Subway's slogan is "Eat fresh," but ever since that one film about commercial meat production, we're probably all a little skeptical of exactly what questionable ingredients are going into our favorite fast foods . So if you've ever been halfway through chowing down on a meatball sub and then stopped and thought, 'Hmm — what unpronounceable ingredients am I unknowingly ingesting?' we've got some good news for you. The ingredient list for Subway meatballs isn't that long, and it's pretty standard.
Although the meatballs were once made with beef as the only meat base, they now include a beef and pork mixture, as well as wheat breadcrumbs, water, textured soy protein concentrate, onion, garlic, salt, parsley, soybean oil, something simply labeled "spice," and Romano cheese. They're topped with marinara sauce, which includes tomato puree, diced tomatoes, sugar, soybean oil, salt, citric acid, modified cornstarch, onion powder, and herbs and spices. At one point, the sandwich chain also offered a vegetarian meatball via a partnership with Beyond Meat's meatless meatballs, made with a plant-based protein, but the option was phased out in mid-2022.
An ingredient deep dive Most of the ingredients on that list are pretty common, to the point where you probably have them stored away in your pantry or your fridge. But there are a couple of oddballs in the mix — citric acid, soybean oil, and textured soy protein concentrate, to name a few. So let's satiate your curiosity with a littl.