Gourmet Grilled Cheese Recipes

If there is one food that screams all-American lunch, it's the grilled cheese. Toasty buttered bread edges just slightly burnt, crust crumbly and crunchy, with that all important melty oozing cheese. That is the basic, the stable of countless families, perhaps struggling financially, or perhaps simply unable to get their children to eat anything else.

The grilled cheese is a trusted standby, like an old friend who you have no problem calling at 2am, or that old pair of sneakers that simply fit you perfectly. The grilled cheese is to home culinary what the carrot is to the rabbit. Always a hit, accessible, attainable and fulfilling. While it might not be a gourmet dinner, or eye-catching lunch, what this fabled, American staple sandwich lacks in curb appeal, it more than makes up for in pragmatism; it simply gets the job done. And whose to say it can't be all those things with a slight makeover?

So why would you mess with such a successful formula? Why play with something that's been proven time and time again to work? Well if no one ever did things like ham, bacon, tomatoes, spinach, mayo and countless other toppings would've never found their way onto the canvas of flavor known as the grilled cheese. Indeed experimentation can and does make everything better, even something as successful as the grilled cheese.

Today we will discuss not the staples like bread and cheese but rather how to turn this quick fix meal into a gourmet can't miss dish.

Sure white toast and American Cheese is an easy safe bet and certainly very good, but, to borrow a line from Taco Bell, let's think outside the bun for a minute. Let's conjure up some alternative choices that very well may challenge the old standby and turn this everyday snack into a meal fit for any occasion.

What follows is a list of 9-ways to turn grilled cheese into a gourmet sandwich. Read this with an open mind and it might just reinvent the wheel for you, or at least the way you perceive the grilled cheese sandwich.

Balsamic Blueberry Grilled Cheese

Before you roll your eyes and roll up outta here on this recommendation, just consider this for a second, there was a time no one thought cheese and sauce on dough would work; and ya I'd say pizza has made it. While this creative concoction is unlikely to ever rival pizza in scale or popularity, try it before you knock it. With a combination of super foods like Blueberry's and sandwich staples like bread and cheese mixed together with veggies, this is surely a leveled up grilled cheese.

Get the recipe here.

Smashed Avocado and Roasted Tomato Grilled Cheese

While hard to classically describe as a grilled cheese, this sandwich features a mouthwatering mix of items. First, creamy Avocado smashed between salt and pepper, spread over whole grain bread. If that doesn't tantalize your taste buds, add in vitamin-rich arugula, tomatoes and crumbled blue cheese and this one really gets the job done; especially for those of us who are health conscious.

Get the recipe here.

Bacon, Brie and Apricot Grilled Cheese

Perhaps more appealing to the traditionalist and carnivores within our readership, this sandwich is certainly a closer relative, perhaps a 1st cousin to the original grilled cheese. Packed with flavor favorites like crunch bacon, gooey cheese and sweet apricot, this trifecta of flavor is sure to impress. Top it off with toasty bread and sliced brie cheese, and you have yourself a true giant of a sandwich.

Get the recipe here.

Grilled Cheese Rollups

Ok so not really gourmet but probably as cool or cooler than anything on this list. I mean anytime you can somewhat approximate 7 Eleven Torpedo rolls you're really onto something. Cheese wrapped in bread condensed on top of itself? Ya I'm definitely in. Are they 2 for $3?

Get the recipe here.

Roasted Vegetable Grilled Cheese

From the straightforward to the complex, the familiar to the new. This take on grilled cheese appeals to the herbivores among us. Those that prefer leaf over beef will love this entry. Piles of assorted veggies packed into toasted bread with a bit of cheese to boot. If you are into plants this take should grow your appetite.

Get the recipe here.

Grilled Cheese with Gouda Mushrooms and Onions

Probably the best sounding on this list to me, Gouda cheese is an underused and frankly vastly underappreciated cheese; especially when melted. Gouda not only goes great on a sandwich like this but try it on other things like chicken parm, a burger or lasagna.

Get the recipe here.

Hawaiian Grilled Cheese

Another great combination ham, oozy cheese and fresh pineapple on bread? I mean seriously how can you go wrong. Not all of us can afford a trip to Hawaii anytime we want, but most can afford this sinfully good yet fairly inexpensive gourmet combination.

Get the recipe here.

Fried Green Tomatoes and Cheese

Cinema fans may recall a movie of a similar name, but this sandwich is anything but fake; it's very very real. It's also one of, if not the single simplest and least expensive option on our list to make. Simply grab some green tomatoes some Pimento Cheese toast two slices of bread and you my friends are in business.

Get the recipe here.

Garlic Bread Spaghetti Grilled Cheese

Honestly just typing the headline for this listing made me hungry, jealous and just overall impressed at the creative culinary genius of the man or woman who first came up with such an awesome sauce idea. Seriously combining two childhood comfort foods into one sandwich? What's more American than that? Add in garlic bread and it just feels like cheating. I honestly can't imagine a cooler way to end this list, so I guess I will.

Get the recipe here.