How to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich
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Sometimes you just want to enjoy the simple things in life. That’s where the grilled cheese sandwich comes in! Toasted golden brown bread with warm, gooey, molten cheese inside. Who doesn’t love it! While I’ve not had American-style grilled cheeses until actually coming to Canada, I get what the big deal is!
I know for many North Americans a grilled cheese is a staple in their diets and grilled cheese brings so many childhood memories and nostalgia. However, for such a seemingly simple sandwich, I know it can be a bit tricky to master! And what about those iconic cheese pulls you see from your favourite Internet food influencers? Well, this guide on How to Achieve the Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich will show the little trick on how they get an epic cheese pull. It’s going to shock you for sure!
That being said, whatever grilled cheese sandwich recipe you choose to make, I’m sure this will bring back some nostalgia and fond memories. Put your heart on a plate with the best grilled cheese sandwich you’ve ever had as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can get started for free by signing up to my email newsletter, plus you’ll get all of my new recipes delivered right to your inbox!
To get a visual representation on how to make a simple grilled cheese all the way to the gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, then be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! I would really love it if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’re not already and hit the bell button to get notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
What Bread Should I use For Grilled Cheese?
I recommend a thick-cut bread that will hold all of your cheeses well. Here are my recommendations:
Sourdough
Texas toast
Ciabatta
Rye
Brioche
Challah
What Cheese to Use in an Amazing Grilled Cheese?
If you can find it, American cheese is the classic for a gooey and warm grilled cheese sandwich! However, I can’t get American cheese in Canada (that I know of), so I’m opting for medium cheddar cheese. To make this a gourmet grilled cheese, I’ll also be adding some Gruyere. I love the sharpness of it! Finally, the third cheese that will be part of our trio for the best grilled cheese sandwich is Swiss cheese. This cheese is not too strong but adds some excellent flavour! Here are some other great cheeses I recommend for grilled cheese:
Parmesan
Havarti
Provolone
Brie
Monterey Jack
Pepper Jack
Gouda
White cheddar
Try to go for one creamy cheese, one sharp cheese, and one stringy cheese for ultimate deliciousness and cheese pulls! However, as I describe in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!, if you have cheese laying around in the fridge, you should mix and match what you already have instead of running out to get more! Experiment with a ton of different combinations and see what gives you an amazing flavour and awesome stringiness!
Should Cheese Be sliced, blocks, or grated?
The choice really is up to you, since the pros and cons are very minor between all of these options. The differences essentials melt down to the amount of surface area the cheese takes up to get an even layer across the sandwich. In addition, the type of using a more rustic approach like using a block or grated cheese allows for more flexibility to control the thickness and size of the cheese covering the sandwich, which will affect the final texture.
What Pan Do I Use to Make a Cheesy Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
You want a good non-stick pan to make your grilled cheese. I know “grilled” is in the name, but grilled cheese sandwiches usually aren’t grilled, actually. Technically, you can make your grilled cheese on a grill pan or in a panini press for grill marks. However, just to get the cheese molten and a crispy brown crust on the bread, you can pretty much use any pan you want. I’ll demo using a stainless steel pan and a non-stick pan. You can even use a cast iron skillet! In fact, I’ve also used a tawa pan before!
Do I Use Butter Or Mayo For Grilled Cheese?
Some recipes use mayonnaise to spread on their grilled cheese sandwiches before cooking and others use butter. This recipe will use butter simply because I just don’t like mayonnaise on my grilled cheese sandwich! While I’m not a mayo hater, I do find mayo is just too strong for a grilled cheese and it distracts from all of the flavours of the individual cheeses. This is because the mayo flavour will transfer onto your bread. Furthermore, I like how butter really gives the bread a nice brown crust while still being soft. On the other hand, the mayo will just make your bread not as firm and a little limp. You can use salted or unsalted butter if you’re going for butter.
How to Make Multiple Grilled Cheese Sandwiches at Once?
The most straightforward way would be to use a griddle pan or to make the sandwiches one at a time on a pan and then keeping them warm until ready to serve in the oven at around 200 F.
TOOLS TO MAKE The perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients For Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Although this Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich is gourmet as the name suggests, we don’t need too many ingredients! Get the complete ingredient measurements and save the recipe for later by scrolling down to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD or press the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also scale the recipe based on how many sandwiches you want to make. By default, the two recipes will make two sandwiches each.
For the Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Bread
Marble cheddar
Mozzarella cheese
Butter
For the Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Bread
Marble cheddar
Mozzarella cheese (optional)
Swiss cheese
Gruyere cheese
Butter
How to Make the Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Classic Cheddar Grilled Cheese
Apply the butter on the outer sides of each slice of bread. Add slices of cheddar cheese and/or blocks.
Close the sandwich and add to a pan that is either cold or lukewarm.
Turn on the heat to medium heat and cook until each side is golden brown, crispy and the cheese is molten.
Slice and serve.
Gourmet Grilled Cheese
Apply the butter on the outer sides of each slice of bread. Then, add a slice of Swiss cheese, and 1/4 Cup of marble cheddar and 1/4 Cup of Gruyere and spread evenly.
