vegan grilled veggie focaccia sheet pan sandwiches

These Vegan Grilled Veggie Focaccia Sheet Pan Sandwiches are the perfect meatless option for your cookout! Made with herbed focaccia and stuffed with grilled eggplant and zucchini, pesto, and sundried tomatoes.

Happy Saturday, friends! I have such a delicious recipe to share with you today, which is perfect for all your summer events and cookouts! These Vegan Grilled Veggie Focaccia Sheet Pan Sandwiches start with a homemade focaccia base {promise it's super easy}, and are stuffed with pesto, sundried tomatoes, grilled eggplant and zucchini, and arugula! They are so delicious and I promise nobody will miss the meat in here. If only every BBQ had a veggie option as delicious as this!

I am sure you guys have seen the ubiquitous slider casseroles floating around the interwebs... they start with a pan of dinner rolls or Hawaiian rolls and are usually stuffed with ham and cheese and some sort of sauce! Heck, even I made a version back in the day. I wanted to translate the ease and deliciousness of those tiny sandwiches into a plant-based recipe! The trouble, of course, is that most Hawaiian and slider buns have dairy, and well, faux deli meat is definitely an acquired taste. I wanted to make something that everyone would enjoy, so I turned to flavorful grilled veggies and savory pesto!

These focaccia sheet pan sandwiches are deceivingly simple to make, I promise! I bought most of my components at Trader Joe's but you should be able to find them at most grocery stores! I got some ready-made refrigerated pizza dough to make the focaccia, and grabbed vegan pesto in the deli section. Then you need some arugula {or spinach, or whatever other leafy green floats your boat}, eggplant, and zucchini from the produce section. Finally, just grab a jar of sundried tomatoes and you're in business!

I hope you guys love these grilled veggie focaccia sheet pan sandwiches as much as we did! My very-much-not-vegan husband was so impressed at how delicious and filling they were even sans-meat 🙂

Make them your own!

• Not into eggplant or zucchini? No problem! Stuff these sandwiches with your favorite grill-friendly veggies, including portobello mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, or even asparagus!
• Feel free to substitute the arugula for your favorite leafy green. You can even change it up and add some fresh herbs!
• Not into pesto? Or can't find a vegan pesto? You can blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil in a food processor to make a sun-dried tomato spread instead. Or you can substitute vegan mayo, or even hummus!
• Don't have a grill? No problem! I actually grilled all these veggies in my cast iron skillet! You could even roast the vegetables in the oven so that they cook all at once.

Looking for more grilled veggie recipes?

• Grilled Vegetable Panini (by me!)
• Grilled Vegetables with Whipped Avocado Feta Dip by Kate's Recipe Box
• Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad by Strawberry Blondie Kitchen
• Vegan Grilled Veggie & Tofu Wraps with Hummus
• Asian Grilled Asparagus by Books 'n' Cooks
• Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches with Goat Cheese by Cooking for my Soul
• Grilled Garlic Parmesan Corn by Cheese Curd in Paradise
• Grilled Artichokes by Cooking with Caroline
• Grilled Veggie Pasta by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Eggplant with Garlic and Parmesan by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Grilled Vegetable Pizza by Grumpy's Honeybunch
• Grilled Vegetable Quinoa Salad by Simple & Savory
• Grilled Garden Pizza by Jolene's Recipe Journal

If you want to make your focaccia dough from scratch, you can find my recipe HERE.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

vegan grilled veggie focaccia sheet pan sandwiches

These Vegan Grilled Veggie Focaccia Sheet Pan Sandwiches are the perfect meatless option for your cookout! Made with herbed focaccia and stuffed with grilled eggplant and zucchini, pesto, and sundried tomatoes.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Sandwiches

Servings: 12

Author: Valentina | The Baking Fairy

Ingredients

• 1 lb storebought herb pizza dough or you can find my homemade recipe above!
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 eggplant
• 3 large zucchini
• 4 cups arugula
• ½ cup vegan pesto
• 1 jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil

Instructions

• First, prepare the focaccia. To start, grab your pizza dough, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap or a towel, and let rise for about 1 hr.
• After the rise, grab a small baking sheet (I use a quarter sheet pan) and grease the surface using 1 tablespoon of oil. Gently stretch the dough on the prepared sheet, gently pushing it to the edges. Spray lightly with water, cover with more plastic wrap, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
• After this, preheat convection oven to 400F (conventional 425F).
• Using your fingers, make deep indentations all over the surface of the focaccia. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 2 tablespoon of water, and spoon this all over the surface.
• Sprinkle on the coarse salt, and bake focaccia for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown and puffy.
• Meanwhile, heat up your grill or cast iron pan. Wash and dry the eggplant and zucchini. Slice the eggplant into rounds, and the zucchini into long strips.
• Grill until they are soft and fragrant. Sprinkle with garlic salt as soon as they are done.
• When focaccia is ready, let it cool off to room temperature then split in half.
• Spread the pesto all over the bottom half of the focaccia, and top with the grilled eggplant and zucchini slices. Top with the sundried tomatoes, and handfuls of the arugula. Finally, place the top half of the focaccia on top.
• Cut focaccia sandwiches into 12 equal pieces and enjoy! Serve immediately at room temperature, or keep in the fridge until needed.