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All the best tips on how to make a grilled cheese sandwich a.k.a. The Guide To Perfect Grilled Cheese!
Oh, how I love a warm grilled cheese sandwich. Paired with a cup of Tomato Soup, this is the perfect lunch for a chilly day. There’s nothing else like the crunch of toasted sourdough drenched in tomato soup.
The hot, melting sandwiches also pair well with Pizza Soup, Dill Pickle Soup, or Italian White Bean, Cabbage, and Sausage Soup.
In the summer, I often serve grilled cheese with some raw vegetables and ranch dip or a light salad. I had a sandwich for lunch along with the leftover Brussels Sprouts Salad a few days ago and I really enjoyed that combination too.
How To Make A Grilled Cheese
There are only a few things to remember when making perfect grilled cheese sandwiches.
- Be patient. The whole process only takes 5-6 minutes. Don’t cook at too high heat in an attempt to rush that or you might be left holding a sad blackened sandwich.
- Follow the steps below to choose the right blend of cheeses for YOU. Pretty much any cheese will work if you combine it correctly with another one. At least half the time these days, I just use the pre-shredded bag of cheese from the store when I’m in a hurry. (See the tip in the recipe card to find out how to make pre-shredded cheese melt perfectly!)
- Cheese the right bread. A sturdy bread will work more easily for crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside sandwiches. Sourdough is my go-to choice.
Cheese for Grilled Cheese
Let’s talk about cheese, cheese, and more cheese! Whether your preference is stretchy, gooey, creamy, crumbling, or smooth, there is a cheese perfect for you.
I tested a whole lot of cheeses a few years ago and I’m sharing the best cheeses for grilled cheese with you today.
- Soft Cheeses – Brie, cream cheese
- Semi-Soft Cheeses – fontina, Monterey Jack, brick
- Hard Cheeses – Gruyere, Asiago, Parmesan, kasseri
- Semi-Hard Cheeses – cheddar, gouda, Swiss
- Crumbly Cheeses – blue, feta, gorgonzola
- Pasta Filata (aka “stretched”) Cheeses – mozzarella, provolone
Best Cheese for Grilled Cheese
The best cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches really just depends on your favorite cheeses. The soft and semi-soft cheeses work well in a sandwich when stacked with other ingredients, but when melted on their own, we found them to be a little too runny.
If you’re partial to the simple sandwich, you’ll want a firmer cheese to provide more texture. For instance, I love fontina, but it’s just a little too soft when melted on its own. When I combine fontina with a firmer cheese like cheddar, it becomes a perfectly oozing grilled cheese sandwich with the flavors I love and the texture I want.
Feta is another cheese that will melt best when paired with firmer cheese. Asiago and Parmesan have great flavor but take longer to melt and can be overpowering on their own. I mixed a little asiago with cheddar and gouda and it melted beautifully.
Last, but definitely not least, if you’re a fan of the sandwich you remember from childhood, there is nothing that will beat cheddar on sourdough for a grown-up version of that classic.
I started our melting test by grating all the different cheeses. Once shredded, my family tasted them and we chose our favorites.
I tested how easily they’d melt by setting up trays like the one pictured above. Then we started grilling. I’m not going to lie, I’ve taken the shortcut method plenty of times and used store-bought shredded cheese.
Pre-shredded cheese works (and I’ll give you a tip for making it extra gooey) but it simply won’t compare with freshly grated cheeses.
Best Bread for Grilled Cheese
In my not-so-humble opinion, the best bread for a classic grilled cheese is sourdough, hands down. Slightly soft sourdough bread will crisp up beautifully on the outside, giving just a hint of crunch while it stays chewy and soft on the inside.
There are a few exceptions though. If you want something a little different, rye bread, filled with caraway seeds and often swirled with pumpernickel too, is a terrific match for Swiss cheese with ham or corned beef – and you can add a bit of sauerkraut too for a Reuben-lover’s favorite grilled cheese.
Multigrain bread (with or without seeds and nuts) is another way to boost the flavor in your grilled cheese sandwich. Hearty multigrain bread is often what I use when I want to grill a roast beef and cheddar sandwich.
If you’re a fan of ham and cheese, you can make a simple version of the Croque Monsieur with some deli ham and a bit of Gruyere and Swiss cheese either on multigrain or sourdough bread.
{originally published 4/6/15 – recipe notes and photos updated 4/8/22}
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