Simple to Make Turkey and Bacon Panini
For an easy lunch or dinner, sink your teeth into this scrumptious grilled sandwich.  It uses similar ingredients to a turkey club sandwich except there’s no lettuce and it’s grilled.  This skinny recipe has 376 calories and 14 grams of fat. A regular Turkey Bacon Panini has an astounding 1019 calories and 73 grams of fat.
Helpful Tips About this Recipe
Makes 2 sandwiches
Food Facts
Panini has become the new, trendy sandwich of the age.  It’s actually just a grilled sandwich stuffed with lots of cured meats and sometimes cheese. A Panini maker is a two-sided electric grill to cook and press the sandwich. They do cut the grilling time in half because they cook both sides at once. You don’t need one of those fancy Panini makers to create these yummy sandwiches.
Healthy Benefits
Cooking bacon in the microwave on paper towels trims lots of fat and calories. Almost all of the fat remains in the towel rather than in the bacon thus in your stomach!
Shopping Tips
I used a bread called Eating Right (kids) Whole Grain Honey White Bread. For those of you who love the flavor of white bread, you are going to love this bread. It’s only 130 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 3 grams of fiber for 2 slices. Most major supermarkets carry this brand. If you can’t find it, substitute a whole wheat, whole grain, or sourdough bread. Trader Joes carries a great selection of reduced-fat sliced cheeses. I love the lite Havarti, Swiss or Provolone. If you can’t find these types of cheese, use reduced- fat mozzarella. I love using Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon. It’s much lower in fat and calories than most bacon-3 slices have 70 calories and 4.5 grams of fat.
Weight Watchers (old points) 8
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 9
Panini has become the new, trendy sandwich of the age.  It’s actually just a grilled sandwich stuffed with lots of cured meats and sometimes cheese. A Panini maker is a two-sided electric grill to cook and press the sandwich. They do cut the grilling time in half because they cook both sides at once. You don’t need one of those fancy Panini makers to create these yummy sandwiches.
Healthy Benefits
Cooking bacon in the microwave on paper towels trims lots of fat and calories. Almost all of the fat remains in the towel rather than in the bacon thus in your stomach!
Shopping Tips
I used a bread called Eating Right (kids) Whole Grain Honey White Bread. For those of you who love the flavor of white bread, you are going to love this bread. It’s only 130 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 3 grams of fiber for 2 slices. Most major supermarkets carry this brand. If you can’t find it, substitute a whole wheat, whole grain, or sourdough bread. Trader Joes carries a great selection of reduced-fat sliced cheeses. I love the lite Havarti, Swiss or Provolone. If you can’t find these types of cheese, use reduced- fat mozzarella. I love using Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon. It’s much lower in fat and calories than most bacon-3 slices have 70 calories and 4.5 grams of fat.
Weight Watchers (old points) 8
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 9
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1 Panini 376 cal, 14g fat, 35g protein, 27g carbs, 3g fiber, 778mg sodium, 7g sugar |
| FAT FACTS: for 1 regular Turkey & Bacon Panini 1019 cal, 73g fat, 61g protein, 27g carbs, 2g fiber, 1504mg sodium, 2g sugar |
Simple to Make Turkey and Bacon Panini
Ingredients
- 6 slices Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon or turkey bacon, see shopping tip
- 4 slices Whole Grain Honey White Bread (Eating Right brand) or your favorite whole grain bread, see shopping tip
- 4 teaspoons reduced-fat butter or Smart Balance Heart Light
- 2 teaspoon spicy or yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoon Nancy’s Skinny Ranch Dressing or reduced-fat mayonnaise
- 4 ounces sliced turkey breast, cooked and thinly sliced
- 4 thin slices fresh tomato
- 2 slices reduced-fat cheese such as Havarti, Swiss, or mozzarella
Instructions
- To cook the bacon: place on a microwave-safe plate two sheets of paper towels.  Spread on top of the paper towels 6 slices of bacon in a single layer. Lay another sheet of paper towel on top of the bacon.  Cook in microwave until crisp (~ 4 to 5 minutes).
- Spread 4 slices of bread with I teaspoon each of butter, flip over and spread 2 inside slices with mustard and the other 2 inside slices with ranch or mayo.
- With the butter side on the outside, top the ranch side with the sliced turkey, tomato, bacon, and cheese.
- Put the remaining slices of bread on top of the cheese, with the mustard side in.
- Coat a nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place the sandwiches in the pan and grill on med/high heat until golden brown (~3 minutes). Flip sandwiches over and cook about 2 more minutes until golden brown. If you have a Panini maker cook the sandwiches for only 3-4 minutes until golden.  The Panini maker cooks both sides at the same time.
- Remove from heat, cut each sandwich in half. Serve with carrot sticks and a fruit cup.
Nutrition
Serving: 1paniniCalories: 376kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 35gFat: 14gSodium: 778mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gPlus Points: 9
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!