Close the sandwich and add to a pan that is either cold or lukewarm.
Turn on the heat to medium heat and cook until each side is golden brown, crispy and the cheese is molten.
Slice and serve.
Alternatively, for the "foodie" cheese pull, once the bread is crispy and cheese is molten, slice the sandwich, add the slice of mozzarella to cover the sliced part of the sandwich and reassemble back together.
Place back on the heat for 30 secs to 1 minutes on medium low until that mozzarella is molten.
Pull away!
Tips to Master The Most Delicious Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Make sure your pan is lukewarm or cold so that the bread does not become brown before the cheese is molten. Otherwise, you’ll need to take your pan off the heat and allow the cheese to melt, or transfer the sandwich into the oven for the cheese to melt.
Ensure that the butter is softened at room temperature so that it spreads easier and more evenly. As a result, you won’t need as much butter on each slice.
Use salted butter if you have it on hand to add extra flavour.
Be generous with the butter! This will help the bread become brown.
Try different combinations of cheeses and breads to get a unique grilled cheese sandwich experience each time.
A fish spatula is recommended to flip the grilled cheese sandwich so that you can comfortably and firmly hold onto the sandwich and swiftly flip it without it breaking.
Ensure you serve immediately to have the most molten cheese!
Experiment with different fillings and variations to find your favourite grilled cheese combo - ideas are down below!
TroubleShooting Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Why Is my Grilled Cheese Soggy?
Honestly, unless you toast it and then pack up the sandwich or refrigerate it, your grilled cheese should not be soggy if you follow these instructions. Try and enjoy the sandwich right away instead of trying to reheat or storing it.
Why Isn’t the Cheese Molten?
Just make sure that the pan is not too hot as that would quickly toast up the bread and not give enough time for the cheese to melt. Warm and toast the grilled cheese or moderate heat. If anything, you can always toast the bread on the pan and finish melting the cheese in the oven, heated at around 350-400 F.
Why Aren’t There Cheese Pulls?
It may come as a surprise to you, but a lot of the sandwich cheese pulls you see on social media platforms are faked. Essentially, this is how it works. You make the sandwich as usual and cut it at a diagonal. Then, you open it up, add a slice of cheese that gets great pulls and warm the sandwich in the pan again.
And voila, the perfect pull every time. It works because the cheese you just added is unsliced. Fresh out of the pan, your grilled cheese will have pulls, but cutting the sandwich cuts that cheese, and kills the pulls.
What to Serve with Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
These Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches are so satisfying on their own with all the cheesy goodness and thick-cut bread! However, if you want to make a complete meal, there are plenty of options to do so! Here are a couple of ideas:
Soup: A simple tomato soup is a classic for grilled cheese. Alternatively, you could try out my Hot Tex Mex Chicken Noodle Soup even my Vegan Instant Pot Minestrone Soup would be so satisfying to dip your sandwich in!
Fries: You can do Oven-Baked French Fries if you don’t have an air fryer. If you do have an air fryer, try out my Air Fryer Cajun Potato Wedges, Air Fryer Waffle Fries from Scratch, Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries, or Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Fries.
Sauce: This would be awesome with my Marinara Sauce or No-Cook Italian Pizza Sauce to save you some time and dishes!
Variations of Grilled Cheese
Mom’s Grilled Cheese: This is actually what a classic grilled cheese is to me from my childhood! My mom would make her grilled cheese with Amul processed cheese, tomatoes, onions, and green chilies. Check it out to spice up your grilled cheese sandwich Indian-style!
Spicy Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich: My favourite way to have a meaty grilled cheese sandwich! We’ve got crispy bacon and hot sauce to bring on some incredible crunch and heat to the sandwich!
Open-Faced BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich: Got some rotisserie chicken? Toss it in some BBQ sauce and add that to your bread! Top with cheddar and start by grilling the bread slices, then finishing in the oven to get the cheese nice and molten! You can close the sandwich if you want!
Aloo Keema Sandwich: This Indian-style grilled cheese sandwich features cheddar cheese and an Indian-spiced mixture of minced chicken and potatoes. You gotta try it!
Authentic Croque Monsieur & Croque Madame: The ultimate French grilled cheese sandwich! The cheeses I used was inspired from the cheeses in these sandwiches, along with filling the sandwiches with ham. We take this up a notch by topping with bechamel sauce and even more cheese! The Croque Madame is just like the Monsieur but this one is topped with a fried egg! What’s your favourite?
Sweetness: Some people like to add a touch of sweetness to offset all the saltiness from the cheeses in their grilled cheese sandwiches. You could have your favourite jam, hot honey, or even try my Sweet & Spicy Tomato Chutney! Alternatively, you could add fruit, such as apple or pear slices.
Herbs: Fresh or dried thyme, oregano, or basil to add some earthiness.
Mustard: We add a touch of Dijon mustard in Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame. If you want to add a little extra spark to your gourmet grilled cheese sandwich, feel free to add a teaspoon of your favourite Dijon!
Sautéed mushrooms: Your favourite kind of mushrooms.
Caramelized onions: These will take your grilled cheese really up a notch with that smokiness and butteriness!