Gluten-free California Club Sandwich

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A classic cafe style California Club Sandwich, made gluten-free. I partnered with Canyon Bakehouse to bring you the recipe for this favorite sandwich of mine! I think you’ll want to add this gluten-free club sandwich to your lunch or dinner rotation.

When I was 19, I packed up everything I owned into a U-Haul trailer and happily said good-bye to living in California. I said then that I would never move back, and I’ve kept that promise! While I visit California often, I do not miss living there. The hot weather, all the people, higher crime rates, etc. I’ve gotten spoiled by my years living in beautiful towns like Bozeman, Montana, and Boise, Idaho, where I can see snow-capped mountains and lots of blue sky, snow in the winter, lower crime rates, and family-friendly towns.

There are a few things I miss about California, like certain restaurants and foods, going up to Apple Hill every fall, being only two hours away from the mountains or the ocean, and lots of great shopping! I get to enjoy almost all of those things now when we go back for visit, except for the foods! I’ve had to find new favorites when I visit now, since all of my old favorites are full of gluten.

My family ate out quite a lot when I was growing up. Much of the time we ate at cafes, delis, and family style restaurants. One of my favorite meals to order was the California Club Sandwich. The sandwich was tall, with three pieces of toasted bread, and full of turkey, crispy bacon, cheese, lettuce or spinach, tomato and avocado. Okay, I’ll admit that I was so picky as a kid that I didn’t have the spinach or avocado on mine – I’d order without or pick it off when it came. In my adult years, I finally acquired a love of avocado and spinach and now have both pretty much every day.

Just like those cafe style California Club Sandwiches, mine has the fun toothpick to hold it all together since it is so tall! When I made these for my kids, I omitted the third piece of bread, because it made it way too big for their mouths, but I still used the fun toothpicks, which they thought were super cool.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I make homemade gluten-free bread in my bread machine every week. Just like any other mom though, I don’t always have the time, or, more often, I just forget to make it and we’re left without bread for sandwiches for school. I like to keep a few loaves of good gluten-free bread in the freezer for those times. I’ve tried a variety of store-bought gluten-free breads in the past 5 years and my favorite is Canyon Bakehouse.

I prefer their 7-Grain gluten-free sandwich bread and their Heritage Loaves, so I just had to use some this recipe! These breads are nice and soft, but I chose to toast just lightly for the sandwich, because that’s how I always remember having it as a kid.

For my own spin on this gluten-free club sandwich, and with a nod to Gilroy, California, aka The Garlic Capital of the world, I spread a thin layer of garlic butter on each slice of bread after toasting. We all really liked the flavor it added to the sandwich.

This was another winner with my family! I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought to make it for them in recent years. It will be in our regular rotation now! You can easily make this dairy-free as well, with just omitting the slice of cheese and the garlic butter.

Other ingredients can be left off to accommodate picky eaters too. My youngest just had his with turkey, cheese, bacon and the two smallest pieces of spinach I could find. We’re still working up to him eating green veggies! 😉

Do you have a favorite deli sandwich? Tell me about it! 

Gluten-free Club Sandwich Recipe:

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This sponsored post was created through my partnership with Canyon Bakehouse. As always, all opinions are my own. Collaborating with brands I love allows me to keep bringing you new and varied recipes! Thanks for your support!

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