This paper introduces an efficient design approach for a fast-convolution-based variable-bandwidth (VBW) filter. The proposed approach is based on a hybrid of frequency sampling and optimization (HFSO), that offers significant computational complexity reduction compared to existing solutions for a given performance. The paper provides a design procedure based on minimax optimization to obtain the minimum complexity of the overall filter. A design example includes a comparison of the proposed design-based VBW filter and time-domain designed VBW filters implemented in the time domain and in the frequency domain. It is shown that not only the implementation complexity can be reduced but also the design complexity by excluding any computations when the bandwidth of the filter is adjusted. Moreover, memory requirements are also decreased compared to the existing frequency-domain implementations.