Grilled Sausage Grinders with Grilled Tomato Sauce
Gourmet Grilling For The Amateur Chef
Grilled Sausage Grinders with Grilled Tomato Sauce is a simple recipe even newer grill masters can master. Flavorful grilled tomato sauce and grilled onions with a creamy cheese of your choice top the Italian sausage to finish off this flavorful and toasty grinder.
As you may or may not know, I live in Chicago and one thing that is great here is the food scene. We have so many great food spots but we also have unique local ingredients.
Years ago I did a partnership with a famous local bakery called Turano Bread and these sausage sandwiches were the recipe I came up with for our partnership. I was recently perusing my Instagram page and realized that I had posted this recipe to Instagram, but never here to The Tipsy Housewife.
That problem is now solved. This is a fresh and delicious summer meal that everyone is going to love.
Foil Packets For The Win
I personally adore a good foil packet meal on the grill. I have made many through the years.
One that I love is my Cheesy Chicken Grill Packets. Another is my Summer Mashed Potatoes.
This recipe for Grilled Sausage Grinders is yet another you can add to your foil packet repertoire. The recipe has you making a simple tomato sauce in a foil pack as well as some fabulous grilled onions that have a caramelized quality.
I highly suggest getting a more heavy duty foil to use when grilling.
Split Your Sausage
The recipe card below mentions splitting the sausage so that you have a flat piece of meat to work with. This step creates a flat surface to bake the tomato, onions, and cheese onto.
It also yields a crispy and caramelized bite to the sausage links. The sausage cooks a little bit faster this way and it is also a much nicer way to eat this on a bun.
Convinced yet?
Another Pepper Option To Add
Another idea for these grinders is to add my Grilled Sweet Peppers. This is another recipe that I get asked to make time and time again.
These peppers are SO good on anything grilled, but especially on Italian sausage sandwiches. I make these about a hundred times throughout the summer.
They are also delicious on Italian beef. Sometimes I sit and just eat them on crackers.
Grilled Sausage Grinders with Grilled Tomato Sauce Recipe
Grilled Sausage Grinders made with melty cheese, a simple grilled tomato sauce, caramelized onions made on the grill, and toasty garlic butter buns. The perfect summer sandwich. Topped with fresh basil or oregano, the fresh flavors in this sandwich sing.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. of Italian Sausage Links
- For The Tomato Sauce:
- 1 pint of Cherry Tomatoes (or you can use garden tomatoes)
- 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of Coarse Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- Handful of fresh basil or some fresh Oregano
- For The Grilled Onions:
- 1 large Yellow Onion sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon of Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoons of Butter
- Pinch of Black Pepper and Kosher Salt
- 2 tablespoons of Brown Sugar
- Sprinkle of Red Chili Flake
- 6 to 10 slices of Provolone or Mozzarella Cheese
- 6 Hoagie Rolls
- 2 tablespoon of Butter
- 1 teaspoon of Garlic Salt
Instructions
- Split the sausage links down the center lengthwise and flatten out. Set aside.
- Add the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and the 3 garlic cloves to a double lined foil packet. Toss this all together and then seal the foil packet.
- Add the large yellow onion slices, toss with olive oil, 3 tablespoons of butter, black pepper, kosher salt, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and a sprinkle of red chili flake, to a foil packet, toss to coat everything and seal the foil packet.
- Heat the grill to approximately 400° and set the foil packets on the grill NOT on the direct flame. Make sure they are on indirect heat. If using a thinner foil, you may want to double or triple the foil. Every few minutes pick up the packets with tongs and carefully give it a little jiggle to make sure the onions and tomatoes are not burning. If you want, you can also carefully open the packets, stir, and seal again.
- When the tomatoes are soft and cooked down, remove from the grill and add the fresh herb of your choice, then seal up the packet again and set aside.
- Remove the onions from the grill and set aside.
- Heat the grill up to about 500°, add your sausage links, and cook well on both sides. Both sides should be caramelized. When they are fully cooked, reduce the grill heat, have the links split side up, top with the tomato sauce, onions, and a couple of slices of cheese. Cook for two to three minutes until the cheese is melted. Carefully remove.
- Spread the rolls with the butter and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Turn off the grill and toast the buns for a minute or two.
- Add the sausages to the buns, you can also add more tomato sauce and onions and fresh basil. Serve immediately.