What Kind Of Meatballs Does Subway Use?

Everyone has their favorite Subway order, from the meaty steak and cheese to the savory chicken teriyaki. However, there's one Subway sandwich that's the perfect choice if you like your subs to taste just like your mama used to make 'em: the footlong meatball marinara melt. Stuffed with meatballs, a tangy Italian-style tomato sauce, and melted cheese, every bite of this substantial hoagie is buonissimo. But what makes it so good? While the sauce, bread, and cheese are key elements, it's ultimately the meatballs — made with a mixture of ground pork and beef — that form the heart of this satisfying sammie.

Classic Italian meatballs are usually made with a mixture of beef and pork because this combination results in a polpette with a juicier texture and mouthfeel. Beef has a higher fat content than pork, which lends the succulence, flavor, and additional tenderness of the meatballs. According to Subway's product ingredient guide, the restaurant's meatballs also include breadcrumbs and textured soy protein concentrate.

Breadcrumbs are a common addition to homemade meatballs (they act as a binder and provide both moisture and heft), but textured soy protein might be something you haven't heard of before. This product — also known as textured vegetable protein — is made of a paste produced from soybeans. It's shaped into nuggets or strips and mimics the texture of ground meat. Along with seasonings, such as onion, garlic, and parsley, Subway's meatballs also contain Romano cheese to further boost their savory profile.

Subway's meatballs are served in a marinara sauce that's made with tomato puree, diced tomatoes, sugar, a seasoning blend of herbs and spices, soybean oil, and salt (the founder's mother's secret recipe). In a Reddit thread discussing whether the meatballs can be served to customers without the sauce, one Reddit user, who appears to be a Subway employee, noted that "the meatballs do come separate, but we don't heat them up until they are mixed with the sauce, which has the [tomato] chunks." While the sandwich chain did trial a meatless version of their meatball sub in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Ireland back in 2019 to appeal to plant-based customers, it was phased out by 2022.

If you're a meat eater but aren't a fan of meatballs, we recommend you try our favorite Subway sandwich, the All-American Club. The winner in our list of 12 Subway sandwiches, ranked worst to best, this champ was fully loaded with bacon, ham, and turkey. Regardless of whether you order an All-American club or veggie delight, the simple request that guarantees you a tastier Subway sandwich is to ask for your sauce to be put on the bread first. This move makes for a sammie that has uniformity of flavor in every bite, particularly if you've asked for your order to be stuffed with lots of extra veggies.