seasoned jus, served on a roll and often topped with giardiniera.
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois
- Serving styles
- Wet, dry, or dipped
Club Sandwich
Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, double-decked and held together with toothpicks and a prayer. It's the hotel room service order for a reason: reliable, filling, never the best thing on any menu but never the worst either.
About Club Sandwich
A double-decker sandwich typically made with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, common on hotel and diner menus.
- Structure
- Triple-decker with toothpicks
Italian Sub
Cold cuts, provolone, shredded lettuce, vinegar and oil, all depending entirely on the quality of the bread and the generosity of the person building it. A great deli version is a weekly habit for a lot of people, and rightfully so.
About Italian Sub
A cold sandwich loaded with Italian cold cuts, provolone cheese, shredded lettuce and a vinegar-oil dressing, found at delis and sub shops.
- Common meats
- Salami, ham, capicola
French Dip
Thin roast beef on a French roll, served with a cup of jus for dunking. The dunking is the entire appeal, and when the bread is sturdy enough to survive it, there's not much to complain about.
About French Dip
A sandwich of thin-sliced roast beef on a French roll, served with a side of jus for dipping.
Gyro
Technically a wrap more than a classic sandwich, but it belongs on this list for the tzatziki alone. Seasoned meat, pita, tomato, onion, and that cool yogurt sauce cutting through all the grease.
About Gyro
A Greek-style wrap of seasoned meat, tomato, onion and tzatziki sauce in pita bread.
- Origin
- Greece
- Signature sauce
- Tzatziki
Patty Melt
A cheeseburger that decided to become a grilled cheese instead, with caramelized onions and rye bread replacing the bun. Underrated compared to a regular burger, and diners that do it well deserve more credit.
About Patty Melt
A diner sandwich combining a ground beef patty and melted cheese with caramelized onions, griddled on rye bread.
- Bread
- Rye
Meatball Sub
Marinara, melted cheese and meatballs on a roll sounds foolproof, and mostly it is, except for the structural reality that it falls apart about 70% of the time before you finish it. Worth the mess.
About Meatball Sub
A sub roll filled with meatballs, marinara sauce and melted cheese, popular at Italian-American delis and pizzerias.
- Core ingredients
- Meatballs, marinara, cheese
CC Tier: Fine, nothing wrong with it
Tuna Melt
A tuna salad sandwich that got ambitious and added cheese, griddled until it's warm and gooey. Good when the tuna isn't drowning in mayo, forgettable when it is.
About Tuna Melt
A tuna salad sandwich topped with cheese and griddled or broiled until the cheese melts.
- Core ingredients
- Tuna salad, cheese
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Totally dependent on the barbecue behind it. Great smoked pork with a tangy sauce and some slaw on top is a real pleasure; bland pork dumped on a bun with bottled sauce is just sad protein on bread.
About Pulled Pork Sandwich
Slow-smoked, shredded pork served on a bun, often with barbecue sauce and coleslaw, a staple of American barbecue regions.
- Common toppings
- BBQ sauce, coleslaw
Egg Salad Sandwich
Quietly beloved by a very specific crowd and dismissed by everyone else as boring. It's creamy, it's mild, and honestly in a good diner it's better than people give it credit for.
About Egg Salad Sandwich
A cold sandwich made from chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with mayonnaise and seasonings, served on soft bread.
- Core ingredients
- Eggs, mayonnaise
Hamburger
Hot take: it's a sandwich, and in sandwich company it's just solid rather than spectacular. Great burgers are great, but the format itself isn't doing anything especially clever compared to the rest of this list.
About Hamburger
A ground beef patty served in a bun, often with lettuce, tomato, onion and condiments, one of the most widely eaten sandwiches in the world.
- Common toppings
- Cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion
Torta
A Mexican sandwich stuffed with meat, beans, avocado, cheese and salsa on a crusty roll called a telera or bolillo. Criminally underrated outside of regions with a strong Mexican food scene, and deserves way more attention.
About Torta
A Mexican sandwich served on a crusty roll (telera or bolillo), filled with meat, beans, cheese, avocado and salsa.
- Origin
- Mexico
- Bread
- Telera or bolillo roll
Beef on Weck
A Buffalo specialty: roast beef on a kummelweck roll crusted with salt and caraway seeds, dipped in jus. Beloved intensely by the people who grew up on it, a total mystery to everyone else.
About Beef on Weck
A Buffalo, New York specialty of roast beef on a kummelweck roll topped with caraway seeds and coarse salt, served with jus.
