What Makes a Great Vegetarian Sandwich?

By Tanya Sichynsky

Tanya Sichynsky is a senior staff editor for The New York Times and NYT Cooking, and she writes the Veggie, NYT Cooking’s vegetarian newsletter. Tanya grew up in the Atlanta suburbs with a Cuban mother and a Ukrainian father, both of whom are from New York City.

Published Sept. 17, 2026 Updated Sept. 17, 2026

Credit…Nico Schinco and Andrew Bui for The New York Times

I did not expect to have one of the best sandwiches of my life last Saturday. I had hauled myself to Manhattan in search of outfits for my fast-approaching book tour, and after some 12,000 steps I collapsed into S&P Lunch in dire need of a beverage, a quick bite and a bathroom. On a sheet of printer paper stapled to the front of the menu was a list of specials, and my eyes darted to the three sexiest words in the English language: “HEIRLOOM TOMATO SANDWICH.”

Expertly layered between two soft slices of mayonnaise-slathered rye bread were thick pucks of tomato, thinly sliced marinated white onion and a blanket of fresh basil and dill, each component generously showered in sesame, poppy and caraway seeds. It had all the qualities of A Great Sandwich: great bread, the right ratios, structural integrity and plenty of texture. At least according to the 20 strangers, three certified sandwich specialists and one dog I recently polled on the topic.

Anyone with a flier to hand out or a petition to sign can tell you that approaching people on the street is an exercise in rejection therapy. So when I went to Washington Square Park earlier this summer with a cartoonish microphone, a single question and a dream, I was prepared for a humiliating afternoon. Turns out there’s a trick to getting New Yorkers (and some tourists) to eagerly engage you in conversation: Ask them what makes a Great Sandwich.

Tanya Sichynsky and the three other judges are shown overlaid over a zoomed in image of a bracket. — Credit…New York Times Cooking

Their answers ground our latest Veggie video, a tournament-style sandwich smackdown (snackdown?) featuring eight vegetarian Hall-of-Famers. They are all winners, in my mind and stomach, but who doesn’t love a playoff-style bracket, a little healthy competition and a quest for the Ultimate Vegetarian Sandwich?

Informed by the criteria collected in the park, I selected some of my favorite NYT Cooking recipes — some included in our new cookbook, “Veg Everything,” which came out Tuesday! — and put them into one of four regions:

Summer All-Stars

Kia Damon’s pimento cheese and tomato sandwich
Kay Chun’s crispy zucchini hero

Picnic Players

Kay’s chickpea salad sandwich
The Scuttlebutt, a Brooklyn icon created by Caroline Fidanza and Rebecca Collerton, adapted by Sara Bonisteel

The Melts

Ali Slagle’s vegetarian Reuben sandwich
Cybelle Tondu’s new kimchi white bean melt (originally developed as open-faced toasts)

Hot and Spicy

Yewande Komolafe’s crispy mushroom sandwich
Kay’s Nashville-style hot tofu sliders

I then brought in a panel of experts to help me eat sandwiches and advance them through the tournament. You may disagree with the winner — hell, you may disagree with the whole bracket! Sandwiches always inspire lively debate, but I’d wager you won’t disagree with what separates a truly great one from a good one.

Tanya Sichynsky is shown in Washington Square Park interviewing a person at a chess table. — Credit…New York Times Cooking

The answer is decidedly not meat. I was struck by how few people (just one guy) bothered to mention meat at all when I asked them my question. Instead, they mentioned these four specific qualities again and again.

What makes a great sandwich?

The bread: Rye, brioche, potato rolls, focaccia, multigrain, Italian, sourdough, plush white bread; you’ll find them all in our bracket. More than any other component, “really good bread” was cited by sandwich lovers as make-or-break.

Ingredient ratios: On a sandwich, there really can be too much of a good thing. A crispy sandwich necessitates the right amount of sauce, for example. Too much sauce can overwhelm an otherwise thoughtfully constructed meal. Which brings us to …

Structural integrity: A great sandwich is a feat of engineering. Stack your ingredients in the wrong order and some bites will be too wet or too dry, or some elements will shoot out of the back or the sides as you dig in.

Texture: The most-used adjective to describe a Great Sandwich? “Crunchy!” A sandwich is a vehicle for textures, plural, and a meatless one that depends on vegetables is guaranteed to pack freshness, moisture and, yes, crunch.

Bonus criterion: So many people said pickles. A Great Sandwich needs acid, baby!

Did your favorite make the cut? Watch our video to find out. But remember: There are no losers in the sandwich snackdown, only more opportunities to upset the champion with your own creations at home.

Pimento cheese and tomato sandwiches are shown stacked. — Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

One More Thing!

Hello from San Francisco! A reminder that I’m on a book tour for “Veg Everything,” and you can come see me in the following cities:

Today, Sept. 17 at Omnivore Books in San Francisco

Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market with Now Serving in Los Angeles

Tuesday, Sept. 22 at Public Records with Books are Magic in Brooklyn

Sunday, Sept. 27 at Vesper Books and Wine in Detroit

Sunday, Oct. 4 at A Cappella Books in Atlanta

The events in Portland, Ore., tomorrow, New Canaan, Conn., on Sept. 24, Philadelphia on Sept. 29 and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30 have either sold out or have a wait list. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

Email us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.

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