Waffled Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Classic grilled cheese sandwiches are pressed in the waffle iron for extra crispy nooks and crannies!
Did you know you can do WAY more with your waffle iron than just make waffles?
If you’re a fan of all things crunchy and crispy, there are a ton of recipes that utilize all the nooks, crannies, and crevices off the waffle iron to make extra crispy treats.
For sandwiches, a waffle iron is kind of like a panini press on steroids. You can have a glorious grilled cheese ready in minutes, perfect for pairing with some Tomato Bisque or your favorite tomato soup.
Step by Step Overview:
Start by gathering your ingredients. For the most basic, classic sandwich, you only need butter, cheese, and bread slices.
Start by spreading one side of a slice of bread with room temperature butter:
I prefer salted over unsalted butter here, but both will work.
Lay the piece of bread (butter side down) on the waffle iron:
Then cover the top with your favorite kind of cheese:
I’m using small slices of my favorite cheddar cheese, but American cheese is also a great choice. You could also use gruyère cheese or something really melty like a monterey jack cheese.
Just make sure the cheese slices aren’t more than 1/4″ thick, and note that aged cheeses won’t melt as well as younger ones. An aged cheddar for example will have a sharper flavor, but less of the ooey gooey factor. The choice all depends on your preferences, and you can play with it over time.
Place a second slice of bread that’s been buttered on top, and close the waffle iron:
Make sure not to press down and smash the sandwich. The waffle iron will slowly press the sandwich on its own since the waffle maker lid is usually fairly heavy:
After a few minutes of cooking time, you can check on the crispiness. You’re more or less cooking the sandwich to your liking.
Here you can tell there are plenty of brown spots and the cheese is melted, but usually I like to take my sandwich a little further.
You know, until the cheese is oozing out and the toasted bread is really golden brown:
Perfect!
Feel free to play with the recipe in the future. Next time you can make it a grilled ham and cheese sandwich to make it extra filling, you can try using a garlic butter or olive oil as the fat for different flavors, and so on.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Waffled Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 slices sandwich bread
- 3 oz cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp salted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the waffle iron while you assemble the sandwiches.
- Spread one slice of bread with butter, only on one side (this is the side that will have direct contact with the waffle iron).
- Place the cheese slices on top of this slice of bread, then spread the other slice of bread with butter, only on one side.
- Place the unbuttered side against the cheese, then place this entire sandwich on the waffle iron.
- Close the top of the waffle iron, but do not press down and smash the sandwich.
- Let this cook for 3-5 minutes until the bread is brown and crispy and the cheese has melted. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
37 Comments on “Waffled Grilled Cheese Sandwich”
How brilliant! And adorable. Love this idea, Joanne! (:
What sorcery is this?! Brilliant!!
I just recently stumbled upon your blog and love what you are doing! This is the BEST idea ever! I LOVE it! Never even thought to put bread in a wafle maker! I am so going to do this! My husband is going to love you!
Oh. my. gosh.
I can’t get over how genius this is!! My sister absolutely ADORES grilled cheese. And she’s always begging me to make her waffles. I am so making this – she would flip. haha!
Pinning this!!
Loving! Pinning! Totally doing! This is SUCH a brilliant and delicous idea, Joanne!
Best idea ever! Love that melty cheese with the crunchy bread!!
Love this idea. We never used the waffle iron I got at my wedding shower and that was 20 years ago. Pinned.
Annamaria
I have a Panini press and I’ve been making grilled cheeses in this way for awhile now, and since a waffle iron is pretty much the same, I think that the crispiness of the bread would be comparable. And, saying that, Panini presses/waffle irons make dang fine sandwiches.
Been doing this for years. Funny to see it blogged about.
So funny! You’re long ahead of the trend.
I used to make that when I was around 10 years old. I love them! <3
Turned out soooo yummy! 😀 I’m thinking of trying it with bacon bits in the middle too next time!
So glad you enjoyed it Emily! And yes, you can definitely get creative with what you put inside.
YUM! This looks so good. I just got a waffle maker from my bridal shower and I can’t WAIT to test it out soon.
what a great idea
I am totally doing this for lunch this week!
Hope you like it Stephanie =)
I recently made french toast on a waffle iron, love the idea of grilled cheese on there too!
That’s BRILLIANT Erin!!! Love that.
Love this idea! I had actually been wondering whether I could or should use my waffle iron as a sandwich press but hadn’t gotten round to testing it. Thanks for doing the testing part for me :-)!
Hey Kiki, you should totally do it! It’s fun to press sandwiches and make waffle iron hash browns.
OK, Joanne….that last one got to me. How…oh how…do you make waffle iron hash browns? Am looking for something to impress my unimpressible daughter…..this just might do it. Thanks
Hi Bob, it’s very easy! However, there are a few methods, so I’d recommend googling waffle iron hash browns. Some methods you start out by grating a potato fresh (which is what I do, it takes around 15 minutes to get crispy), and some methods people use frozen tater tots and arrange those in the waffle iron, which I think cooks faster. Good luck!