Best Grilled Cheese

4.61 from 33 votes

Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

This grilled cheese is made with hearty sourdough bread and has a Parmesan cheese crust on one side, a crispy cheddar cheese crust on the other, and lots of cheese on the inside. It's the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich!

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Main Course, sandwich

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheese, grilled cheese, sandwich

Servings:

Calories: 578kcal

Ingredients

2 slices hearty sourdough bread, or bread of your choice
2 tablespoons salted butter, softened
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 to 1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese, plus 2 tablespoons for cheese crust*

Instructions

Place a cast iron skillet on the stove top and turn on the heat to medium-low heat. Let the pan warm up before you start cooking. The pan should be hot to the touch, but not smoking.
Spread one tablespoon of the butter on one side of the bottom slice of bread. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese in the hot skillet, spreading it out to about the same size as the bread.
Place the buttered piece of bread, buttered side down, into the pan, directly on the Parmesan cheese.
Arrange the 1 cup of grated cheese on the top side of the bread in the pan.
Spread the remaining tablespoon of butter on the second slice of bread, then place it face up on top of the bread and cheese in the pan.
Let the sandwich cook until the bottom slice is golden brown, and you have a nice Parmesan crust, and the cheese has begun to melt on the inside. Don’t turn up the heat. Low and slow is the way to go. If your cheese isn’t melting, you can cover the pan with a lid to help, but don’t turn up the heat.
Remove the sandwich from the pan.
Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheddar cheese directly in the hot pan, spreading it out about the same size as the bread. Place the sandwich back in the pan, uncooked side down, directly in the cheddar cheese.
Cook until the cheese is melted on the inside of the sandwich, and you have a nice golden brown, cheesy crust on the outside.
Remove from pan and use a serrated knife to cut the sandwich in half. Serve immediately.

Notes

You can easily double, triple, or quadruple this recipe to make more sandwiches. If If you are making several sandwiches at once, you can use an electric griddle pan. We like to use a griddle when we are making several sandwiches. Make sure you don’t turn the heat up too high.

Instead of spreading the bread with butter, you can use mayonnaise. It will create a nice golden crust too, but we prefer the flavor of butter for our sandwiches.

You can use your favorite cheese. Sharp cheddar, Gouda, Fontina, Monterey Jack, Gruyere, Pepper Jack, and brie are all good options. The amount of cheese you use will depend on the size of your bread. You can do a mix of cheeses. I love sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Gouda together. Play around to find your perfect combo.

Nutrition