This Grilled Cheese with Cream Cheese is ooey gooey delicious and SO easy to make!
If you’ve never used cream cheese to make a grilled cheese, today is the day. It creates a gorgeous velvety filling which is simply irresistible! Follow me…
Cream Cheese Filling
A lot of cream cheese grilled cheese recipes feature the cream cheese as just a small part of the sandwich. That or it’s loaded with a load of other fillings/cheeses so it just mellows into the background. Here I’ve made it the star of the show, as it should be! I mean if you’re wanting a cream cheese sandwich you may as well make a darn cream cheese sandwich after all 😂
What Cream Cheese to use?
You want a good quality brand, preferably one you’re familiar with. I always go for Philadelphia which is a solid choice. In all cases make sure it’s full fat for the fullest flavour!
Mayo/Parmesan
In with the cream cheese I like to mix in a pinch of parmesan and a dollop of mayonnaise. The cream cheese is still the main event, in fact you’ll barely even notice the additions, but they do spruce up the cream cheese and add a gentle ‘tang’. These are optional, but if you’ve got even one of them on hand then I recommend adding them.
Process shots: add cream cheese, mayo and parmesan to a mixing bowl (photo 1), combine until smooth (photo 2).
Cream Cheese Grilled Cheese
Instead of spreading the cream cheese on the bread, I actually like to wedge it between two slices of cheese. That way the cream cheese turns into more of a filling.
What Cheese to use?
I like to use Cheddar, preferably red/orange to contrast the colour. As it all melts in the middle it creates a marble effect with the cream cheese which not only looks, but tastes awesome!
What Bread to use?
The cream cheese is going to want to spill out at any opportunity. As such you’ll want something fairly firm like a Sourdough. Just to keep it all together nicely.
What else could I add to this sandwich?
I personally like to keep it fairly simple, just to let the cream cheese shine, as you’d expect it to in a cream cheese sandwich. Granted you do need a few additions to bring it to life, but I wouldn’t go too overboard. Having said that bacon is always welcomed, or even ham. You could also turn it into a kind of cheese and onion sandwich and throw in some spring onions, or could even turn it jalapeño popper style and mix through some diced jalapeños and bacon!
Serving a Cream Cheese Grilled Cheese
These are awesome to whip up for lunch when you’re short on time! Perfect as they are, even better with a side:
- Crisp/Chip Recommendation: Salt & Vinegar flavour works perfectly here, just to cut through the richness of all the cheese. I recommend a thick cut crisp/chip so you can scoop up any cream cheese that leaks out!
- Side Recommendation: You could serve with Tomato Soup or Roasted Red Pepper Soup as part of a soup & sandwich combo. Or some Spicy Wedges would go nicely too!
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this cream cheese grilled cheese shall we?!
How to make a Grilled Cheese with Cream Cheese (Full Recipe & Video)
Simple Cream Cheese Grilled Cheese
Equipment
- Non-Stick Pan & Spatula/Turner
- Small Mixing Bowl & Spatula
- Sharp Knife/Bread Knife
Ingredients
- 8 small but fairly thick slices of Bread (something firm like Sourdough works well)
- 8 square slices of Cheddar
- 5oz / 150g Cream Cheese
- 1 tbsp EACH: Parmesan, Mayonnaise (optional - see notes)
- Butter, as needed
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese with mayo and parmesan until nice and smooth.
- Spread one side of each of your slices of bread with butter. In a non-stick pan with the heat OFF add 2 slices of bread butter-side-down. Top with cheddar, followed by a dollop of cream cheese, topped with another slice of cheddar, then finish with another slice of bread butter-side-up.
- Turn on heat to medium and fry both sides until golden with the cheese just starting to leak out. Prepare the other two sandwiches to one side as these fry.
- Slice in half and enjoy!
Quick Demo
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition:
If you loved this Cream Cheese Sandwich recipe be sure to Pin it for later! Already made it or got a burning question? Give me a shout in the comments below!
im ready to make this but what im trying to understand is , what kind of parmesan do we use ? The picture looks like the powdered parmesan . The recipe doesn’t explain which one and would like to make this grilled cheese right .
Freshly grated works great (I just used the finest blade to grate it). C.
Love this recipe! Crispy prosciutto is also a wonderful addition to this sandwich. Yum!
Love that idea! C.
Delish! I think I used too much cream cheese–like didn’t think it was enough, so I made 1 sandwich with the amount for 2! YEESH!– but it was still delish! Thank you for the recipe! Next time I’ll do it right 😉
Least you know for next time! Glad it went down well anyway 🙂 C. x
So good!!