This easy Caprese Grilled Cheese sandwich has all elements of a caprese salad — mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and pesto — between sourdough bread.
For more ideas of what to make, check out all of our recipes.
There’s something so comforting and so nostalgic about a grilled cheese. I love them so much. But, for dinner, you have to step it up. A regular grilled cheese is fine; this easy Caprese Grilled Cheese recipe is amazing.
It has all the elements of a caprese salad — mozzarella, tomato, and basil –but in sandwich form.
But, instead of using fresh basil, we actually use pesto in this recipe. It gives it a really great flavor, more than adding a couple of basil leaves would add to this sandwich.
Homemade pesto works great in this, but so does jarred pesto. So if you have some of that lying around and you have no idea what to do with it, now you do.
Easy Caprese Grilled Cheese Recipe
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Caprese Grilled Cheese Ingredients:
- 2 slices of sourdough bread
- 1 oz. mozzarella cheese
- 2 slices Roma tomato
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- 1 tablespoon butter
How To Make Caprese Grilled Cheese:
Cut two slices of sourdough bread from a boule.
Shred the mozzarella cheese.
Slice the tomato.
Heat half the butter in a pan over medium heat.
When the butter has melted, add one slice of the sourdough bread to the pan.
Spread half the pesto on the slice of bread.
Add the cheese.
Top with the tomato slices.
Scoop the rest of the pesto on top of the tomato slices.
Top with the second piece of bread.
Cover the sandwich with a lid and cook about four minutes until the cheese starts to melt.
Remove the lid.
Add the rest of the butter on top of the bread.
Flip the sandwich, put the lid back on, and cook for an additional four minutes.
Serve hot.
Caprese Grilled Cheese: Frequently Asked Questions
Basil in the traditional “green” ingredient in pesto. Basil is also one of the three ingredients in a traditional caprese salad. So, if you want to lean traditional, use basil pesto in this sandwich.
But here’s a secret.
Kale pesto is amazing.
We make kale pesto all the time and use it with ravioli, as a spread for toast, in sandwiches like this one.
We make it all the time because it’s delicious, but also because it’s a lot cheaper to make kale pesto than basil pesto. I grow both basil and kale in our garden, so it’s not like we’re running out to the store to buy either one, but it takes a lot more time and effort to grow basil than kale. So I like to keep the basil for recipes that need less and use kale in its place for pesto.
Sourdough bread works best in this recipe. It works really well with the pesto and mozzarella, especially because mozzarella is a mild cheese, so you want a bread that will complement and not overpower that flavor.
If you don’t have sourdough, you can use a regular white bread to make this sandwich.
I would suggest against a whole grain bread because it will compete with your pesto. But if that’s all you have at home, it will work just fine.
If you’re making this Caprese Grilled Cheese sandwich, a fresh Roma tomato works great in this. If you use one that’s not fresh, there’s a good chance that they will get soggy and leak all over your sandwich and pan.
Instead of a Roma tomato, you could use an heirloom or a beefsteak tomato. That type of tomato won’t fall apart when you’re heating it, even if it’s a couple days old.
Shredded mozzarella cheese, the kind of that comes in the bag, is so super convenient. I mean, who wants to shred cheese?
Me.
Every time.
There are preservatives added to bagged shredded cheese so the cheese able to stay that way. You don’t want it to clump together in the bag, and these preservatives prevent that.
The trouble with that is the preservatives also prevent the cheese from really melting right. That cheese is fine in recipes where you’re using the cheese as a garnish and don’t want it to melt (like in our 7 Layer Salad).
But, in a recipe where you want the cheese to melt, shredded cheese doesn’t work unless you shred it yourself.
If you really don’t want to shred the cheese (like maybe you’re worried it will get all over the pan), you can slice thin pieces of cheese from the block of mozzarella cheese and use those instead of shredded cheese. As long as it’s coming from the block, and not from a bag, it will melt.
If you don’t want to use butter in this grilled cheese recipe, you can skip it. You want something to act as a lubricant so that the sandwich slides and flips, though.
I know someone who swears by a drizzle of olive oil in the pan when he is making grilled cheese.
There are also a lot of people who say adding mayo to both sides of the bread works best when you’re making a grilled cheese.
Personally, I use butter and haven’t tried either of those methods. If you have, be sure to leave us a comment and let us know how your grilled cheese with oil or mayo tasted.
More Grilled Cheese Recipes:
This isn’t the only fancy grilled cheese recipe we have on Drugstore Divas. If you want another couple ideas, check out our Corned Beef Grilled Cheese and our Bacon & Jalapeño Pimento Grilled Cheese.
If you’re just hungry for a sandwich, check out all of our sandwich recipes.
Caprese Grilled Cheese
This Caprese Grilled Cheese sandwich has all elements of a caprese salad - mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and pesto - between sourdough bread.
Ingredients
- 2 slices of sourdough bread
- 1 oz. mozzarella cheese
- 2 slices Roma tomato
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
Cut two slices of sourdough bread from a boule.
Shred the mozzarella cheese.
Slice the tomato.
- Heat half the butter in a pan over medium heat.
- When the butter has melted, add one slice of the sourdough bread to the pan.
- Spread half the pesto on the slice of bread.
- Add the cheese.
- Top with the tomato slices.
- Scoop the rest of the pesto on top of the tomato slices.
- Top with the second piece of bread.
- Cover the sandwich with a lid and cook about four minutes until the cheese starts to melt.
- Remove the lid.
- Add the rest of the butter on top of the bread.
- Flip the sandwich, put the lid back on, and cook for an additional four minutes.
Nutrition Information
Yield
1Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 720Total Fat 37gSaturated Fat 15gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 60mgSodium 1205mgCarbohydrates 74gFiber 5gSugar 10gProtein 25g
Have you tried this tasty Caprese Grilled Cheese recipe? Let us know in the comments.