Do you love cheese? Then do not read this one hungry, because I just went back through these 40 cheese recipes and now I have to drive to the store for the bacon wrapped cheese bombs, which will be the third time I have made them this month. My love of cheese is more than official at this point. The list runs from gooey grilled cheese sandwiches and three cheese garlic bread to party snacks, an easy mac and cheese recipe or two, a handful of five minute cheese appetizer ideas and a few desserts built on cream cheese. Whether your favorite is cheddar, swiss, queso blanco, mozzarella, gruyere, gouda or cottage cheese, there is something here with your name on it, and there is a whole run of vegan and dairy free cheeses toward the end if that is how your kitchen works. Every one comes with step by step photos at the source, so you can see exactly what you are getting into.
Best Cheese Recipes
1. Monte Cristo Style Grilled Cheese Sandwich
A Monte Cristo is a ham and Swiss sandwich that got dipped in egg on its way to the pan, and it is the one cheese recipe on here that argues with itself about whether it is breakfast or lunch. Mayo goes on one slice, grainy mustard on the other, Swiss on both, ham in the middle, then the whole sandwich takes a quick bath in egg beaten with half and half and hits foaming butter. Powdered sugar over the top, raspberry jam on the side. Twenty minutes, one sandwich, and no, the jam is not optional.
Get the full tutorial at Renee's Kitchen Adventures.
2. Baked Parmesan Tomatoes
Some of the best cheese dishes are barely recipes at all, and this is my favorite kind of proof. Slice beefsteak tomatoes about a quarter inch thick, lay them on a sprayed sheet pan, cover each one with shaved parmesan, then scatter dried basil and oregano over the lot. Ten minutes at 400 and the cheese goes melty and bubbling at the edges. Fresh Italian parsley on top at the end, and serve them right away while the tomatoes still have some structure. One batch makes about twelve, which sounds like plenty until people start eating them standing up.
Get the full tutorial at Zen & Spice.
3. Crispy Baked Avocado Chips
One ripe avocado and a good handful of grated parmesan, mashed together with lemon juice, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, then spooned into little mounds and baked until the edges go lacy and crisp. The parmesan is doing all the real work here, both for flavor and for the crisp, so this is not the place to be careful with it. They are low carb and keto friendly, and they vanish faster than anything that ever came out of a bag. This one is ours, start to finish.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
4. Brazilian Cheese Puffs
Pao de queijo, and the reason these work is tapioca flour instead of wheat, which is what makes them chewy inside and crackly outside. Everything goes in the blender: milk, a room temperature egg, olive oil, grated parmesan and salt, then the tapioca flour half a cup at a time. Pour into a well buttered mini muffin tin, leaving about an eighth of an inch at the top, and bake at 400 for fifteen to eighteen minutes. Gluten free and grain free without trying to be, which is the best kind.
Get the full tutorial at Rebooted Mom.
5. Strawberry Caprese Stuffed Avocados
Caprese salad, rebuilt inside avocado halves, with strawberries standing in for tomato. Fresh mozzarella pearls, chopped strawberries and torn basil pile into the hollow where the pit was, and white balsamic goes over the top to cut all that creaminess. I was skeptical of strawberry and avocado together until somebody served it to me, and it works better than it has any right to. It looks like a showstopper on a board and takes about ten minutes. Another one of ours.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
6. Best Vegan Chipotle Cheddar Cheese Sauce
There is no tapioca starch and no cashew soaking marathon in this one. Yukon gold potatoes, carrots and a half cup of cashews simmer together for about twenty minutes until everything is fork tender, then the whole lot goes in a high speed blender with almond milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic and onion powder and one chipotle pepper in adobo. That single chipotle is doing all the smoky work. Thirty minutes total, and it pours like queso over fries, broccoli or a baked potato.
Get the full tutorial at Sweet Simple Vegan.
