jalapeño popper grilled cheese

At this point in our shelter at home crusade we are SO ready for the ultimate comfort food! If you haven’t yet made some epic grilled cheese sandwiches, what are you waiting for?

I’m sharing some of the best vegan grilled cheese recipes from the blog and have a new recipe for a spicy and savory jalapeño popper grilled cheese down below. Oh yes! It’s like my popular jalapeño poppers smashed together between bread. Drool! But before we get to that taste explosion let’s get to the bottom of something. How do you cut your grilled cheese sandwiches?

If you’ve been around a while you might remember the old debate from this video. Do you cut it in half straight down the middle or diagonally?

According to y’all diagonal is the only way and I was labelled a psycho for slicing it the other way. I’ll admit, I have since come over to your side. However, to make this more nuanced, the slice actually depends on the type of bread you’re using and typically I don’t use classic sandwich slices to make grilled cheese. I usually use a loaf of sour dough and as such the slices are oval and the sandwich ends up being cut in half as no diagonal exists. Complicated, I know. Well you decide and leave your well articulated points in the comments below!

jackfruit kimchi melts

Before we talk about jalapeños, let’s get into some kimchi! If spicy is your style then you gotta add my jackfruit kimchi melts to your “to do” list asap! Jackfruit is one of my fave meatless meats because it’s full of fibre and is freaking fruit for gosh sakes. It can take on any flavor and seasoning and the texture will surely satisfy. Like I mention in the recipe post, jackfruit seems to be well stocked during this covid pandemic. Likely because no one knows what the heck to do with it. Now that you’re in the know, stock up while you can because I have plenty of yummy jackfruit recipes on this blog.

Kimchi and cheese go together like peanut butter and chocolate. In fact, kimchi pretty much goes with everything so it’s about time I put it on a grilled cheese sandwich. Plus it’s fermented so it’s hella good for us. Get this recipe and make it now!

spicy vegan grilled cheese & beef sandwich

Of course, beef means vegan ground round people! I don’t know why some people still don’t know that this product exists. It’s one of my fave things to use. If you follow hot for food you will see it A LOT and it’s the perfect thing to add into a warm gooey grilled cheese sandwich. This recipe even has some pickled jalapeños in the mix to turn up the heat. As you can tell, I like my grilled cheese sandwiches nice and spicy.

If your comfort food cravings are really hitting hard, you could try this grilled cheese burger. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Two grilled cheese sandwiches on the outside of a hamburger patty! Crazier things are out there.

jalapeño popper grilled cheese

Now onto the main event! My new recipe for a vegan jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich. There are two cheeses in here for extra yumminess and you can definitely use whatever products you have available if you can’t find the ones I’ve listed in the recipe. But the key here is the bacon! I’ve used my coconut fakin’ bacon as I like the crunchiness over a meatier texture for this sandwich, but you could easily use tofu or tempeh bacon crumbles or slices, mushroom bacon or a store-bought vegan bacon product. Whatever your bacony pleasure be sure you don’t skimp on this element.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

jalapeño popper grilled cheese

this smokey and spicy jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich is decadent and delicious and will have you craving more!

Servings 2 sandwiches

Author Lauren Toyota

Ingredients

• 2 small jalapeños, seeded & thinly sliced
• 4 slices sourdough loaf
• 4 tbsp vegan butter
• 6 slices vegan smoked gouda style slices
• 6 tbsp soft spreadable vegan herb & garlic style cream cheese or cashew cheese
• 1/2 C coconut fakin’ bacon

Instructions

1. Heat a large nonstick or cast iron pan over low heat.

2. I find it's best to make one sandwich at a time. Butter one side of 2 slices of bread. Then add 3 tablespoons of the spreadable cheese to the other side of one of those slices. Place 1 slice butter side down in the pan. Top with 3 slices of smoked gouda per sandwich and jalapeño slices.

3. You can add the coconut fakin’ bacon now if you want, but I prefer adding into the sandwich after it's grilled as this will prevent the coconut bacon from getting too soggy. If using another kind of bacon you can add it in on top of the jalapeño slices. Then add the other slice of bread butter side up on top.

4. Cover the pan with a lid and heat for about 5 to 6 minutes or until an even golden brown is achieved on the bottom of the sandwich. Carefully flip the sandwich and leave covered for another 5 to 6 minutes until crispy and golden brown on the other side. Then turn off heat and leave the lid on for about 5 more minutes to get the cheese really melted. The key to get the cheese slices to melt well is to heat the sandwiches over low heat for a longer amount of time and trap the heat in the pan with the lid.

5. Gently lift the top piece of bread to add a handful of coconut fakin’ bacon to the sandwich. Slice in half and eat immediately! Make the other sandwich the same way as above.