The Right Way To Add Creamy, Soft Cheeses To Your Grilled Cheese

American and cheddar are among the most common cheeses you'd find in a classic grilled cheese sandwich, but our list of the best cheeses to use in a grilled cheese sandwich includes hard cheeses like parmesan and soft cheeses like Brie. Some claim that shredding blocks of cheese is the best method of preparation for a grilled cheese sandwich with the freshest taste and a uniformly gooey center. But how do you shred soft cheese without ending up with a mound of clumpy balls or flattened globs? The answer is, with the help of your freezer!

If you're using a soft cheese, simply pop the block, wheel, or triangle into the freezer for 15 minutes. A short stint in the freezer will endow soft cheese with the structural integrity it needs to shred as easily as a semi-hard cheese like cheddar. Freezing the blocks for too long, however, will harden soft cheese too much and thwart attempts to shred it. This hack will work on crumbly cheeses like blue cheese as well. While you might be tempted to simply crumble blue cheese or goat cheese onto the sandwich, the crumbles will retain their shape instead of melding and melting seamlessly with the other type of shredded cheese you use.

While you can freeze Brie or blue cheese to facilitate shredding it and melting into your grilled cheese, this hack won't work on spreadable cheeses like ricotta and cream cheese. However, spreadable cheeses are a delicious addition to a grilled cheese sandwich that you can use as a binding agent for the shredded cheese.

For example, you could shred parmesan and white cheddar into a bowl with softened cream cheese, stirring to combine before spreading the mixture over your sandwich to grill. Moreover, our recipe for the ultimate grilled cheese creates a spreadable cheese by blitzing cubes of gruyère and cheddar in a food processor until a paste forms. At the other end of the spectrum, it's equally important to shred hard cheeses because they're harder to melt. You might even consider using a microplane for ultra-fine shreds.

Another helpful tip is to add a dollop of mayo to your creamy and shredded hard cheese blend to create the ultimate melted center. While it might be tempting to use pre-shredded cheese, many brands use preservatives that inhibit the shredded cheese from melting. No matter what blend of cheeses you add to your grilled cheese, heating your skillet low and slow will help the cheese melt at the same rate as the bread toasts.