Air Fryer Grilled Cheese
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You’ll love making air fryer grilled cheese. This easy and simple air fryer cheese melt sandwich is a fantastic quick lunch or meal. Kids love this. And best of all, it’s easy on the parents.
Best Air Fryer Grilled Cheese
Air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches are life changing! We knew it would work, but didn’t realize how this technique makes a great cheese melt sandwich! Whether it’s for a quick snack for the kids or a seriously delicious lunch, these are fantastic. The bread toasts perfectly and the cheese melts fantastic. If you don’t want to use a lot fo butter, you don’t have to. Even with little butter or a light spray of olive oil, the bread toasts perfectly in the air fryer.
Video: Air Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
How to Make Grilled Cheese Sandwich in Air Fryer
- Lay slices of good melting cheese in center of slices of bread. Close the sandwich and spread softened butter on outside of bread. Or spray with light olive oil spray.
- If your bread is really thin and light, it will fly off the sandwich from the circulating air in the air fryer. So you can use a toothpick to secure the sandwich together. But remember to remove the toothpicks before eating!
- Lay sandwich in air fryer and cook. Fantastic grilled cheese sandwich in the air fryer that’s easy and delicious!
- Full recipe instructions in the recipe box below.
Fantastic grilled cheese sandwich in the air fryer that’s easy and delicious!
Best Cheeses for Grilled Cheese
Choose a good melting cheese to make it super delicious. There’s as big difference between a hard aged cheese vs a soft melting cheese. Go for the soft melting cheeses. Any type of firm aged cheese doesn’t melt well and certainly won’t melt at all in the air fryer. Here’s some tips on our favorite cheeses:
- We love using classic slices of american cheese because the flavor is great and melts super quick. If you can get your hands on a good quality american cheese, it’s worth it!
- Sharp cheddar cheese, swiss, tuyere and fontina are examples of good melting cheeses.
- If you’re slicing cheese off a block, make sure to slice the cheese thin.
- The thicker the cheese, the longer it takes to melt in the air fryer. So cook the sandwich on lower heat until the cheese melts, then cook it on the higher heat setting to toast the bread.
Butter vs Olive Oil on the bread
Is there a difference between spreading butter vs brushing olive oil on the bread?
- We’ve tested the sandwich with butter and light spray of olive oil. Both work great with different flavor options!
- Spreading mayo is another option that folks love. If you have always spread mayo on your bread for grilled cheese sandwiches, then go for it! Mayo will work fine on air fried cheese melts.
Air Fryer Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter
- 1.5 oz. (43 g) good melting cheese (American, swiss, cheddar, Gruyere, etc.)
Equipment
Instructions
- Lay cheese in between bread. Butter outside of bread with butter. Lay sandwich in air fryer basket. If needed, use two toothpicks to secure the sandwich together by sticking it through the sandwich.
- Air Fry at 360°F for about 3-5 minutes for the cheese to melt.
- Flip the sandwich and increase heat to 380°F to finish and crisp the bread. Finish air frying for about 5 minutes or until the sandwich is to your preferred texture. Check on the sandwich often to make sure it doesn't burn (different breads will toast quicker or slower than others). Allow to cool a bit before biting into the yummy grilled cheese sandwich!
- Make sure to remove the tooth pics before eating!
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Best Breads for Making Grilled Cheese
Soft slices of white or wheat bread are the most popular and honestly, gives a great crust without being too hard. It’s also the most popular and accessible. If you want to use a more artisan loaf, that’s great too. You’ll have a nice crunchy texture and probably better if you’re using sourdough bread for the air fried grilled cheese sandwich.
- Soft brioche is another wonderful bread. It’s slightly sweet which gives a nice subtle balance to the savory salty cheese. Also, the bread is tender and soft so after air frying, the crumb is light and crisp and less crunchy.
- How about using english muffins? those would be great too as a cheese melt sandwich.
Adding ham, tuna or bologna to the melt
Want some extra protein? Add some tuna, ham or balogona into the sandwich for a great melt. It makes a heartier sandwich and with extra protein.
Making large batches of air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches
The only way to make multiple and bigger batches of sandwich melts is if you have an oven or toaster style air fryer. These are larger and have more capacity in the center to fit multiple sandwiches. Also, there’s multiple racks, so this allows you to lay more sandwiches in each batch.
53 Comments on “Air Fryer Grilled Cheese”
So good! Melts in your mouth…won’t make grilled cheese any other way from now on!
Yum and yes! Thanks for sharing Stephanie. So glad you’re enjoyed air fryer grilled cheese!
Thanks for the air fryer recipes. My first time making a grilled cheese and it turned out great!