Have you ever had bologna mix? My Mom had a really yummy bologna mix recipe that I think she got from one of my Grandma's, and we all loved it. When we were kids, though, you didn't have to worry about mystery meat or mystery meat fillers, so these days I would NOT recommend making this bologna mix recipe with just any bologna from the store. That would be downright frightening. We get bologna from our local farmer, but if your farmer doesn't make lunch meats, you could get some healthy meats here. (I checked and they DO have bologna, yay! Just use the search bar to find it quickly.)
Mom's Old Fashioned Bologna Mix Recipe
The amounts for this bologna mix recipe are all totally approximate, because the recipe is very forgiving; you just throw in a bunch of ingredients, taste, add a little more mayo if needed, taste, add a little more relish if needed… you get the idea. (Check out a few more pictures below.)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound bologna from a source you trust, ground — you can use a meat grinder if you have it, or I just used my food processor. (Have you seen my favorite kitchen gadgets post?)
- 1/2 of a small onion, chopped small, or more if you like a lot of onion
- 4 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped into pieces — pastured eggs are best (you don't have to use 4, but I like a lot)
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise – start with a little and keep adding until it's the consistency of a nice sandwich spread. Since all of it from the store has disgusting oils in it like canola or soybean, along with a chemical cocktail of preservatives and artificial flavors, I make my own mayo, and at that post you can check out my new trick so it works EVERY time now, for real! It's fast and simple and SO tasty, if I do say so. If you don't want to make your own, though, the only kind I would buy is this mayo.
- 1/4 cup organic relish (sweet OR dill, whichever you prefer, I like sweet) – only use organic — trust me on this, regular relish has preservatives and fake colors and all sorts of ickiness in there. Again, you may want to add more once you taste-test. Or if some of those you are serving want more and some don't, just spread some extra on their bread.
- Sea salt and pepper to taste.
Instructions:
Mix everything together, that's it! Just be sure to taste-test and see what it might need a little more of to make it super yummy. Spread it on your favorite bread, but I like it on homemade toasted buns (fried in lots of pastured butter of course), or buns from our local baker.
I'm sorry I forgot to keep track of how many sandwiches this made, but I'd guess 5-6? Of course it will depend on how much you put on your sandwich. Next time I make it I'll remember to note this better, or if you make it first, please let me know, thank you!
Let me know what you think? Did you grow up eating this too, or is it not that common? Have you ever made it? If so, how is your recipe different?
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I ate a lot of this as a kid too – and my mother always added garlic to almost anything – so a wee bit of garlic is just yummo – thanks for sharing this recipe – I had forgotten how to make it- even though it’s simple enough – looking forward to eating a bunch -soon!
You’re welcome Kay, and a bit of garlic does sound good!
Kelly
I think she was trying to kill me. Lol! I’m an adventurous eater but liver is not for me. Gag. I need to take that supplement you showed on here.
My grandmother used to make this so we called it ‘Grandma’s Spread’. (Bologna, Mayo & dill pickle relish). I loved it as a kid, but detested plain bologna and wouldn’t eat that.
Samantha Salyer Jacokes — what a wise Mom you had (to make you eat liver)! 🙂
Back when I was a little kid, my favorite treat was when my neighbor would make me a bologna sandwich with yellow mustard on white bread. We never had that at my house. I grew up on homemade bread, which I didn’t appreciate at the time. I do now.
My husband’s family lived in Saginaw, Mich.and made this all the time. They only used Koehler balogna and Mich. ? Pickles. All including my husband are gone now except for one aunt. Tomorrow my two sons are going to Dallas, tx to a sale from Mich. to pick koegles bologna so we can all make bologna.salad. We live in Tyler, Tx and my kids are now in their 40’s and 50’s. Good memories and the taste buds can’t wait.
Jo this is so funny because I grew up about an hour from Saginaw!!! 🙂
Kelly
We ate this growing up, too, but it only had bologna, carrots, and mayo – less carrots than bologna, of course, but idk the ratio. This was in upstate NY. we always put it on small toasted rolls.
We also grew up eating this only without the eggs. We always had these sandwiches at every family bridal or baby shower. I grew up in Michigan and now live in Kansas. No one of our acquaintances here had ever heard of this before — really only see the ham salad here. We also grew up eating a crepe like egg/flour pancake that seems to be only known in Michigan. Isn’t it amazing how areas of the country have very local food traditions?
Yes and now you’ve gotten me hungry for crepes too! 🙂
We also called it bologna salad. I remember after grocery shopping on Saturday mornings my mother and later I would get the old cast iron hand grinder out and putting the bologna and onions through. After grinding the bologna, we put a few saltine crackers through to clean out the remainder of the meat and to thicken up the spread. I’m not sure how the crackers came to be added, it was probably a handed-down through the generations part of the recipe that stretched the meal. We added Kraft salad dressing and relish to the mix. We sometimes made the spread into sandwiches, but I preferred putting it on crackers and enjoying it. Those old memories!
Yumm! We called it bologna salad when I was little:)
My ex-mother-in-law used to make a similar spread, but she would have me go buy 5 pounds of bologna (from the small grocer down the street in the very small village we lived in), then she would grind it in the hand grinder that attached to the kitchen table. Once all was ground, she would grind in whole stewed tomatoes (without all the juice), add pickle relish and mayo and we would have that for dinner, along with fresh veggies out of the garden. People were always in and out of my in-law’s house and so this large amount never lasted more than 2-3 days.
Tomatoes, really, how interesting!!!!
Kel
Yes, and I wish I could remember the amounts of tomatoes, but I cannot. That was over 33 years ago and my memory has failed me on this one. 🙂