Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich

There are few things more satisfying than a good grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It’s a surefire way to help you warm up after a day outside sledding in the snow. When you’re feeling a little sad on an overcast rainy day, it’ll comfort you and warm you up. If you’ve been outside playing all day in the summer, it’s a quick and easy meal to refuel and get back out there.

It’s a simple sandwich, so using quality ingredients matter. Can we suggest using ham from Lake Geneva Country Meat’s deli? Our cured and smoked ham is made in house with our signature brown sugar cure and smoked using a blend of hardwoods to get a gentle smoke flavor. This recipe also works well with leftover ham from a holiday celebration, especially one of our spiral sliced hams!

Cheese selection is also key for this recipe. You want to make sure you use a cheese that melts well for this sandwich – a mild or medium cheddar is a great selection. We used a flavorful mild cheddar from our local cheese makers at Hill Valley Dairy. Using an aged cheddar isn’t a great idea because they don’t melt well – save those for your snack boards! Other cheeses that work well for grilled cheese include Swiss, Gruyere, Manchego, and Gouda cheeses. Of course, we shouldn’t forget American cheese. It’s not the best quality, but it’s made to melt easily – so if you want to use American cheese, we aren’t going to judge you too hard!

We’ve got the ham and cheese covered for our grilled ham and cheese sandwich, but bread is also incredibly important to this recipe. While we love sourdough, we prefer using a plain multigrain or white bread for grilled cheese to promote even toasting and prevent ingredients from oozing out the holes of a sourdough style bread. Our favorite local baker is Simple Bakery in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin – we used their country white loaf for this recipe. Some people like to use mayonnaise to toast their bread, but we like butter. Be sure to either melt the butter and brush it on, or have it at room temperature for easy spreading.

We’re keeping this recipe super simple (just bread, ham, and cheese) but there are so many extra toppings you can add to your grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Think about using mustard on the inside side of the bread, or adding dill pickles or tomatoes to the sandwich. Pickled jalapeño peppers are a fun way to spice up the sandwich as well. Serve with pickles, chips, and, for maximum comfort food levels, tomato soup! If you’re looking for a bit more involved grilled cheese, check out this BBQ Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese recipe or this Tomato Basil Bacon Grilled Cheese!

What do you think of our grilled ham and cheese sandwich recipe? Do you have any preferences for your grilled ham and cheese sandwich at home? Let us know your thoughts plus your tips on how to get the perfect sandwich. Just leave us a comment and rating beneath the recipe to let us know your feelings!