Super Crusty Grilled Cheese

Believe it or not, an air fryer makes a much toastier grilled cheese than a skillet on a stove’s burner. But stick with us here: The machines does so only if the sandwich is made with mayonnaise. Not inside, mind you. Rather, the mayo is slathered on the outside of the bread before the sandwich goes into the air fryer. Even if you don’t like mayonnaise, trust us on this one. The mayonnaise will melt into the bread and turn it super crunchy. Just don’t use fat-free mayo. The stabilizers will break under the heat and render the sandwich soggy—which defeats the whole purpose of using an air fryer for the perfect grilled cheese. What goes with a grilled cheese? Tomato soup, potato chips, sweet pickles, and a root beer float, of course. (Also, don’t plan on doing anything except sleeping all afternoon.) Author © Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough Photograph © Eric Medsker

Course

Breakfast

Difficulty

Easy

Cooking Technique

Air Fry, Instant Omni Toaster Oven and Air Fryer

Keywords

16 servings, air fry, bread, breakfast, cheese, cook 6 min, dairy, easy, instant omni toaster oven and air fryer, kid friendly, of white bread, prep 8 min, regular or low-fat mayonnaise, sandwich, sharp american cheddar cheese

Prep Time

8 min

Cook Time

6 min

Servings

16 Servings

Ingredients

4 slices of white bread
1/4 cup regular or low-fat mayonnaise
8 slices sharp American cheddar cheese

Instructions

1 tbsp mayonnaise on one side of each piece of bread Set two slices of bread, mayo-side down, on a cutting board. Top each with four slices of cheese, fanning them out and overlapping them to cover the bread. (There’s nothing worse than a stingy grilled cheese.) Top each with another slice of bread, mayo-side up.
Set the machine to "Air Fry." Set the temperature to 400 °F and the timer to 8 minutes (which will be a little more than you need). Press START.
When the machine beeps, indicates "add food," or is heated to the proper temperature, set the sandwiches in the basket or on the tray with about 1 inch of space around each. Use separate trays or work in batches as necessary.
Air-fry, turning the sandwiches once after 3 minutes but otherwise ignoring any "Turn Food" indicator, until browned all over and particularly crunchy at the edges, about 6 minutes. When turning the sandwiches, swap the trays from top to bottom if you used more than one.
Turn off the machine and use a nonstick-safe spatula to transfer the sandwiches to a fine-mesh wire rack. Cool for about 5 minutes before slicing (on the diagonal, of course—don’t be a savage!) and enjoying it warm.
Substitute whole-grain bread, but remember that most are loaded with extra sugar. In other words, they can brown and burn quickly. Watch them carefully.
Swap out the sharp cheddar for just about any sliced cheese you like: Swiss, provolone, Jack, Colby, even Havarti. Make sure the slices are the same size as the bread so that no cheese overlaps the edge of the sandwich. (That cheese will melt and burn during cooking.)
And/or take the sandwich over the top by reducing the cheese to two slices per sandwich and adding two 1-ounce slices of deli ham to each.