Fancy Grilled Cheese – 4 Ways to Make Your Grilled Cheese Even Better

Is there anything better than a grilled cheese? Not really, am I right? That’s why, I have not one, not two, not three, but four different fancy grilled cheese recipes for you today. Alongside these awesome recipes I also want to share how to make a grilled cheese a bit healthier and how to incorporate them into well-balanced meals. So, without any further ado, let’s level up your grilled cheese!

Jump to Recipe

Healthy and Well-Balanced

Admittedly, a grilled cheese isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a healthy and balanced diet. But, unless you’re new to my blog, you probably already know that I love incorporating comfort food dishes like a grilled cheese into a wholesome diet.

So, to make sure nobody has to give up his beloved sandwich, I have a few easy tips for you on how to enjoy a grilled cheese in a slightly healthier and more balanced way.

Whole Grains are Your Best Friends

Tip number one is to use a whole grain bread. I know, I say that all the time, but whole grain products like bread are much healthier.

You can either bake your own whole wheat bread using my simple 100% Whole Wheat No Knead Bread recipe or you buy one in the supermarket. Just make sure to check the ingredients, since the color of the bread doesn’t tell you anything about whether it’s whole grain or not.

Use Low-Fat Cheese and Less Butter

Tip number two is to not to be afraid of using light products, like a fat-reduced cheese. It can save you quite a bit of calories and still tastes delicious. Alternatively, you can also use a kind of cheese which have fewer calories and a bit less fat such as Gouda or Mozzarella cheese.

It also helps to reduce the amount of butter or mayonnaise. Furthermore you can also fall back on one of these light mayonnaise products as they work quite as well as the classic version. But no matter which product you’ll choose, make sure to use a sparing amount as it will do its job, too.

Add Veggies or a Salad on the Side

To make sure I’m eating enough veggies, I like to serve my grilled cheese with some veggie sticks or a colorful salad on the side.

You can already find a super simple recipe for a low-calorie salad dressing and my guide for perfect salads on the blog. And when it comes to veggie sticks, I’m pretty sure that I don’t have to tell you how to do that, right?

Whereby, wait a minute, I still have a tip for you here. I like to pre-cut a few vegetable sticks on weekends. Then I put them in a big glass jar and fill it up to the top with water. Next, I put the lid on and store it in the fridge. This keeps the pre-cut vegetables fresh and crisp for several days and they ready to be eaten at any time.

Time to Make Your Grilled Cheese Better – 4 Fancy Grilled Cheese Recipes Are Coming Your Way!

As promised, I have four different fancy grilled cheese recipes for you in today’s post. In all recipes I use a whole grain bread. This can either be my homemade 100% whole wheat no knead bread, a store-bought whole wheat bread, or just a regular (whole wheat) toast.

I also used a light mayonnaise to thinly coat the outsides of my cheese sandwich, so they don’t burn or get too dry when I fry them. Alternatively, you can use regular butter or mayonnaise and just use it sparingly.

Pesto Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

For our pesto mozzarella sandwich, we first spread both of our bread slices with a little mayo or butter. Then we flip the slices over and spread a thin layer of pesto on one of the insides.

For extra flavor, I prefer to use a homemade pesto, like my pumpkin pesto. Of course, since such a homemade pesto is super healthy and low in calories, you can use a little more of that.

But if I’m short on time or don’t have any ready-made pesto in the fridge, I often grab a regular store-bought pesto and just use it a little more sparingly.

Next come a few slices of tomato and some mozzarella cheese on top of the pesto. Again, I like to use the light mozzarella cheese, but that’s up to you. Finally, add a few fresh basil leaves, put the second bread slice on top and put it into a non-stick pan.

Now fry your sandwich over medium heath on both sides for a few minutes. Make sure to use a spatula to press down on the sandwich since it helps to melt the cheese.

Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese

This fancy grilled cheese sandwich is my absolute favorite. And if you only try one of these four recipes, it absolutely has to be this one. Because the combination of spicy mustard, the salty-sweet onions, and the melted cheese is just HEAVENLY! Trust me!

To make the sandwich, first slice a shallot into thin rings and put them in a pan with half a teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt. Once they are nicely soft and translucent, add a pinch (about a teaspoon) of brown or coconut blossom sugar. Let them caramelize for a minute or two over medium heat before removing them from the pan.

Now spread a thin layer of mayo on the outside of your bread and medium hot mustard on the inside. Place a slice of cheese on top of the mustard and top it with the onions. Optionally, sprinkle some fresh thyme leaves on top before placing the second slice of cheese and bread on top and pan frying the sandwich.

Pastrami Grilled Cheese

For the third version of our fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, we again need some medium hot mustard, two slices of pastrami, a slice of light cheese and some basil leaves.

As usual, we spread a thin layer of mayo or butter on the one side of your bread and mustard on the other. Then we add the pastrami, which by the way is a low-fat beef ham, the cheese and the basil leaves on top, put the second slice of bread on top and the sandwich goes into the pan.

Again, we fry it on both sides for a few minutes, pressing down on the sandwich with a spatula every now and then to make sure the cheese melts nicely.

Spicy Kimchi Grilled Cheese

For the last recipe I’ll have Korean infused grilled cheese for you. Therefore, we put some fermented Chinese cabbage inside our fancy grilled cheese, which adds a spicy flavor.

The preparation remains the same as for the other three cheese sandwiches, except that here we also spread the inside thinly and sparingly with some butter, mayo, or cream cheese. Then we put a slice of cheese on top, some of the kimchi that you can buy in grocery stores and a second slice of cheese.

Next, this sandwich is also fried on both sides in the pan until the outsides are nicely crispy-golden and the cheese has melted.

I hope you like my four fancy grilled cheese recipes and that they will make your regular grilled cheese better than ever before.

If you have any further questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments, or send me a massage via email at contact@julesbalancedrecipes.com or Instagram (@julesbalancedrecipes).

And in case, you’ve tried one of these fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, I’d appreciate your comment and rating. It’s easy to do via the comments section below this post and it would mean the world to me.

Have fun trying it out and bon appétit,
Jules

Save for later

Click the pin button and add the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards. This way you can also easily bookmark the recipe for later. The pin button will appear as soon as you hover over the picture.

You might also like: