Firehouse Thanksgiving Turkey Sub

Today, we review Firehouse Subs’ Thanksgiving Turkey Sub. Over the years, sandwiches involving turkey with popular Thanksgiving menu items have surfaced. Most of these tend to be seasonal menu items. Firehouse Subs did a limited run of the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub at select stores in 2023. This year, the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub will be available nationwide for a limited time.

Founded in 1994 by former firefighters Chris and Robin Sorensen, Firehouse Subs has expanded to over 1,210 restaurants in 46 states. Today, it is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International, which also owns the chains Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons.

We recently ran a series called Turkey Sub Quest. This involved comparing similar turkey subs from different chains and seeing how they stacked up and ranked. The Thanksgiving Turkey sub differs greatly from what we did with those sandwiches, so we will not be ranking it with them.

The Construction

The Firehouse Thanksgiving Turkey Sub consists of hand-carved turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mayonnaise. As documented, I don’t like mayonnaise, so that was the only item removed. The default size is getting as close to a foot-long option as possible. In this case, the foot-long option mapped to Firehouse’s “Large Sub.” There are options to add additional condiments (lettuce, bacon, tomato, cheese, extra meat, etc). The sandwich is served warm. Finally, this sandwich was quite heavy, weighing in at one pound.

Hand-Carved Turkey (Default)
Stuffing (Default)
Cranberry Sauce (Default)
No Mayonnaise (By Request)
White Bread
Size: Large
Length: 11.0″
Weight: 16 ounces (box not weighted)
Sandwiches Eaten: One
Location: Indian Trail, NC
Price: $14.99

The Experience

For this assessment, we used similar scoring to the Turkey Sub Quest:

Meat 4 points
Bread: 2 points
Condiments: 2 points
Intangibles: 2 points

Meat

The turkey was slightly thicker than I prefer, but it worked for me on this sandwich. I also liked the fact that the meat had some trim on it. It’s a tasty turkey, and one that I would say is above average. I would assess the portions of the turkey as satisfactory. More on the ingredient ratios later.

Score: 2.50 out of 4.00 points

Bread

Most of the comments on the bread on the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub are similar to those I had when I assessed Firehouse’s Turkey and Provolone. Because the sandwich is lightly toasted, Firehouse Subs have a better crust than most. While I appreciate a crust, this is still thin and prone to cracking. The bread is cut thick on the top and very thin on the bottom. This is very light and airy bread, so it didn’t do much for the whole sandwich. The fact that this bread had a crust saved the sandwich.

Score: 0.50 out of 2 points

Condiments

The “condiments” of the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub are the stuffing and the cranberry sauce.

The stuffing had some nice savory qualities. It was really enjoyable, to the point that I wouldn’t have minded having a bowl of it on the side.

The cranberry sauce was quite sweet, as expected. I would describe it as an average cranberry sauce. The good news is that the sauce was spread on the bread, so the bread absorbed some of it, preventing this from being a messy sandwich. At the same time, it spread to the stuffing and turkey components, allowing the ingredients to fuse.

I would also say the portions of the stuffing and cranberry sauce were satisfactory.

Score: 1.25 out of 2 points

Intangibles

The story here is the proportions. Let me start by saying that while the proportions were satisfactory, they weren’t overly generous. They didn’t shortchange me, but I did see several reviews commenting on the generous amounts of turkey. I’m unsure if they went for an extra meat option.

The second problem is that while there was a satisfactory amount of cranberry sauce, it is quite an overpowering ingredient. It imparted a lot of sweetness, which threw the balance of the sandwich off. As a result, the flavor profile seemed skewed toward the cranberry sauce. I would have liked the turkey and stuffing to have a great influence on the flavor profile.

Finally, while the sandwich held weight, the bread did not. While the sandwich didn’t come apart, I had to execute a lot of TLC.

Score: 0.75 out of 2 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

As I evolve in my journey of sandwich reviews, I’ve learned that a sandwich should be better than the sum of its parts. On the Firehouse Thanksgiving Turkey Sub, I found the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce were good, but I did find the proportions needed some tweaking, as the cranberry sauce was overly dominant. Firehouse Subs’ Achilles heel is its bread. I wish it was not as light and airy as it is.

I’ve seen some Thanksgiving subs that also include gravy and mashed potatoes. I think the stuffing and cranberry sauce are the right ingredients (and, of course, no mayonnaise). Overall, this was an average sandwich, but it was a fun one to eat. I recommend checking it out while it’s in season.