This slightly lightened-up Chicken Parmesan Meatball Sub sandwich is filled with homemade baked meatballs, marinara sauce, and melted cheese! A budget-friendly, deli-style meal you’ll love that’s ready in 30 minutes.
Who doesn’t love a good deli-style meal?
Yes, you really can enjoy your favorite deli menu items at home, and it’s all about the BUN. The right bread can make or break a sandwich, but this unstoppable combination of deli-style sub rolls, baked chicken meatballs, marinara sauce, and cheese makes a tasty chicken parmesan meatball sub that tastes like it’s straight from the deli! Luckily, this sub is easy to make at home and is a little healthier for you than classic fried chicken parmesan over pasta (not that I’m knocking it – it’s actually one of my favorites). Serve with a basket of chips, a pickle, and a soda for all your deli favorites in one meal.
Make homemade meatballs for meal prep!
These freezer-friendly baked chicken meatballs are my new favorite thing. I make a batch and store half in my fridge and half in my freezer so that I’m ready to enjoy them all month. I’m not a fan of most meat, but I’ll eat these chicken meatballs in or on almost anything. Throw a few into a pasta dish, coat them in a teriyaki sauce alongside rice and veggies, or in this case, put them on a sandwich with classic chicken parmesan ingredients. This has to be my favorite recipe for incorporating these simple chicken meatballs though.
Mostly, I love how easy it is to whip up this sub. I grab a few meatballs from the fridge, microwave them, arrange them on my sub roll, and top with a lot of marinara and cheese. After a quick round in the toaster oven, the cheese is melted, everything is warm, and the sub is perfectly toasted. I make them at home, or I wrap up the cold sub in foil for my boyfriend to toast to perfection for his lunch at work. You can’t get much better than this.
Is it good for you? Probably not. Is it worth it? Absolutely. If you’re going to eat a meatball sub, this is the way to do it!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Ground pepper, to taste
- Other spices, optional
- Chopped onion, optional
- Deli sub roll
- 3-4 meatballs
- 1/4 cup marinara sauce
- Handful of mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF and line a baking sheet with greased foil or a silicone baking mat.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands or a spoon until well-combined.
- Roll the mixture into equal-sized meatballs and place at least an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 25 minutes until golden and meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Assemble sandwiches immediately or allow meatballs to cool before packaging and refrigerating or freezing for later.
- Cut a sub roll down the middle and fill with 3-4 pre-cooked meatballs (refrigerated and reheated or fresh and hot).
- Spoon marinara sauce on top until well-coated and sprinkle with mozzarella.
- Bake the sandwich in a conventional oven or toaster oven until ingredients are warmed, cheese is melted, and bun is lightly toasted.
- Serve immediately alongside chips and a pickle.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: Use a cookie scoop to make the meatballs uniform and bite sized.

We hope you enjoy this Chicken Parmesan Meatball Sub recipe from SoFabFood Home Chef, Holly from Club Crafted, as much as we do. If you love this easy recipe, you can find more like it by visiting our Deli Section. For daily recipe inspiration, subscribe to our newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Pinterest. Enjoy!
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