The Ice Cube Trick For The Best Grilled Cheese You've Ever Had

Grilled cheese, one of the best comfort foods, is fairly straightforward to make, but there are ways to mess it up — for example, have you ever had one where the bread was overdone but the cheese hadn't melted? It's a common problem, but luckily there's an ice cube trick that will fix that problem. It may seem weird to use ice cubes in cooking, but in this case, the ice creates steam in the pan that surrounds the sandwich, melting the cheese and lightly softening the bread without overcooking and burning it.

While you could turn to other appliances, like the oven for a baked grilled cheese or the air fryer for an easy air fryer grilled cheese, where the sandwiches are cooked open-faced, ensuring all the cheese melts properly, the ice cube trick is a simple addition that doesn't veer too far off from the standard stovetop method. In fact, it simply adds a step.

To execute this tip, begin cooking the grilled cheese as normal until both sides of the bread are as crispy and browned as you'd like. Then, turn the heat to the lowest possible setting, move the grilled cheese over to the side of the pan, and pop an ice cube into the pan on the other side. From there, simply cover the pan with a lid (or foil, if you don't have a lid) — after one minute or so, you're sandwich should be perfectly melty. 

Another similar method is to toast the bread slices on their own in the pan first. Then you can add the cheese you want to the toasting bread, close the sandwich, and add the ice cube to the pan, again turning the heat to low and covering the pan with a lid, for just about a minute. After you've perfected this method, you can focus on what really matters –the ingredients that will elevate your grilled cheese to new heights.