Even if you don’t know how to cook, you know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. This crispy, melty, gooey griddled combination of bread and cheese is not only a ridiculously easy comfort food classic, it’s also ripe for variation and experimentation. Switch up your routine with a caprese-inspired grilled cheese with tomato and basil, or try fried halloumi for a Mediterranean twist — the options are basically endless. One of the best ways to jazz up an ordinary grilled cheese is to add a sweet element, like fresh fruit or preserves, to hit that perfect salty-sweet balance that will make your tastebuds sing.
We’ve seen adventurous chefs go as far as adding Nutella to their grilled cheese sandwiches, but even if you’re looking for something a little subtler, there are plenty of options to choose from. Oftentimes, we’ll add something fruity to our sandwiches to evoke the classic pairing of fruit and cheese that you may see on a gourmet charcuterie board. Trust us — a couple apple slices can go a long way.
For more unique and expert-approved suggestions, Chowhound turned to grilled cheese aficionado Robert Bleifer, culinary consultant for Challenge Dairy and former Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Production for Food Network. For staple spreads, Bleifer recommends “fig jam, quince paste, and bourbon bacon onion jam with almost any cheese combination.” He also suggests trying out “seasonal sweets like strawberry jam, cranberry sauce, or sliced pears” for a festive sandwich.
Give your grilled cheese a fruity spread of fig jam or quince paste
One of the easiest ways to spruce up a savory sandwich with something sweet is to spread on a generous serving of jam, paste, or preserves. Not only do these spreads balance out the salty richness of cheese, they’re also super easy to apply to your bread, and help act as a “glue” to keep the sandwich intact. When it comes to the sweet spreads you should keep on hand for any and every grilled cheese, Robert Bleifer can’t recommend fig jam and quince paste strongly enough.
“Fig jam and quince paste will pair with more cheeses than I can name,” Bleifer says. “They both possess a deep, almost layered sweetness, but not in an in-your-face way.” Fig jam is one of the most popular ways to enjoy the complex, versatile fruit, and its subtly sweet, floral notes make it a popular addition to cheese and charcuterie boards, which means it’s a no-brainer for grilled cheese. For cheese combinations that “shine with fig jam,” Bleifer suggests “Gruyère, Gouda and Fontina,” three cheeses he says are “great to work into the mix with the old-school cheddar and American” varieties.
Quince paste might be a less familiar ingredient to American cooks, but it has a delightful sweet-tart quality that pairs nicely with nutty cheeses. It’s a thick jelly made from the pulp of quince fruits with Spanish origins, also known as “dulce de membrillo.” Though quince paste works well with many of the same cheeses as fig jam, Bleifer says, “I love to stick with a Spanish cheese, and I highly recommend Manchego.”
Lean into savory-sweet richness with onion jam
Maybe you’re not ready to mix your fruity flavors with your cheesy ones — that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy depth of flavor in your grilled cheese, and caramelized onions are one easy way to add sweet notes without abandoning the savory world. A combination of melted cheese and caramelized onions is reminiscent of French onion soup and practically begs to come together for a comforting, cold weather meal. In particular, Robert Bleifer recommends using a bourbon bacon onion jam, which sounds especially decadent and delicious.
You may be able to find similar items online or at specialty stores, but making a homemade bourbon bacon onion jam will yield the best results. It’s more or less as simple as cooking bacon and onions with sugar, then deglazing with your bourbon of choice. Your resulting jam will be smoky, sweet, and rich, and perfect for spreading on grilled cheese sandwiches. As far as assembling the perfect sandwich goes, Bleifer advises, “the onion jam is so flavorful that you’ll want to stick with a sharp cheese like cheddar, and add some Gruyère with its nutty notes to round it out.”
Take advantage of seasonal fruits and festive spreads
We’ve covered some of the delicious jams and spreads you can use to plus up a grilled cheese sandwich, but fresh fruits can be a delightful addition as well, particularly when they’re in season. Fruits that are in season during the fall, like apples and pears, are especially well-suited for slicing up and adding to a gourmet grilled cheese.
You can choose whether to grill your sandwich with the sliced fruit inside, or whether to add it in after the fact. Usually, Robert Bleifer says, “I just find it easier to build the sandwich and then cook it in a pan with butter, but maybe an ingredient like pears, especially if they’re very ripe, are best added after cooking.” The advantage of this second method, he says, is that it “would also allow the addition of a green, like baby arugula.”
There are also sweet spreads like strawberry jam and cranberry sauce that have a seasonal element to them, that Bleifer recommends for a festive take on a grilled cheese. Strawberry jam, for example, is associated with the start of summer (that’s strawberry season, after all), and would pair deliciously with some balsamic vinegar and arugula on a grilled cheese sandwich. Cranberry sauce, on the other hand, could feature on a Thanksgiving-inspired take on the sandwich, maybe with some sliced turkey on top for good measure. In every case, Bleifer says, “strawberry jam, cranberry sauce, and pears are great with Brie,” so make sure to stock up on this soft, mild cheese for your holiday sandwiches.
