Jersey Mike's is one of the most popular sandwich shops in the US, with over 3,500 locations. The company advertises their sandwiches as being "Made Right In Front Of You," suggesting that they're fresh.

But what's actually in a Jersey Mike's sub beyond the obvious? Are there any unhealthy "processed" ingredients? What's the healthiest option at Jersey Mike's? And is Jersey Mike's healthier or less healthy than other popular sandwich shops like Subway?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Jersey Mike's to give our take on whether or not it's healthy.

We'll also share the healthiest options at Jersey Mike's, and compare the brand to other popular sandwich shops to pick our winners from a health perspective.

Key takeaways:

• Large number of unhealthy additives
• Healthier than Subway & competitors
• We do not consider Jersey Mike's to be healthy

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Jersey Mike's The Original Italian cold sub with the default ingredient selections are shown below:

This is an extremely large number of ingredients, including "processed" ingredients, for a simple cold sub sandwich.

Some of these ingredients have been shown in clinical studies to potentially be harmful to human health.

Ham, cappacuolo, pepperoni, prosciuttini and hard salami are all processed meats, and "high processed meat intake is robustly associated with increased risks of multiple chronic diseases and mortality" according to a 2025 medical review.

Sodium phosphate is included in several sections of this ingredient list, and was described as "a health risk" in a medical review published in a German journal.

Vegetable oil was described in a medical review as "a driver of coronary heart disease" in at least one medical review, as we documented in our are Goldfish bad for you article.

BHA and BHT are synthetic preservatives which have been shown in animal studies to be potentially harmful to the circulatory system.

Cane sugar is mentioned multiple times in the ingredient list, and high added sugar intake is harmful to human health according to a meta-analysis published in the BMJ journal.

This sandwich contains 10 grams (g) of added sugar which is relatively low in isolation, but many Americans already consume too much added sugar from diet, so avoiding it in sandwiches seems like a healthy choice.

Overall, we do not consider Jersey Mike's to be healthy due to all of these additive ingredients.

Jersey Mike's vs. Popular Sandwich Shops

Here's how Jersey Mike's stacks up against other popular sub shops in terms of healthiness, in our opinion:

Jimmy John's

Jimmy John's doesn't make their ingredients or macronutrients as transparent as Jersey Mike's.

In fact, we could not find the full ingredient list for any Jimmy John's sandwich. This is a consumer safety and health issue in our opinion. At least with Jersey Mike's, you know what you're getting.

Winner: Jersey Mike's

Subway

Subway sandwiches contain similarly unhealthy additives, but even more added sugar, as we documented in our healthiest bread at Subway analysis article.

Winner: Jersey Mike's

Firehouse Subs

Like Jimmy John's, this popular sub brand fails to clearly publish ingredient information on their website.

We could find macronutrient information and allergen details, but no full ingredient list.

Winner: Jersey Mike's

What's the Healthiest Sub at Jersey Mike's?

source: jerseymikes.com

We consider cold subs to be a healthier option than hot subs, because vegetable oil is clinically shown to be harmful to human health when heated. 

We consider The Veggie to be the healthiest option, because it's free of processed meat, contains nutrient-dense cheese, and offers a variety of nutritious produce add-ons.

Cheese is rich in calcium and omega-3 fatty acids, as we documented in our article examining is Babybel cheese good for you.

We recommend choosing wheat bread over white bread, because the former is shown to have greater protein content and 200-300% more fiber.

Adding fruit and veggie toppings like oregano, peppers, tomatoes, onions and mustard will make this sandwich healthier due to the added vitamins and minerals.

We still do not consider this sandwich healthy overall, and do not currently recommend it, because it contains many of the same "processed" added ingredients we highlighted in the initial section of this article.

Conclusion

Jersey Mike's doesn't sell any sandwiches that we consider to be healthy.

Most of the sandwiches we reviewed contained processed meat, added phosphates, synthetic preservatives, vegetable oil and added sugar; all of which we consider to be unhealthy based on existing clinical studies.

We consider Jersey Mike's to be a healthier option than Subway, Jimmy John's and Firehouse Subs. Subway bread contains too much added sugar, and Firehouse Subs and Jimmy John's fail to even disclose all of the ingredients in their subs on their product pages.

For consumers intent on purchasing from Jersey Mike's we consider The Veggie sub (cold) to be the healthiest option, particularly when prepared with wheat bread and topped with as many fruit, vegetable and spice ingredients as possible.