Waffle Your Next Grilled Cheese For A Perfect Crust And Gooey Center

The grilled cheese is love in a sandwich. It's a staple for kids and adults everywhere for its gooey, comforting, impossible-to-mess-up deliciousness. So it's only fitting that the best way to grill a grilled cheese (in my opinion) is just as humble, fun, and genius as the sandwich itself: Waffle it. Cooking a grilled cheese sandwich in a waffle iron results in a crusty, craggy, dynamically textured exterior, contrasted beautifully by a perfectly gooey, cheesy center.

If you're currently in a living situation with limited kitchen space — say, a college dorm room or tiny apartment — you may consider a waffle iron frivolous or unnecessary. And it is, if you just make waffles in it. But disregarding the waffle iron's potential as a multi-purpose cooker would be a grave mistake. I used an adorable 4-inch waffle iron to grill hundreds of grilled cheese sandwiches and paninis in college, and trust me, it was well worth the counter space.

The extra surface area created by the waffle iron means ultimate crispiness and no soggy spots. Will the cheese leak out between the holes and edges of the bread? Yes, and it will create wonderful crispy frizzled cheese bits. Will it be a little messy? Yes, but love is messy.

Taste aside, waffling a grilled cheese is just plain fun. As exemplified by the croiffle (croissant pressed in a waffle iron), any waffled food iron gets a wonderful new portmanteau name — I'm advocating for griffle, for simplicity's sake, but I'm not opposed to griffled cheefle.

Cooking a grilled cheese in a waffle iron is incredibly simple. Just prepare your favorite grilled cheese as you normally would, heat up a greased waffle iron, stick your sandwich in there, and wait (this is the hardest part). A few minutes later, open the lid to reveal a perfectly crispy, golden, gooey, waffled grilled cheese.

You can make a waffle iron grilled cheese with white sandwich bread and American cheese, or fresh-baked artisan sourdough with gruyere, fontina, and truffle oil. You could add crispy chicken for a take on chicken and waffles, or combine multiple kinds of cheese for maximum gooeyness and cheesy flavor. You could spread flavored mayo on the outside of your grilled cheese for the ultimate spicy, crispy, golden crust. Personally, I love adding hot scrambled eggs to a waffle iron grilled cheese, because it melts the cheese from the inside. Each version is delicious in its own unique way, and it's really nearly impossible to go wrong.

The waffle iron's sandwich-cooking capabilities aren't limited to grilled cheese — I love sticking a Pub Sub (a sub sandwich from the grocery chain Publix) in there (it's messy, but it's worth it). Some people swear by a waffle iron grilled PB&J. Pretty much any sandwich that can go into a panini press can be waffled — the gooey, toasty, griddled possibilities are endless.