Making a grilled cheese should be easy—in theory—It’s just bread, butter, and cheese on a pan, isn’t it? But doing “the perfect one” can be tricky if you’re using a frying pan. Maybe one side of the bread burns while the sandwich’s center is still cold, maybe the cheese doesn’t melt completely, maybe as soon as you get it out it turns all soggy. It makes what should be a fast and yummy food into something very annoying.
However, there’s a faster and cleaner way to get the desired golden crunch with a melty interior on your plate: using an air fryer. Simple sandwiches and tall piles of ingredients that usually crumble in a pan also work well with it.
Pan Vs. Air Fryer
The real reason a frying pan keeps betraying your grilled cheese is because the air circulation in a hot pan doesn’t work in your favor. A pan only heats from the bottom, which makes the bread brown before the cheese has a chance to melt because only one side is getting heat while the other side is getting cold air. You can try covering the pan to “even” the temperature a bit more, but this will just create steam, which will soften the crust instead of making it crisp.
Sadly, a toaster cannot compete here, either, because the bread’s buttered underside cannot be supported by it, which causes spills, splatters, and more cleanup than you would like.
The physics of cooking are changed by air fryers: The sandwich is constantly getting heat from all sides, and that hot air circulates around it, which in turn accelerates the melting of the cheese evenly. You don’t have to flip it over so much, so no risk or breaking the bread or spilling what’s inside because of the movements. And finally, you get a nice crust that goes throughout the part that are directly touched by butter or mayo.
Simple steps for reliable results
Build your sandwich with bread, sliced or shredded cheese in the center, and butter or mayo on the outside. Then, cook it for three to six minutes on each side after placing it in the air fryer basket and setting the temperature to 400°F (3 minutes if you want a light golden crisp, and 6 minutes if you want a crunchy, bold finish).
Everything will stay together when you flip it thanks to the melted cheese, making the once-risky move quick and safe. Shredded cheese may speed up the process and guarantee uniform coverage because it melts the fastest. Slices are equally successful in keeping their tidy position. Preheat your air fryer for one minute if necessary to help the crust begin crisping immediately.
You can put together a simple sandwich right in the basket by buttering the bread, centering the cheese, and buttering and preparing the top slice. But if your sandwich have many fillings, set them up outside the fryer before carefully placing them in the basket.
Upgrades, add-ins, and tidy technique
I’m an air fryer fan myself, but I never thought it would be the ultimate grilled cheese hack. It turns out, though, that the Air-Fryer strategy works even better when you go beyond the classic grilled cheese. Contained heat and even melting make it easier for fillings, like apple slices, tomatoes, roasted peppers, pickles, or cured meats, to stay together.
It is easy to flip a tall grilled cheese with prosciutto, apple slices, and soft cheese without the bread tearing or the ingredients slipping out. Even the exterior of cured meats gets a little extra crisping from the circulating air, and bread and soft cheeses like brie or camembert cook evenly without burning.