THE ULTIMATE VEGAN GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH

Greetings, greetings. How are you, darling? 

This recipe is a major fave. I’ve been making it almost daily whenever I crave a rich, salty, savoury meal. If you want some colour, you can add veggies, but keepin’ it pure (vegaaaan) cheese is damn good and classic. The short history of this recipe began a couple weeks ago when my two wonderful best friends made us sandwiches in the kitchen of a stranger’s house. I was blown away because while I was expecting it to be yummy, I didn’t realize it would be essentially the SAME as memories of grilled dairy cheese sandwiches I ate when I was a kid. Since then I have been evolving my own recipe and experimenting with different ingredient and techniques. I now bring you this sandwich, which I think nails all the categories I want in grilled cheese: crusty golden brown bread, gooey melted cheese, and a smidgen of colour and extra texture from some veggies.

I use two different kinds of cheese (Daiya and Toffuti) for a variety of texture and flavour. If you aren’t keen on those brands because of their flavour, you actually can’t discern their taste that much because it kinda blends with everything else. If you have any fancy (or non-fancy) vegan cheeses around, feel free to throw those in too / instead of. I’ve heard Chau works well for grilled cheese.

THE ULTIMATE VEGAN GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH
Serves one or two; Print the recipe here!

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon vegan garlic butter (optional)
2 large slices sourdough bread
1/4 cup Daiya cheddar pepperjack shreds
2-3 slices Toffuti cheddar slices
1 tomato, sliced
1 cup spinach leaves, more as less as desired
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Ketchup and/or hot sauce, to serve (optional)

Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat, then bring down to medium-low and add the oil until it’s warmed. Add the slices of bread, and spread butter on the inner sides if you like. On one of the slices of bread: add the Daiya shreds, then top with tomato slices, spinach, and Toffuti cheddar slices. Place the other slice of bread on top of all of this and press down.

Cook the sandwich for 2-3 minutes, then carefully flip the whole thing over. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until all the cheese has started to melt and the bread is getting brown and crispy. Be careful it doesn’t burn, though! My technique to keep everything from burning, but still getting the cheese nice and melty, is to turn off the heat once the bread is browned, then put a lid on the pan and take it off the burner. This essentially steams the whole thing so it finished melting the cheese but doesn’t burn the bread. I leave this for 2-3 minutes, then it’s ready! (Another option is to simply throw the sandwich in the microwave.) Serve with ketchup, hot sauce, or whatever you like. Enjooooy!