Grilled Cheese Panini Sandwich Recipe

This grilled cheese panini recipe is SUPER easy to make. You just need your favorite cheese slices, butter, bread and a panini machine. My grilled cheese panini is just like a grilled cheese sandwich but it is made quickly & easily with a panini machine.

Grilled Cheese Panini with a Bread Dad “Taste Test” Bite!

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

Your family will love the taste of this grilled cheese sandwich… and you will love how simple it is to make. FYI – It only takes me about 7-10 minutes to assemble and grill this delicious panini sandwich. Moreover, if you use homemade bread (such as one of my Bread Dad recipes!!), the grilled cheese panini will be an even tastier and more interesting sandwich.

Grilled Cheese Panini

My panini sandwich recipes are based on using a two-sided griddle or panini press/grill (with top & bottom grilling units) and not a frying pan. Because this recipe does not use a frying pan, you don’t have to worry about your sandwich falling apart when being flipped over in the frying pan, etc.

Ingredients

• 2 Slices – Homemade Sandwich Bread – 100 grams – You can use bread machine bread or oven-baked bread.
• 1 Tablespoon – Unsalted Butter (melted) – 15 grams
• 2 Slices – Cheese – 56 grams – Use your family’s favorite sliced cheese such as cheddar, pepper jack, provolone, American cheese, etc.

FYI – You can easily double the ingredients above to make 2 paninis, etc.

Servings – 1 Panini

Equipment Needed – Serrated knife, cutting board, pastry brush, oven gloves, heat-resistant spatulas, cooling rack and panini press.

Grilled Cheese Panini – Before Being Grilled

Large Wide Soft Spatulas for Moving Paninis

Instructions

• Preheat your panini press. Set the temperature to 325 F (or to medium heat if you can not set the temperature on your panini press) and turn on the panini grill.
• Melt the butter in your microwave.
• Brush the exterior of each bread slice (the outer side of the sandwich) with a thin layer of melted butter. FYI – I use a pastry brush to “brush” on the melted butter.
• Place both slices of bread on a plate or cutting board. FYI – Do not place the ingredients on the panini grill until your panini has been fully assembled.
• Place 2 cheese slices on top of the bottom slice of the bread.
• Finally, place the top slice of bread on the cheese (to complete the structure of the panini sandwich).
• Use two wide non-scratch spatulas to scoop up the panini and transfer the assembled panini to the hot panini press. Wear oven gloves. FYI – I like to use one spatula to scoop under the bottom of the panini with the other spatula placed on top of the panini. This holds the panini together when moving the panini to the press/grill.
• Gently lower the panini press/grill lid on top of the panini.
• Grill for about 3-4 minutes. FYI – You can check every couple of minutes to see if the panini has finished (as panini press temperatures can vary by machine) and to avoid over-grilling & burning the panini. You might have to grill longer if you use “medium” heat versus 325 F (as the temperature range can vary by machine). Grilling time length varies due to the thickness & type of bread used.
• Turn off the grill. FYI – Be careful as panini grills can stay hot for a long time.
• Use the two spatulas to remove the finished panini from the panini press. Wear oven gloves.
• Since the panini is very hot, you should place the panini on a wire cooling and let it cool for 1-2 minutes. FYI – A wire cooling rack helps to prevent a soggy bottom (versus allowing the panini to cool on a plate). The cooling rack lets moisture out versus being trapped by a plate.
• Serve the panini while it is still warm. Cut the panini in half if desired.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common panini problems.

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Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help panini “novices”. Experienced panini makers probably know most of these panini tips already.
• Click on my “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include this recipe’s tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• Always be careful with panini presses & grills. They get very hot and can stay hot for a long time. Wear oven gloves/mitts and use long handled soft spatulas.
• This recipe is one of Bread Dad’s easy Grilled Cheese & Panini Sandwich Recipes such as BLT paninis, ham & cheese paninis and cheese steak paninis.
• If you don’t have a panini press/grill, you might like to try my recipes for Air Fryer Grilled Cheese and Oven Baked Grilled Cheese.

• Use your family’s favorite sliced cheese to make grilled cheese paninis. My family likes pepper jack cheese. However, other popular sliced cheeses include cheddar, provolone, American cheese, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, gouda, brie, colby, etc.
• My recipe uses 2 slices of cheese but you can use 3 or 4 slices if you to make even cheesier paninis. However, do not add too many cheese slices or they might not melt properly. Of course, the amount of cheese will vary based on the size of your bread slices. For example, bread slices from a 2 lb bread machine bread loaf will require more cheese than the smaller bread slices from a 1 lb or 1.5 lb bread machine bread loaf.
• Optional – For an extra “cheesy” grilled cheese sandwich, you might like to make it with Bread Dad’s recipe for Bread Machine Cheese Bread or oven-baked Italian Herb & Cheese Bread.
• Visitors – What cheese do you like to use in your grilled cheese panini? Please add your panini suggestions & tips to the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Dharma made an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with “brie, fig jam and arugula”

• The melted butter in this recipe helps to create a crispier panini, adds flavor and helps to “conduct” the heat from the grill into the interior of the panini (which speeds the melting of the cheese).
• Optional – If you don’t have butter, you can use olive oil or your favorite vegetable oil to coat the exterior and interior of the bread.
• I place the melted butter on only the exterior of the sandwich in order to facilitate the grilling of the grilled cheese sandwich. It also adds a nice but mild buttery taste to the panini.
• Optional – Some people like to brush a thin layer of the melted butter of both sides of the bread (exterior and interior sides of the bread slices). This helps the cheese to melt even faster (the extra butter is better conductor of heat), adds a richer & more buttery flavor to the panini but it can also make the sandwich taste a little greasy.
• Visitors – Do you butter only the outside of your paninis? Or do you like to brush butter on both sides of the bread? Please let us know which version makes a better grilled cheese sandwich in the comment section below.

