May 18, 2020

Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe: Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil

Name: Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 12 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 2 slices of bread; 3 ounces of thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese (or however much you need to cover each slice of bread); 2 slices of tomato; 10-15 basil leaves; butter

Vegetarian Italian

Caprese salads are a delicious Italian dish. The juicy tomato combined with the mild mozzarella and the aroma of fresh basil leaves. Simple, yet so tasty. It’s also an easy dish to turn into a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s a little taste of Italy between two crispy, buttery pieces of bread. Here’s our Caprese grilled cheese sandwich recipe.

Choosing the best ingredients for your sandwich

The thing that makes a Caprese salad truly great is fresh ingredients, and the same is true for a Caprese grilled cheese sandwich. It’s not the easiest cheese to slice yourself, but do your best to cut thin slices and let them dry a little before putting them on the bread.

You certainly can use pre-sliced or pre-shredded mozzarella cheese, but you’ll get a much better flavor by using fresh mozzarella.

The same goes for the other ingredients. Try to find the freshest tomatoes and basil possible. If you grow tomatoes in your own garden, those are the ones to use for this recipe because they’ll have so much more flavor.

As for the basil, if you have a basil plant, you can pick the leaves off right before cooking your sandwich, and they’ll taste great. I do not have a green thumb, but our grocery store often has basil plants in the herb section, so I buy that. Then the basil leaves stay alive on the plant until I actually need them, and one plant lasts quite awhile.

It might take a little extra effort to get those fresh ingredients, but it’s worth it and will take your grilled cheese sandwich to another level.

>>Looking for another fun Italian-inspired sandwich? Try the pepperoni pizza grilled cheese sandwich.

How to make a Caprese grilled cheese sandwich

Cut your fresh mozzarella into thin slices. You’re never going to get them uniformly sized, so don’t worry about it. Roughly 3 ounces of cheese worked well for me, but it depends on how cheesy you like your sandwich.

And since fresh mozzarella comes in liquid, try to let it dry a little before putting it onto the bread so the bread doesn’t get soggy. You could even consider grilling the insides of the bread first for a little extra barrier, although I didn’t do it for this recipe.

Layer half of your cheese onto the bread. Then add 2 or 3 slices of tomato. You want a full layer covering the cheese, so if you happen to have small tomato, you might need more slices. Add in the basil leaves, as many as you want really, but they’re small leaves, so 10-15 worked well for me.

Put the other half of your cheese on top and close up the sandwich. Then grill it in a pan at medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Once each side is golden brown and crispy and the cheese is melty, your sandwich is done. This means you might need another minute or two per side. I usually allow for about 10 minutes to cook a grilled cheese sandwich to perfection.

Since you now have part of a tomato, why not make yourself a mini Caprese salad to go along with your sandwich?

I hope you enjoy this Caprese grilled cheese sandwich recipe with all that tasty mozzarella, tomato, and basil!

Yield: 1 sandwich