Do you love lasagna? Do you love grilled cheese sandwiches? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then you are going to love this lasagna grilled cheese sandwich! This sandwich is the perfect combination of two of our favorite dishes. Grilled to perfection, this lasagna grilled cheese sandwich is filled with gooey cheese and aromatic herbs. Every bite is an explosion of flavor. The sandwich is made with thick bread (like sourdough), roasted cherry tomatoes, layered ricotta, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil!
What is lasagna grilled cheese?
Imagine if you could take all of your favorite cheeses, sauce, and herbs from lasagna and put them inside perfectly toasted, thick slices of bread. That’s what lasagna grilled cheese is!
This sandwich has all the best lasagna filling ingredients between two crispy pieces of toast to bring lasagna to your lunchtime.
It’s not often (read: never) that I make myself an entire pan of lasagna. I know it’s certainly what Tron (read: my own personal Garfield) would like, but a whole pan of lasagna feels like a daunting amount of leftovers. However, I can commit to a small skillet lasagna or lasagna turned into a ridiculously melty sandwich.
Sure, we can’t go wrong with buttery grilled bread with cheese, but we can turn the dial to 11 with herbed ricotta, mozzarella, and roasted cherry tomatoes.
What is the best type of bread for lasagna grilled cheese?
Use your favorite loaf of crusty bread, sliced thick. I like to use sourdough bread or Texas Toast because it is so thick and holds up to all the delicious fillings I added to it.
What kind of tomatoes do you use in lasagna grilled cheese?
Since this is a lasagna-inspired sandwich, use some cherry tomatoes, a swirl of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast the cherry tomatoes before adding them to the sandwich; they will be extra caramelized and delicious.
What type of cheese melts best for grilled cheese?
Use a combination of grated mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese. Whole milk ricotta is extra rich and creamy.
Tip: Add a few sprigs of fresh basil and lemon zest for some bright and new flavors that enhance everything perfectly.
How do you make the sandwich extra golden and crispy?
Spread some real butter on the outside of the slices of bread. This will make the sandwich toasty golden, and delicious.
How to make the best lasagna grilled cheese
Grilled cheese is a simple sandwich, but this isn’t your ordinary grilled cheese. Instead, it’s a grown-up sandwich with lots of layers and steps. Thankfully, it’s still pretty simple. Follow these tips, and you’ll have a sandwich that tastes so good that you’ll swear it came from a hired chef.
Note: If you love grilled cheese sandwiches, then make all of my favorite grilled cheese recipes. The pesto butter recipe is out of this world!
1. Roast the cherry tomatoes
Start by roasting the cherry tomatoes with a few glugs of olive oil, a generous amount of sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Roast the tomatoes until they burst and bubble. Basically, they should become tomato candy.
If you want to make cleanup easier at the end, I suggest placing some parchment paper on your baking sheet. The cherry tomatoes will stick to the baking sheet if you don’t.
2. Mix the ricotta layer
While the tomatoes roast, stir together the ricotta layer. Mix ricotta, fresh basil, salt, and pepper. I like to add just a hint of lemon zest to brighten all the flavors.
Tip: Use fresh basil over the dried stuff in the jar. That burst of earthy freshness from leaves you plucked off a plant just can’t be matched. Dried basil has muted flavors that don’t stand out when you use them. Use the fresh leaves – you’ll thank me later.
3. Assemble the sandwich
Now let’s assemble the lasagna grilled cheese sandwich!
Butter the outside of two slices of bread.
Tip: I suggest using unsalted butter because you already use salt in everything else. If you use salted butter, you risk the sandwich tasting slightly too salty.
4. Add ingredients and grill it
Flip the slices over and top both sides with grated mozzarella cheese. Layer the ricotta cheese on one side of the sandwich and top it with tomatoes.
You know what to do, put that sandwich on the grill and cook it to perfection.
Grill until golden on each side.
If the cheese melts and sizzles over the side of the sandwich, that’s all part of the joy.
5. Serve the lasagna grilled cheese and enjoy!
I mean, come now. There’s no wrong way to do a grilled cheese sandwich, but there certainly are more correct ways to make them. This lasagna version of grilled cheese is incredibly ooey gooey comforting. It’s an effortless luxury, and you’re invited. And as long as we’re fancy, see the French onion grilled cheese sandwich.
