This ultimate grilled cheese recipe is comforting, cheesy, and decadent. Filled with a peppery cheese and sandwiched between cracked sourdough, this grilled cheese recipe is perfect for grown-up tastes.
A grilled cheese sandwich typically needs just 3 ingredients – butter, bread, and cheese. But our sandwich is an Ultimate Grilled Cheese. What makes ours so above and beyond? Our Ultimate Grilled Cheese Recipe requires 3 ingredients, but one the ingredients make it ultimately fabulous. Mayonnaise. Seriously. The secret ingredient is mayonnaise.
Swapping butter out for mayonnaise results in an incredible grilled cheese – crusty, rich, crunchy. It’s all the best grilled cheese qualities.
Not only do we need mayonnaise, but you need a good foundation for this recipe. We love the combination of a peppery cheese melted between chewy, sour slices.
3 ingredients for this winning combo.
Ingredients one, two and three!
First up – the cheese! We are absolutely smitten with Trader Joe’s Toscano Cheese with Black Pepper. It’s nutty and peppery and tangy. This Toscano Cheese is like a blend of parmesan and cheddar – the sharpness of parmesan and the mildness of cheddar, and it really packs a punch into our grilled cheese recipe.
Cheese. Cheese.
Our favorite bread is Trader Joe’s Sprouted Wheat Sourdough. This bread is hearty and tangy and has such a great texture. Don’t believe our word for it? Check out this article from CookingLight that applauds the bread.
Next up – mayo. We use Sir Kensington’s mayo, because I love that I can read the ingredient list and it incorporates humane, free-range eggs. It has a clean, creamy flavor and we go through jars of it like crazy in our household.
Don’t be shy – slather that mayo on!
Now, the how to.
Then, grab your offset spatula. Don’t have one?! You really, really need one. It’s our top kitchen utensil. Meg and I have a few of them stashed in our kitchen. Typically, an offset spatula is $7, but this Amazon set has 2 for $9! What a deal!
With your offset spatula, drag a nice, hefty dose of mayonnaise on one side of both pieces of toast. Turn your oven on, with a skillet on top. In the photos, I’m using my Staub cast-iron skillet.
Once your skillet gets hot, place a slice of bread mayo side down. Top with cheese. Then, top the cheese with the second piece of bread, mayo side up.
Mayo face down. Cheese on top. Mayo face up.
Now, grill the sandwich on low-medium heat for a few minutes. You’ll want to monitor the sandwich, until you know how hot your skillet and stove get. For me and my cast-iron skillet, I find my happy medium to be low-medium heat.
Oh. Yes.
Once toasted, flip so the other side gets crispy. Then, remove from heat.
Look at that sandwich! Isn’t that cheesy perfection? Crisp cheese edges, crunchy bread, and creamy, gooey center.
Sprinkle your sandwich with parsley or parmesan cheese and serve up with a bowl of tomato soup. Comfort food to the max!
A few notes about our Grilled Cheese Recipe…
- Looking for something amazing to pair this Grilled Cheese Recipe with? Pair it with our Instantpot Tomato Soup Recipe and it’s a perfect marriage of comfort, cozy, and cheesy.
- Do you need to use our recommended cheese and bread combinations? Of course not! We love this combination for the level of sophistication it adds with the complex flavors of pepper and sourdough. Feel free to use whatever you have at hand.
- Feeling extra fancy? Sometimes, I’ll add a slice of deli turkey in between the cheese. My kids love it with turkey, and they’re getting a bit more protein this way.
- Why mayonnaise? Mayonnaise has a higher smoke point than butter and it spreads easier than butter. Plus, we’re partial to mayonnaise. I think that’s the Japanese in us because the country of Japan loves mayonnaise. Really, here’s the proof.
- Toscano doesn’t melt like cheddar, in big string cheesy links. Toscana is more subtle and turns more creamy. It’s delicious!
Grilled Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Toscano Cheese, grated
- 2 slices Cracked Sourdough Bread
- mayonaise, for bread
Instructions
- Heat skillet on medium-low heat.
- Spread mayonaise on one side, on both slices of bread.
- Place once slice of bread, mayo side down.
- Top bread with 1/2 cup of cheese.
- Top cheese with last slice of bread, mayo side up.
- Once the bottom has started to grill, flip the sandwich.
- Grill the other side, then remove from heat.
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