Can you ever say that a sandwich you’ve made was loved by literally millions of people? Owen Han can. His 38-second video for making a butter-chicken sandwich has, despite having no spoken words at all, racked up nearly 60 million views on TikTok – that’s more than the entire population of Italy.
Han is an Los Angeles-based chef and content creator known on social media as the “King of Sandwiches.” It’s a crown that fits: Since becoming a “sandwich influencer” in 2021, he’s made roughly 1,000 sandwiches ranging from the relatively normal (Nashville hot chicken) to the deliciously bizarre (chimichurri-vanilla pudding).
This October, Han published his inaugural cookbook laying out his favorite recipes for all kinds of sandwiches – even dessert ones, like a Brie and strawberry-ginger jam grilled cheese – as well as helpful tips, like how to pickle your own condiments. (“Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich,” published by Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, $24.)
“It dawned on me a year into posting sandwich videos that one of the most frequent questions I would get from viewers is, they want the recipe,” Han says. “If you watch my videos, it’s 30 seconds. Super quick. I’m throwing food, not even speaking, and it’s very hard to follow along. So with the requests of a bunch of people, it just naturally made sense.”
Between dealing with companies who want him as an influencer and managing a burgeoning YouTube channel about his Italian-Chinese heritage, Han took the time to answer a few questions about – you guessed it – sandwiches. Follow him at tiktok.com/@owen.han and youtube.com/@owen.han, and if you’re hungry, check out his recipe for a breakfast shakshuka sandwich.
Q: What was the sandwich that kicked off your career?
A: I had been posting different things I was cooking, like a salmon dish and a pasta. Then one day, I decided to post my lunch. I eat sandwiches pretty much every single day – it’s my ultimate comfort food. I figured, let me film just this one. It was a chicken-bacon-avocado sandwich, Gouda cheese, chipotle aioli, the recipe’s actually in the cookbook.
That was the first to really go viral, hitting about a million views. Following that, I decided to post a steak sandwich with caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese, garlic aioli, and that really just launched everything. It had 10 million views, and I started getting hit up by brands. I was like, “Wow, there’s really something here.”
Q: Why are people so rabid about sandwiches and your videos?
A: I think it comes down to comfort and simplicity. When you think of a sandwich, it’s a nostalgic thing – I feel like everyone grew up eating them. And for me, one of the things I really strive for is the aesthetic of a cross-section. If you see my videos, they pretty much all start the same: Food porn tied with ASMR with the crispy bread and a nice, clean cut. It’s kind of the perfect formula, and it has yet to fail me.
Q: What makes a perfect sandwich?
A: There is no perfect sandwich, it really comes down to what you make of it. That’s what I love about sandwiches, you can make it as simple or elegant as possible. There are a few tips and tricks I like to give that will lead to that result. To me, the most important ingredient in a sandwich obviously has got to be the bread. That is the foundation – you can have the best ingredients in the world, but if you have old, stale bread or soggy bread, it’ll absolutely ruin it.
One thing I like to do is use weighted grill plates and actually toast the bread on the pan. Adding pressure through a weight toasts bread a lot quicker and more evenly as well, because you get even weight distributed all throughout. And there is one ingredient I also love to add: My fridge is always filled with pickled elements – there’s a whole section of the book on pickling. For me, it comes down to pickled onions. Those are a great way to elevate a dish, as you’ve got acidity, crunch and great flavor.
Q: You’ve made videos with Martha Stewart, Alex Guarnaschelli and Padma Lakshmi. Did any of them comment on your sandwiches?
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A: One that sticks out has to be Martha. I made my fried green-tomato BLT for her, and one part of that recipe is a homemade ranch dressing. I personally love my ranch recipe, and had people on my team who know her taste and flavor profile, so we made it beforehand to make sure it would be to her liking. I thought it would blow her away … then she takes a bite and says, “It’s good enough.” But if it’s good enough for Martha, it’s good enough for me.
Q: Your book is dedicated to your father, who died from Covid in 2021. What kind of cook was he?
A: He had Chinese roots, was born in Ohio, but both his parents were from Shanghai. So cooking for us growing up was based around Chinese food but also really big dinners. He loved hosting for me and my siblings: “Invite your friends, and we’ll all cook and eat.” He exposed me to a wide variety of real Chinese food, like I’m talking pork knuckle and classics like dumplings and fried rice. It was really cool, because I was able to spend my summers with my Nonna in Italy, making Italian food, then growing up in a Chinese household. To me, it was two of the best cuisines – I was really fortunate as a kid.