7. Japanese Korokke
Korokke are Japanese potato croquettes, and the cheese version hides chopped Swiss or Gouda in the middle so it strings when you break one open. Two pounds of potatoes get boiled, dried out over low heat so they are not wet, then mashed with butter and cooled sauteed onion. Shape them warm around the cheese, chill fifteen to thirty minutes, then flour, egg and panko and back in the fridge until you are ready to fry. That double chill is what keeps them from bursting. Makes sixteen, with tonkatsu sauce.
Get the full tutorial at Manu's Menu.
8. Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Filled Cinnamon And Sugar Donuts
This is the ambitious one on the list and I am not going to pretend otherwise. You make a real yeast dough with oil, milk, sugar, active dry yeast, salt, an egg and four cups of flour, let it rise, fry the rounds, then pipe salted caramel cream cheese into the middle and roll them in cinnamon sugar. About two hours all in and it yields twenty four, so it is a weekend project rather than a Tuesday one. Cream cheese in a donut is a genuinely good idea and more people should know.
Get the full tutorial at Olive and Artisan.
9. Spicy Southern Cheese Crackers
Eight ounces of sharp cheddar beaten with a half cup of butter for a full three minutes, which is longer than feels necessary and is exactly why these come out light instead of dense. Then salt, a half teaspoon of cayenne, black pepper, garlic powder and a cup and a half of flour. Roll it into a one inch log, chill thirty minutes, slice an eighth of an inch thick and bake at 375 for about fifteen. They keep a week in a tin, they are better than any boxed cheese cracker, and the cayenne is not shy.
Get the full tutorial at Brown Eyed Baker.
10. Fried Cheesecake Rolls
Twenty four ounces of cream cheese beaten smooth with sugar and vanilla, rolled up in small flour tortillas, and here is the step you cannot skip: freeze them on a sheet pan for a full hour before they go anywhere near oil. Skip it and the filling escapes. Fry about a minute a side, brush with melted butter while hot and roll in cinnamon sugar. There is a strawberry sauce to go with, simmered with a little vodka and lemon juice. Thirty five minutes, fifteen to twenty rolls, and no regrets.
Get the full tutorial at B Sugar Mama.
11. Cheesy Garlic Bread
Three cheeses, and the ratio matters: a full cup of fresh grated mozzarella for the pull, a half cup of sharp cheddar for flavor and a half cup of parmesan for the salty browned bits. Split a French loaf lengthwise, spread it edge to edge with butter creamed with five cloves of minced garlic and chopped parsley, pile the cheese on and bake at 350 for ten minutes. Then broil two or three minutes and stand there watching it, because that is the window where it goes from perfect to gone.
Get the full tutorial at Yellow Bliss Road.
12. Keto Cheese Meatballs
Six ingredients, and one of them is a cube of mozzarella hidden in the middle of each meatball. Cut the cheese into roughly one centimeter cubes, mix a pound of ground beef with three tablespoons of parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then wrap the meat around each cube and seal it properly. You get about nine. Pan fry them with a lid on so the heat comes at them from every side, or bake at 355 for twenty five minutes. Some cheese always escapes. Consider it a bonus crisp, not a failure.
Get the full tutorial at Fat For Weight Loss.
13. Veggie Cream Cheese Spread
A dairy free cream cheese built on a cup and a half of cashews soaked several hours or overnight, which is nearly all of the work and none of the effort. Drain them, then process with cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, onion and garlic powder and a little paprika, adding water a tablespoon at a time. Be patient, it takes five to ten minutes of scraping the bowl before it turns genuinely smooth. Then stir in shredded carrot, diced bell pepper, green onion, parsley and dill. Better cold than fresh.
Get the full tutorial at Veggie Inspired.
14. Sweet Cream Cheese Wontons
Eight ounces of cream cheese and a half cup of powdered sugar, and then the only trick is restraint: a half teaspoon per wrapper, no more, or they split. Keep the unused wrappers under a dish towel because they dry out fast. Fry four or five at a time in oil just under 350 for forty five seconds to a minute, or bake at 375 on a sheet pan you preheated first, which is what makes the bottoms crisp instead of soggy. The filling takes cherry pie filling or Nutella just as happily.
