Funeral Sandwiches

Preheat Oven to 375

Ingredients: Note: This recipe can easily be doubled.
Cooking spray or parchment paper for inside your 9x13 baking dish
1 pound thick or thin sliced honey ham (or turkey if you prefer or use both)
½ pound of sliced Swiss Cheese
1 12/pk of Hawaiian Rolls
1 cup butter, melted
4 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
2 TBSP Prepared Yellow Mustard
2 TBSP Poppy Seeds

Directions:

Spray cooking spray in a 9x13 Pyrex or use parchment paper all the way up the sides and middle of the dish. Slice the full 12 pack of rolls in half with a long sharp bread knife. Do this for both packages of Hawaiian Rolls. Set on package of roll bottoms into baking dish. Add the ham and swiss cheese on the bottom of each bread roll then place the tops that you cut earlier back on top of the ham and swiss cheese.
Next, mix butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire, mustard, and poppy seeds together in a small bowl. Spoon over the sandwich tops. Let sit for 10 mins to 1 hour prior to baking.
Bake at 375, uncovered until the tops are golden and cheese has melted about 12 to 15minutes.
I highly recommend you double the recipe. These sandwiches are so good, they will go fast.

“Funeral sandwiches” is a Southern nickname for those little ham-and-cheese sliders because they became a familiar food served after funerals and at gatherings following the service.

They earned the name for a few practical reasons:

  • Easy to make for a crowd — One pan can feed a lot of people.

  • Easy to transport — Friends and neighbors could bring them to the family home or church.
    Comfort food — Warm, buttery, cheesy, and filling.

  • Good at room temperature or reheated — Helpful when people are coming and going all day.

  • Common at church fellowship meals — Especially throughout the South and Midwest.

The classic version is usually made with Hawaiian rolls, ham, Swiss cheese, and a buttery mustard-poppy seed sauce baked until warm and melty.
So, despite the somewhat somber name, “funeral sandwiches” simply means a crowd- pleasing comfort food that became traditionally associated with feeding family and friends after a funeral. And honestly, down South, they show up at baby showers, football parties, church potlucks,
Christmas gatherings, and just about any other occasion too!