- Origin
- Buffalo, New York
- Bread
- Kummelweck roll
DD Tier: Needs a rescue
Sloppy Joe
Seasoned ground beef in sauce, piled on a bun that's structurally doomed from the first bite. Kids love it, the bun always loses, and you end up eating the second half with a fork anyway.
About Sloppy Joe
A sandwich of seasoned ground beef in a tangy tomato-based sauce, served on a soft hamburger bun.
- Core ingredients
- Ground beef, tomato sauce, bun
Peanut Butter and Jelly
A nostalgia play more than a genuinely great sandwich. Fine in a lunchbox at age seven, a little underwhelming as an adult meal choice when better bread-based options exist literally everywhere else on this list.
About Peanut Butter and Jelly
A classic American sandwich of peanut butter and fruit jelly or jam between two slices of bread, a lunchbox staple.
- Core ingredients
- Peanut butter, jelly, bread
Fluffernutter
Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on white bread is pure sugar delivery with no pretense of nutrition or balance. Charming exactly once, a lot for anyone over age ten.
About Fluffernutter
A sandwich of peanut butter and marshmallow creme (Fluff) on white bread, popular in New England.
- Associated region
- New England
FF Tier: We need to talk
Cucumber Sandwich
Thin cucumber slices on white bread with the crusts cut off, built for tea trays rather than actual hunger. Pleasant enough as a two-bite snack, but ranked against everything else here it barely qualifies as a meal.
About Cucumber Sandwich
A delicate tea sandwich of thin cucumber slices on white bread, often with the crusts removed, associated with British afternoon tea.
- Associated tradition
- British afternoon tea
How we ranked them
We weighed how a sandwich is talked about by the people who actually eat it, not just how famous the name is. That means regional loyalty (a Beef on Weck fanatic in Buffalo counts for a lot), how well the thing holds together structurally, how often it disappoints versus delivers, and whether it's genuinely craveable or just "fine." Where the fandom is split, like Chicago dogs-adjacent arguments over Italian Beef or wet versus dry, we called it and told you why.
Think we got it wrong?
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Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the best sandwich of all time?
Based on broad consensus, the Cuban Sandwich, Philly Cheesesteak and Reuben come up again and again as the top picks, thanks to how well every ingredient works together.
What's the most overrated sandwich?
The Hamburger gets a lot of hype just for being a hamburger, but structurally and flavor-wise it's solid rather than spectacular compared to more complex builds like a Cuban or a Bánh Mì.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
That debate rages on forever and we didn't touch it here. A gyro and a hamburger made the list, but we're staying out of the hot dog argument entirely.
What's the most underrated sandwich?
The Torta and Beef on Weck both deserve way more national attention than they get outside their home regions.
Why is the cucumber sandwich ranked last?
It's a lovely tea-time snack, but up against meatier, more flavorful builds it just doesn't hold up as a full sandwich experience.
More rankings
Image credits
- Cuban SandwichPhoto: Zeng8r, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Philly CheesesteakPhoto: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/PatsCheesesteak.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- ReubenPhoto: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Bánh MìPhoto: nsaum75¡שיחת!, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Fried Chicken SandwichPhoto: Breawycker, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Po' BoyPhoto: The original uploader was Perlow at English Wikipedia., Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) · Source
- Katsu SandoPhoto: No machine-readable author provided. Fg2 assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) · Source
- MuffulettaPhoto: Jj saezdeo, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Grilled CheesePhoto: Maggie Hoffman, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Lobster RollPhoto: Navin75, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- BLTPhoto: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Croque MonsieurPhoto: Michael Brewer, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Chopped CheesePhoto: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Monte CristoPhoto: Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Pastrami on RyePhoto: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Italian BeefPhoto: The Buona Companies, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Club SandwichPhoto: Jessica from Hove, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Italian SubPhoto: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- French DipPhoto: Vranak, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- GyroPhoto: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Patty MeltPhoto: Valereee, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Meatball SubPhoto: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Tuna MeltPhoto: kweez mcG from London, UK, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Pulled Pork SandwichPhoto: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Egg Salad SandwichPhoto: jill, jellidonut... whatever from Raleigh, NC, USA, CC BY 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- HamburgerPhoto: Hongreddotbrewhouse, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- TortaPhoto: Kiwidough at English Wikipedia, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) · Source
- Beef on WeckPhoto: The original uploader was Nickgray at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Sloppy JoePhoto: Buck Blues, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Peanut Butter and JellyPhoto: Evan-Amos, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) · Source
- FluffernutterPhoto: Kimberly Vardeman, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Cucumber SandwichPhoto: James Petts from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source