Get the full tutorial at The Cozy Cook.
15. Philly Steak & Cheese Skillet
A cheesesteak with the bread taken away and the sauce turned up. Steak browns first and comes out, then a sweet onion and three colors of bell pepper cook until the edges catch. The sauce is where it stops being ordinary: garlic in a little oil, brandy reduced by half, then ginger, soy, Worcestershire, mirin, sriracha and ketchup simmered five minutes. Everything goes back in the pan under provel or grated provolone, five minutes at 400, then a minute or two under a low broil.
Get the full tutorial at Small Town Woman.
16. Goat Cheese With Honey, Fig & Pistachios
Four ingredients and five minutes, and this is the appetizer people ask you for afterward. Spread a quarter cup of chopped roasted pistachios on a small plate and roll an eleven ounce goat cheese log through them so the top and sides are coated. Move it to a serving tray, drizzle two tablespoons of honey over it, then warm a tablespoon of fig spread in the microwave for ten seconds so it pours instead of sitting in a lump, and drizzle that too. Crackers or bread alongside. That is the entire recipe.
Get the full tutorial at Simple Healthy Kitchen.
17. Cheese Potato Pancakes
The potatoes here are not cooked first, they are grated raw and then squeezed properly dry, and that one step is the whole difference between crisp and limp. Cheese, onion and garlic go in with them, plus whatever else you like, paprika or chili or herbs. Fry them until the outside is genuinely crunchy and the inside stays soft. They are good as a side and better as a snack, they hold up in a lunch box, and the source says to double the quantities because they go fast. Believe that part.
Get the full tutorial at Home Cooking Adventure.
18. Bacon Wrapped Cheese Bombs
This is the one I mentioned up top, and yes, it is worth the trip to the store. Flatten a canned biscuit, but not too thin or the cheese escapes, brush it with melted butter mixed with grated garlic, put a mozzarella cube in the middle and pinch the seams shut. Wrap each one in half a slice of bacon with a toothpick through it, then fry at 350, no hotter, for about two minutes a side. Drain on paper towels. Ten of them, garlic butter or marinara for dipping, and a very short shelf life.
Get the full tutorial at Crunchy Creamy Sweet.
19. Best Pimiento Cheese
Two and a half cups of shredded sharp cheddar plus a cup and a half of extra sharp white, which is the ratio that keeps it from tasting flat. Then a cup of diced pimentos, one or two jalapenos, a half cup of mayo, celery salt, white pepper and a little vinegar based hot sauce. Stir, that is it, there is no cooking at all. Shred your own cheese if you have the patience, because the anticaking powder on bagged cheese is what makes store bought pimiento cheese feel chalky. Keeps a week.
Get the full tutorial at Cooking With Janica.
20. Easy Garlic Cheese Bombs
Same idea as the bacon wrapped ones and a completely different job: these are baked, not fried, so you can make them on a weeknight without getting out a pot of oil. Cube mozzarella into three quarter inch pieces, seal each one inside a biscuit, then brush with melted butter mixed with two teaspoons of dry Ranch seasoning and garlic. Bake at 400 for thirteen to fifteen minutes, brush again with the leftover butter and let them sit five minutes. Marinara on the side. Makes about ten.
Get the full tutorial at Crunchy Creamy Sweet.
21. Cheese Soup
Carrot, onion and celery go into the food processor rather than being diced, which is a shortcut worth stealing on any soup. They cook in four tablespoons of butter, then a half cup of flour goes in slowly to build a roux, deglazed with vegetable stock. Heavy and light cream simmer in for five to ten minutes. Then off the heat, and only off the heat, stir in two and a half cups of grated cheddar so it melts smooth instead of splitting. Blend it, season with cayenne, top with croutons.
Get the full tutorial at A Dish of Daily Life.
