The Ultimate Tomato Grilled Cheese

This tomato grilled cheese sandwich is loaded with fresh mozzarella, basil pesto and parmesan. It’s perfect for a quick and easy lunch!

If you think about it, tomato in a grilled cheese totally makes sense. After all cheese and tomato is a marriage made in heaven. A plain tomato grilled is good, but here I’ll offer some tips to turning it from good to great. With the help of a few other goodies this sandwich is bound to be one of your new faves! Follow me…

Tomato Grilled Cheese

As you can imagine this sandwich is fairly straight forward to make. Let’s quickly cover the 3 basics:

What Cheese to use?

I like to use two cheeses in this sandwich. First is mozzarella, mainly for its gooey goodness, but also to give the sandwich a kind of Caprese vibe. The second is parmesan, just to add in a punch of flavour.

What Bread to use?

Because the centre of the sandwich can be quite moist (from the tomato & pesto), you want a nice sturdy bread to contain the filling. If you can get your hands on it, here I’ve used a crusty sea salt and black pepper bloomer. It works really nice and adds a boost of flavour too. Sourdough or Italian bread is always a good choice.

What Tomatoes to use?

In reality you can use any tomato, just make sure they’re good quality and as fresh as possible for the best flavour. I personally prefer large slices, so opt for fresh vine-ripened tomatoes. Beef tomatoes always work well. You could even use cherry tomatoes or baby plum tomatoes though if you fancied! They just might not be as well contained in the sandwich that’s all.

Process shots: butter bread (photo 1), flip (photo 2), add mozzarella (photo 3), add tomato (photo 4), drizzle pesto (photo 5), sprinkle parmesan (photo 6), add buttered bread (photo 7), turn on heat and fry both sides (photo 8).

Tomato Grilled Cheese with Pesto

The pesto really takes the sandwich to new heights. It oozes into the cheese and offers a gorgeous pop of flavour and colour. It also of course compliments the tomato very nicely!

What can I sub the pesto with?

I highly recommend using pesto, but if you haven’t got it add some fresh basil leaves. Failing that a few pinches of dried basil will work just fine. You could even change the flavour profile slightly and go full caprese and use fresh basil with balsamic vinegar/balsamic glaze!

What can I add to a Tomato Grilled Cheese?

I’ve personally tried this sandwich with bacon, which works well. As does avocado. Anything past that you’re on your own 🤪

Serving a Tomato Grilled Cheese

• Crisp/Chip Recommendation: Cheese and Onion works nicely, as does Roast Chicken flavour.
• Side Recommendation: Spice things up with some Spicy Wedges or keep it cool and creamy with some Coleslaw. You could even dunk it into a Roasted Red Pepper Soup!

Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this tomato grilled cheese sandwich shall we?!

How to make a Tomato Grilled Cheese (Full Recipe & Video)

Tomato Grilled Cheese

This tomato grilled cheese sandwich is loaded with fresh mozzarella, basil pesto and parmesan. It's perfect for a quick and easy lunch!

5 from 4 votes

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Course: lunch

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings (click & slide): 3 sandwiches

Calories per serving: 592kcal

Author: Chris

Cost per serving: £2 / $2.50

Equipment

• Large Frying Pan & Spatula/Turner
• Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
• Paper Towels
• Fine Cheese Grater

Ingredients

• 6 small/medium sized thick slices of Bread (see notes)
• 2x 4.5oz/125g fresh balls of Mozzarella, sliced into 9 wedges in total (patted dry to remove moisture)
• 1/3 cup / 30g freshly grated Parmesan
• 3 large Vine-Ripened Tomatoes, sliced (3 slices per sandwich)
• 3 tbsp Pesto
• Butter, as needed

Instructions

• Butter one side of each of your slices of bread. Place 3 of them butter-side-down in a pan with the heat OFF (or 2 if that's all you can fit). Top with 3 wedges of mozzarella per sandwich, followed by 3 slices of tomato, topped with a drizzle of pesto and finish with parmesan.
• Top with second slice of bread butter-side-up. Turn heat to a medium and fry both sides until golden brown with the mozzarella nice and gooey. Repeat with last sandwich if necessary then slice in half and enjoy!

Quick Demo

Notes

a) Bread - You want a nice sturdy bread to contain the filling, which can turn out to be quite moist with the tomato juices & pesto. Here I've used a nice crusty sea salt and black pepper bloomer, which works perfectly. Sourdough or Italian bread is always a good choice too.

b) Tomatoes - I like fresh vine-ripened tomatoes as they've got the best flavour. Beef tomatoes always work well. In reality you can use any tomato (even cherry tomatoes) just make sure they're good quality and as fresh as possible for the best flavour!

c) Pesto Sub - Fresh basil if you've got it, or even just a few pinches of dried basil will add some flavour. Pesto is preferably though!

d) Calories - based on using 1 tbsp butter per sandwich (3 in total). Calories per sandwich:

Your Private Notes:

Click here to add your own private notes or reminders about this recipe.

Nutrition:

Nutrition Facts

Tomato Grilled Cheese

Amount Per Serving

Calories 592 Calories from Fat 359

% Daily Value*

Fat 39.9g61%

Saturated Fat 19.265g120%

Trans Fat 0.107g

Polyunsaturated Fat 3.445g

Monounsaturated Fat 14.034g

Cholesterol 93mg31%

Sodium 1133mg49%

Potassium 603mg17%

Carbohydrates 30.84g10%

Fiber 3.4g14%

Sugar 8.05g9%

Protein 28.77g58%

Vitamin A 2599IU52%

Vitamin C 25.6mg31%

Calcium 635mg64%

Iron 2.81mg16%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

*Nutrition is based on the absence of salt unless stated as a measurement in the ingredients. Cost is worked out based on ingredients bought from UK supermarkets, then divided by the number of servings. In both instances these values are just for guidance. Please check out my FAQ Page for more info.

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