13 Big Mistakes Everyone Makes When Cooking A Grilled Cheese Sandwich

There's nothing quite like a grilled cheese. This humble sandwich amps up the classic combination of bread and cheese that's been keeping diners happy since Roman times, and the added touch of melting the cheese in between the bread and crisping up the slices has its roots in the French croque monsieur, a hearty meal that's still eaten to this day. 

In the United States, the grilled cheese gained a lot of popularity during the Great Depression as a filling yet cheap dish. As tastes and food culture evolved throughout the 20th century, grilled cheeses became ever more sophisticated and fancy, with the world's most expensive grilled cheese coming in at well over $200 and being made with truffle oil, lobster, and champagne.

At its core, a grilled cheese sandwich is basic. All you require is a few slices of bread, some cheese, and a pan to cook it in. So why does this simple sandwich often go so wrong? Grilled cheeses are notoriously prone to becoming burnt on the outside and not melted enough in the middle. They can also end up pretty lacking in crunch, an essential textural component for the sandwich. These can all occur from completely avoidable mistakes, which we will put a stop to immediately.

In our opinion, a grilled cheese is always better when it has more cheese inside. How you slice that cheese, however, is something you need to think about. All too often, people fill their grilled cheeses with thick, chunky slices, which are then too dense to melt through entirely. As a result, you can end up with a grilled cheese that's either half-full of solid cheese or overcooked on the outside.

There are two solutions to this issue, and both of them are refreshingly simple. Either slice your cheese more thinly or fill your sandwich with grated cheese instead. Grated cheese will generally melt way quicker than slices, but bear in mind that it can be harder to handle sometimes, and you run the risk of it leaking out of your sandwich and burning in your pan. 

Grated cheese can often end up slightly uneven in your sandwich, too, which gives you ungainly lumps of dairy to chew through. Conversely, sliced cheese holds its shape and is far more predictable. Still, you may end up with a less densely packed sandwich than you'd like.

A grilled cheese is nothing without a crispy, browned exterior, achieved by cooking it in a hot pan. However, if you fail to put fat on the outside of your bread, you'll have problems. If you place your bread in the pan dry, it'll simply burn instead of brown, giving it a charred taste and also drying out your bread slices.

While you can use pretty much any fat on the outside of your bread, our top choice is butter. Butter gives your bread a luxurious, creamy taste that pairs perfectly with the mellowness of the cheese inside. Additionally, grilled cheeses lend themselves to a longer, slower cooking process, meaning that you can safely use butter without it reaching its smoke point and starting to burn. 

Adding butter to the outside of the bread instead of melting it in the pan gives you better coverage overall in your slices. It also prevents one side of the sandwich from soaking up all of the fat when you place it in your skillet.

If you're not a fan of butter or don't have any in the fridge, try using mayo instead. Full-fat mayo has a tanginess to it that helps to balance out the cheese flavors inside, and its fat content gives the bread just as good of a crisp as butter does.

One of the main issues with grilled cheese sandwiches is an unevenness of texture. The joy of the sandwich lies in its balance of soft, stretchy, melted cheese and crispy, crunchy bread. However, depending on the type of bread you choose, that crispiness can often be inadequate, and the combination of the fat and moisture content in the cheese can soften the loaf from the inside, making everything too chewy.

You can counteract this by toasting your bread before you construct your sandwich. Doing this gives your bread extra firmness on both sides and prevents it from softening too much from any moisture. Toasting your bread beforehand can also give it extra flavor, as you'll generate brownness on both sides instead of just one side. 

Remember that by toasting your bread before making your grilled cheese, you're partially cooking it. That means that when you come to frying it, it may burn quicker. Therefore, try only to lightly toast the bread to firm it up while minimizing the chances of it charring. You can also toast the bread on one side and use the toasted side on the inner part of the sandwich.

Even people who have never had a grilled cheese sandwich know that the cheese goes in the middle. That's not the only place it can go, though. By using melted Parmesan, you can create a crust on the outside of your sandwich that creates the same crispiness that frying it in butter would.

To achieve this, warm up a greased pan on your stove, and then sprinkle some grated Parmesan into the skillet before placing your bread slices on top of them. Once the cheese has melted slightly, place your filling cheese on top of your slices before placing the two pieces of bread together. Proceed to fry your grilled cheese as you normally would on medium-low heat. As it cooks, the Parmesan-studded sides will become flecked with crispy, deeply savory pieces while the inside melts as normal.

We can understand that this method might be a little messy to execute, though. So, to cut down on cheese pieces everywhere, try constructing your sandwich as normal and then patting grated Parmesan directly onto its outside. Remember to butter both pieces of the bread before doing so to ensure it sticks properly. If you don't have any Parmesan, you can use any other cheese that's similar.

The melt in a grilled cheese relies on consistent heat spreading through the sandwich. So, if you have any gaps of air, or the whole thing is loose, that can inhibit things. You'll also need to make sure your sandwich remains compact throughout — and that's where pressure comes in. 

Pushing down on the top of your sandwich as it cooks helps the heat get through it properly and, additionally, creates more contact between the bread and the pan. This not only ensures that the bread conducts more heat but also generates a more even golden crust.

To create pressure, you can use your spatula. Press down on the sandwich periodically, laying the spatula across the bread evenly to apply consistent pressure. You can also use a panini press to leave on top of the sandwich to make it thinner, intensifying each bite. It's best, however, to avoid using a pan lid or the bottom of another pot, advises Montclair Golf Club chef Ken Stelmack via Golf Magazine. These objects may not be cleaned as rigorously as your other kitchen utensils and, therefore, may harbor dirt or bacteria.

Grilled cheeses are, by their very nature, slightly misnamed. These sandwiches are traditionally fried instead of grilled, after all. And so, in our opinion, there's no reason why you can't use other kitchen appliances, like air fryers, to make them. 

An air fryer is an excellent choice for a grilled cheese sandwich due to the wrap-around heat that it produces. Because air fryers work via conduction technology, the hot air they create circulates around your sandwich, creating an even cook on every side without having to flip it and warm the cheese in the middle.

Air fryers are also great for making grilled cheeses, as larger models can fit several sandwiches side-by-side, drastically cutting down your cooking time if you're catering to a large crowd. For the best result from your air fryer, aim for a two-stage cooking process. 

Begin on a lower setting to warm your sandwich through and melt the cheese. Then, crank up the heat for the last few minutes. By doing this, you'll prevent the outside of your sandwich from burning before the cheese inside has softened. Make sure you butter the outside of your sandwich, too, so that you get the same crispiness on the outer edge.