The Right Way To Make A Tomato Grilled Cheese That's Not Soggy

The seasonal cold weather has been making comfort food sound extra comforting recently, and very few people in the world outside the lactose intolerant can deny the cozy solace of ripping into a grilled cheese and seeing that sumptuous pull.

There are dozens of ways to customize your grilled cheese: choosing between crusty bread or soft sandwich bread, the varieties of cheese to put in, or my secret ingredient, a thin schmear of Dijon mustard, to cut through all the richness. But few additions to a grilled cheese are as classic as a few slices of juicy tomato.

While no one wants a dry tomato, all those juices can really dampen an otherwise crisp and gooey grilled cheese. That is why, if you ever add tomato to your grilled cheese, you should salt the slices to draw out excess moisture. Then, add them to the sandwich after cooking to get all the flavor without the sogginess.

Salting your tomatoes works double duty in this case, helping to season and bring them to their full-flavored glory and drawing out some of the excess water to avoid a soggy sandwich.

I would argue you should actually start with your tomatoes when building a grilled cheese so they have ample time to marinate. Simply slice your tomatoes to whatever thickness you like — I like a good quarter-inch slice that I can really sink my teeth into. Then, lay the slices out on a wire rack so they can drain properly, or even just on a sheet of paper towel to absorb the moisture.

Then, give your raw tomato slices a healthy sprinkle of salt and let them sit as you prepare the rest of your sandwich. The salt will sink into the tomatoes to ensure they are properly seasoned throughout, and the extra moisture will start to pool on top, making the tomato flavor extra concentrated. You can pat the extra moisture off with a paper towel before layering it on your hot sandwich.

You might be tempted to add your tomatoes when first building your sandwich, but that is sure to end in a soggy sandwich. The heat while cooking will certainly make even more liquid seep out and into your sandwich, making the bread mushy, and the tomatoes will slip out when you go in for a bite.

Instead, you should cook your grilled cheese as you normally would, ensuring the cheese is fully melted inside, and the bread is crisp and a buttery golden brown. After taking the sandwich out of the pan, you can separate the two slices of bread, taking a moment to admire all the gooey, melted cheese inside, and then place the tomato slices right in the middle. The cheese can now act like a glue to keep the tomato in place, and you can go on to enjoy your ultimate grilled cheese.