Since we are extra fancy, don’t just serve this with your run-of-the-mill tomato soup. Instead, make some creamy and nutritious tomato zucchini soup. It has some sweet notes that only come from garden-fresh zucchini.
You can also serve this sandwich with savory and cheesy asparagus and gruyere tart. The earthy asparagus and slightly-nutty gruyere are a perfect duo on this flaky bread.
Or, sit back and enjoy this incredible sandwich all by itself. It’s so filling that you don’t need to eat anything else with it.
Other sandwich recipes you might consider:
Peanut Butter, Bacon, Banana French Toast Sandwiches
Print
Lasagna Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 sandwiches 1x
- Category: Lunch
Description
An ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwich with roasted tomatoes and herbed ricotta.
Ingredients
For the Tomatoes:
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes, some halved
- A few glugs of olive oil
- Sea salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
For the Sandwich:
- 1/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
- Sea salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- A zest of lemon rind (optional)
- 1/2 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
- A few tablespoons butter, softened
- Good crusty bread, sliced
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a small rimmed baking sheet with either foil or parchment paper. Dump tomatoes onto the lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Roast until the tomatoes burst and sizzle, about 20-25 minutes.
- In a small bowl stir together ricotta, basil, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add a pinch of lemon zest if you have it on hand.
- Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Butter one side of four slices of bread. With the butter sides down, divide the mozzarella cheese between the four slices. Spread two of the slices with ricotta cheese. Top the ricotta with a few spoonfuls of roasted tomato. Top with the other piece of bread.
- Grill the two sandwiches until golden brown and crisp on the outside, and melty on the inside.
- Remove from the skillet and allow to rest for just a few minutes before slicing in half and enjoying warm.
Photos with my friend Jon Melendez.
18 Responses
This was delicious and a delight to make and eat! What a lovely idea, thanks Joy!
Also, I can’t access your skillet lasagna recipe — could you help? I’d love to try that next!
Delicious! What a way to elevate the grilled cheese sandwich.
Dreamy sandwich!!
Made these last night for my family, we all loved it! My husband said it was amazing. I did use skim-milk ricotta to reduce the risk of soggy bread. Definitely a keeper. Thank you!
I don’t dig on tomatoes, but I bet this would be good with pizza sauce.
This was sooo amazing even my kids loved it and said to make this for there school lunch nI used gluten free toast bread cause I’m gluten free and I added pieces of chicken and tomato sauce I’m sure it would be great with ground beef or lamb
That sounds fantastic!
I have not made it yet. I am wondering about the number of sandwiches the recipe make. A pound of tomatoes, and almost a cup of cheeses for two sandwiches. I am not sure.
This will leave you with some leftover tomatoes and you can use whatever amount of cheese you prefer for your sandwich! Hope you enjoy!
Joy, that looks perfect. I am making this sandwich. What a great way to use up all the cherry tomatoes that are available still. Thank you.
Jeez Louise, I have to try this. Might even add some chopped artichokes, spinach to make it more healthy and added fiber!
Thanks, hope everyone you love are safe
Spinach and artichokes would be fantastic!
lovely a very sophisticated grilled cheese! Love these lasagna flavors, thank you
kind of disappointed there aren’t actual noodles in the sandwich but I guess my kitchen my rules ;) looks delish!
This sandwich should be illegal…it looks dangerously delicious. I have all the necessary ingredients EXCEPT the crusty bread. I will be heading out to the store later today . I need to have this sandwich very, very soon.
Thanks, Joy!
While there’s only 2 of us, I do make lasagna semi-frequently and then freeze it in edible portions. It’s so nice to have something delicious for dinner when I don’t feel like cooking – just heating up. I guarantee that the ingredients for these sandwiches are already on my grocery list for the coming week! Our heirloom tomatoes are getting near the end of their growing season as is our basil so this came at a great time. Thank you so much for a recipe that definitely makes the conversion to fall a pleasant one…have a great rest of the week and stay safe.
Looks SO good. And maybe, to guild the lily, add a dash of pesto.
Either way, delicious.
I roast small tomatoes all the time. Parchment paper makes sense for clean up but might soak up too much of those lovely caramelized juices. I squeegee up every last drop.
Thanks Joy!
If this doesn’t help me transition from summer to fall nothing will! Thank you, Joy!