• Do not add too many extra ingredients (e.g. tons of extra ham slices or grilled vegetables) when making your paninis. Very thick paninis can have trouble properly heating the inside of the panini without burning the exterior of the panini.
• The amount of internal ingredients (e.g. cheese) depends on the size of the bread slices used. For example, you will need less internal ingredients if you use bread slices from my smaller 1 lb bread machine white bread recipe versus my larger 2 lb bread machine white bread recipe.
• Optional – Here are some extra ingredients that people like to add to their grilled cheese sandwiches in order to make them unique or different – bacon, prosciutto, pepperoni, caramelized onions, roasted peppers, jalapeno slices, sauteed mushrooms, thin apple slices, dried rosemary, honey, blueberry jam, etc. Of course, melted cheese makes most things taste better!!!
• Visitors – What do you like to add to your grilled cheese paninis to make them even better? Do you add meats such as chicken, ham or steak? Veggies such as sauteed peppers or onions? Jams such as blueberry jam or fig jam? Herbs? Please add your grilled cheese sandwich suggestions & tips to the comment section below.

• Keep an eye on the bread when grilling your paninis. I like to open the panini machine & check inside every couple of minutes because sandwich bread can grill faster than expected. You don’t want to burn your paninis.
• Do not forget to preheat your panini grill or the grilling will take longer than expected.
• My panini grill “beeps” when it has reached its set temperature target (e.g. 325 F). However, other panini grills do not have this feature so you might need to let your panini grill warm up for at least 5 minutes before using it to bake your panini. Read your manual for the specific time needed to preheat your grill.
• Do not leave your panini unattended and forget about it. You could cause a fire, burn your food, etc.
• I prefer to use a panini press/grill versus a frying pan to make my paninis. Why? There is no flipping of the panini or grilled cheese and in my opinion, you also get the benefit of beautiful grill marks on the bread. Flipping the sandwich during grilling increases the chances that the sandwich will fall apart accidentally. In addition, flipping is more likely to cause hot oil or butter to splatter or spill.

• Make sure the top of the panini press/grill is fully pressed against the top of the bread. The heat from the top grill adds the characteristic grill “marks” to the bread and makes sure the top of the bread is properly heated. With most machines, you do not have to physically press down on the panini. You just let the weight of the top do the “pressing”.
• Try to make sure the top of the panini press/grill is flat and even when you lower it onto the panini. A non-level top is more likely to result in uneven heating and/or pushing the top of the panini off the sandwich. Wear oven gloves if you are handling or adjusting a hot panini press/grill.
• I like to use two large & wide soft spatulas to move my paninis to and from the panini press. I place one spatula under the panini with the other spatula placed on top of the panini. This holds the panini together when moving the panini to & from the press/grill.
• Use soft spatulas in order to avoid scraping or damaging the nonstick surface of the panini press/grill.
• If you need to reheat your paninis, you can reheat them in a frying pan, an oven, a toaster oven or even by using a low heat setting on your panini press.
• However, do NOT use your microwave to reheat your paninis. A microwave is more likely to make your panini soggy.

• This panini sandwich recipe is based on using homemade sandwich bread slices made with either bread machine bread or oven-baked bread. Of course, in a dire emergency, you can use some evil factory-produced sandwich bread!! 🙂
• In the photos above, I am using my honey white bread recipe to make this grilled cheese panini.
• You can also use a wide variety of homemade sandwich breads to make this grilled cheese panini. Some popular breads that I like to use are bread machine white bread, bread machine oatmeal bread, bread machine whole wheat bread and bread machine multigrain bread. You can also use oven-baked breads such as buttermilk bread, Greek yogurt bread, etc.
• Of course, one of the advantages of homemade bread (beyond taste & freshness) is the ability to screen out weird chemicals & preservatives. You know what you are putting into your homemade bread (versus what goes into factory-produced bread).

• In America, panini refers to a hot sandwich that has been grilled/toasted on a panini press/grill, etc. This type of sandwich is usually filled with cheese and various other ingredients such as meat, veggies, etc. A panini also usually has the classic grilled “stripes” on the crust.
• However, the word “panini” comes from Italy. According to Wikipedia, “In Italian, the noun panino (Italian: [pa’niːno]; pl.: panini) is a diminutive of pane (lit. ’bread’) and refers to a bread roll. Panino imbottito (lit. ’stuffed panino’) refers to a sandwich, but the word panino is also often used alone to indicate a sandwich in general.”

• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a panini press/grill. The panini press/grill gets very hot during the baking process and it will stay very hot even after you turn off the panini press/grill (it takes a long time to cool).
• Do NOT let kids near your panini grills because panini grills can stay hot for a long time. They might accidentally burn themselves on the panini grill.
• Make sure to READ your panini press/grill instruction manual in order to operate your press/grill safely & correctly. Always follow the safety instructions in your panini press manual.
• In case you want to make your grilled cheese sandwiches & paninis with homemade bread (such as French bread, multigrain bread and rolls), you might want to explore Bread Dad’s sections for Bread Machine Recipes and Homemade Bread Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Panini Sandwich
2. Wikipedia, Cheese

Related Recipes

1. Air Fryer Grilled Cheese – Made with an air fryer
2. Oven Baked Grilled Cheese – Grilled cheese made in an oven
3. BLT Panini
4. Cheese Steak Panini
5. Chicken Panini – With fresh mozzarella & sauteed onions
6. Ham & Cheese Panini

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