The grilled cheese sandwich. It’s simple. It’s satisfying. It’s even a bit nostalgic, like a relic from childhood. But grilled cheese sandwiches don’t have to just be relegated to kid food—no way! With the right bread (ahem, like your favorite Inked Bread) your humble grilled cheese levels up in a big way, and that is only the beginning of how a grilled cheese can become quite a grown-up sandwich situation! From choosing your favorite cheese blend to experiment with what you put between the cheese, a mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwich is a culinary adventure waiting to happen. We’ve gathered a selection of delectable grilled cheese sandwich recipes to get your creative juices a’flowin’, plus a few tips, too!
Choose Your Cheese Carefully
The first step in making your grilled cheese sandwich a bit more sophisticated (aka delicious) is to focus on the cheese. Branch out from everyday American cheese (no shade on the classic!) and try smoked gouda, sharp cheddar cheese, or a special herbed blend to give your sandwich a more complex flavor. In A Couple of Cooks Gourmet Grilled Cheese post, Sonja and Alex have some great suggestions for selecting cheeses for your grilled cheese sandwiches and they also offer the tip to add something sweet to the mix. This may seem counterintuitive, but a swipe of jam or some thinly sliced apple can step up the flavor in a big way. Be sure to pair the jam flavor with the type of cheese you choose for the best tasting grilled cheese sandwiches. And, a suggestion not to be overlooked, a drizzle of honey on a grilled cheese sandwich—YES. We’ll take two.
Step Up Your Grilled Cheese with Tasty Fillings
There are several items that you probably have in your refrigerator that can take your grilled cheese sandwich up a notch: bacon (duh), mushrooms, and pesto. A crisp, cheesy sandwich with savory, delicious bacon—it’s so good. And don’t underestimate how much some sautéed mushrooms between that melted cheese can be, either. It’s #whoa yum. Plus, don’t even get us started on pesto drizzled grilled cheese sandwiches. Hello melty mozzarella and fresh, zesty pesto, grilled to perfection.
Grilled cheese sandwich on old wooden table
5 Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipes
As if you aren’t well on your way to grilled cheese sandwich bliss, we gathered five more recipes for you to try. Balsamic + Blueberry? Yes. Fig + Prosciutto? Of course! Egg in a Hole Grilled Cheese? Breakfast anytime score. Seriously, though. Try these five grown-up grilled cheese sandwich recipes. You’ll be glad you did.
1) Pizza Margherita Grilled Cheese from Cooking for Keeps is the perfect sandwich for when you’re craving pizza! Fire-roasted tomato sauce, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese combine between slices of sourdough bread for a mouth-watering situation.
2) As if fig jam and prosciutto wasn’t enough for us to want to try this recipe, get this—it also has blue cheese crumbles and arugula! The Fig + Prosciutto + Provolone Grilled Cheese is a full meal between slices of bread. Opt for Inked Great White Bread or Inked Keto White Bread for the perfect crispy grilled sandwich.
3) Another fruity grilled cheese recipe that caught our eye is the Balsamic Blueberry Grilled Cheese. The antioxidant rich blueberries mingle with the tart balsamic vinegar for a delicious, saucy layer between slices of havarti cheese and fresh spinach tucked in, too.
4) We all know that egg-in-a-hole is already a fantastic breakfast (or anytime) meal, and the Egg-in-a-Hole Grilled Cheese Recipe takes it up a notch in a big way. And, yes. It has bacon.
5) Last but not least, Grilled Pimiento Cheese with Apple Cherry Chutney. The rich and creamy pimiento cheese drenched in homemade apple cherry chutney, grilled to perfection. It’s a grilled cheese sandwich that gets full-meal prep attention, and it shows. It’s the definition of a gourmet grilled cheese for your grown-up self.
There you have it, people. Grilled cheese sandwiches, but grown-up. Grab your favorite loaf of Inked Bread and get the skillet sizzlin’. It’s grilled cheese time! As always, if you cook up something awesome, tag us on IG and use the hashtag #thatsmybread