American · Quick Meals

Skillet Grilled Cheese

Mayonnaise on the outside instead of butter, two cheeses for flavour and melt, and eight minutes over patient medium-low heat. It is the small details that make this version different.

13 min total Serves 2 servings Easy
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Skillet Grilled Cheese

Photograph credit: Broccoli cheddar soup and grilled cheese sandwich by Photos of Japan · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Skillet Grilled Cheese, in preparation
Skillet Grilled Cheese, in preparation

Photograph credit: Grilled cheese sandwiches by Jon Sullivan · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Making Skillet Grilled Cheese

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  1. Mix the two cheeses together with the pepper. Using two cheeses gives you both flavour and a proper stretch.

  2. Spread mayonnaise thinly and evenly over one side of each slice, right to the crusts.

  3. Spread the Dijon on the unmayonnaised side of two slices.

  4. Pile the cheese onto the mustard side and close the sandwiches, mayonnaise facing out.

  5. Melt the butter in a heavy pan over medium-low heat — the butter is for flavour in the pan, the mayonnaise for the crust.

  6. Cook the sandwiches for 4 minutes on the first side, pressing gently with a spatula, until deep golden.

  7. Flip and cook 3 to 4 minutes more. If the bread is browning before the cheese melts, lower the heat and cover the pan for a minute.

  8. Rest for 60 seconds, sprinkle with flaky salt, then cut on the diagonal — it genuinely tastes better that way.

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Small Things That Help

  • Grate the cheese rather than slicing it. Grated cheese melts in a third of the time.
  • Medium-low heat and patience. A rushed grilled cheese is brown outside and solid inside.
  • Add thin apple slices, caramelised onion or a smear of chutney, but never so much that the cheese cannot bind it.

What Goes With Skillet Grilled Cheese

  • Creamy tomato soup, obviously
  • A cold lager or a glass of milk
  • Follow with something green

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Boston Baked Beans, Air Fryer Asparagus, Air Fryer Broccoli.

Leftovers and Storage

Eat immediately. Nothing about a grilled cheese survives storage.

Skillet Grilled Cheese Nutrition Facts

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.

731Calories
28gProtein
31gCarbs
55gFat
2gFibre
4gSugar
1330mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .