For The Easiest Halloumi Dishes, Skip The Grill

If halloumi isn't a go-to in your cooking repertoire yet, it's time to change that. A longtime staple of Middle Eastern dishes that's become increasingly popular worldwide, this cheese is versatile because of its taste and texture — it pairs well with vegetables and meats but can also be the star of the show, which makes it a great vegetarian swap — you can nix the beef patty in favor of halloumi on burgers, for example. There are plenty of ways to cook halloumi, from frying to baking, and one of the most popular methods for the cheese is grilling. But there's an even easier way to get the coveted effect of grilling — crispy, charred outside with a springy, squishy, creamy, salty inside — and the answer lies in your sandwich press. 

This is, in fact, one of our favorite unique ways to use a sandwich press. Just make sure you have a good one, which you can get without much of a major investment on Amazon, like this well-reviewed Dominion panini press. Then, cut nice, thick slabs of halloumi and place them right on the grill plates without oil. The reason halloumi is eaten cooked and retains the kind of bite that makes it a burger patty replacement candidate is that it has a high melting point — it won't just run into ooey-gooey-ness, and that means it won't stick to your grill plates, either. In just about three minutes, you'll have perfectly cooked halloumi.

Whether you fry, bake, or grill halloumi, the goal is to get that crisped, caramelized exterior while retaining an interior that has rich creaminess and some chew to it — famously known as being "squeaky." Cooking helps downplay halloumi's saltiness, too, so you get just the right balance. The sandwich press achieves what any of these methods would, especially grilling, but with speed, ease, and efficiency. You don't have to fire up the grill, or spend the three to four minutes per side heating the halloumi. One quick three-minute cook in the press (thanks to the heat coming from both the top and bottom), and you've got that charred-outside, squeaky-inside cheese. 

While halloumi is definitely a delectable option for frying, this approach also takes three to four minutes for each side and requires oil. So the sandwich press could be a healthier alternative for cooking this cheese since it bypasses the need for oil. Once you have your panini press-perfected halloumi, use it as the main attraction in tacos or top it with pomegranate on crostini. Make our grilled halloumi-and-tomato skewers or grilled halloumi with roasted carrots, but press the halloumi instead of grilling. With a sandwich press, you'll be eating tasty dishes that feel fancy in half the time with less prep and fewer ingredients, and that's a kitchen hack worth repeating.