22. Herbed Goat Cheese
The single best tip on this entire list comes from this recipe: cut goat cheese with fishing line or dental floss, not a knife. A knife will frustrate you and smear the log into a mess. After that it is simple, soft goat cheese sliced and layered with chopped fresh herbs, olive oil and smashed peppercorn, adapted from Ina Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey. Serve it with bread and, when the cheese is gone, dip the bread in the leftover oil. Any oil still left after that becomes salad dressing.
Get the full tutorial at Shutterbean.
23. Grilled Cheese Margherita Sandwich
Pizza margherita rebuilt as a grilled cheese, and it makes more sense than it has any right to. A tablespoon of marinara on each slice, fresh mozzarella, tomato slices seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder, a drizzle of olive oil and five or six basil leaves. Butter the outsides and grill a minute and a half to two minutes a side until the cheese starts to run. If the middle is still stubborn, two or three minutes in a 350 oven finishes it. Makes six, which is a lunch for a crowd.
Get the full tutorial at Cook With Kushi.
24. Mushroom Swiss Cheese Burger
The seasoning list is where this burger earns its place: a pound and a half of ground beef mixed with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, rubbed rosemary and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Sear the cremini mushrooms for barely a minute first and set them aside. Burgers get about five minutes a side, then the mushrooms and Swiss go on top and you cover the pan for thirty seconds. Thirty seconds is all it needs. Brioche buns, arugula, and it makes five, not four, so somebody gets two.
Get the full tutorial at Two Purple Figs.
25. Vegan Feta Cheese
Feta made from a block of extra firm tofu, and the honest version of this is that it is a marinade, not a cheese making project. Press the tofu properly, cube it, then let it sit at least two hours in lime juice, apple cider vinegar, parsley, sea salt, black pepper, dried oregano, water and a pinch of garlic powder. Thai chili and green habanero are optional and add real heat. Shake the bowl to coat rather than stirring, because tofu crumbles if you handle it before the marinade has set it.
Get the full tutorial at Healing Tomato.
26. Eggnog Cheesecake
Twenty four ounces of cream cheese and a full cup of eggnog, with nutmeg in both the graham crust and the filling. This is a water bath cheesecake and the cooling schedule is the recipe: bake at 300 for an hour and thirty to forty minutes, turn the oven off and leave it in with the door shut for thirty minutes, then crack the door for another thirty, then chill five to six hours or overnight. Rushing any of those steps is how cheesecakes crack. Eggnog whipped cream on top.
Get the full tutorial at Life Love and Sugar.
27. Fried Macaroni and Cheese Bites
Make the mac and cheese properly first, with a roux and a pound of shredded sharp cheddar, then chill it for an hour so it firms up. Roll one inch balls, freeze those for another hour, and only then do the egg wash and seasoned bread crumbs. Fry at 320, which is lower than you would guess and exactly why the outside browns without the inside melting out. Three to four minutes each, twenty four bites, and they are better than the frozen ones by an embarrassing margin.
Get the full tutorial at Thrifty Jinxy.
28. Jalapeño Cashew Cheese Spread
The brine is the secret here, not the peppers. Three tablespoons of liquid straight out of the pickled jalapeno jar, plus lemon juice, tamari and a teaspoon of white miso, go into the blender first so they sit under the blade, then three quarters of a cup of soaked cashews on top. That order matters when there is barely any liquid to work with. Blend until completely smooth, then add chopped pickled jalapenos and pulse ten to twenty seconds so you keep some texture. Thickens as it chills.
Get the full tutorial at Cadry's Kitchen.
29. Baked Cinnamon Cream Cheese Roll-Ups
Sliced bread with the crusts cut off and flattened with a rolling pin, which turns a loaf into something that behaves like pastry. Spread each slice thickly with cream cheese beaten with three tablespoons of powdered sugar, roll it up tight, dip the whole roll in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar. Twenty minutes at 350 and they come out tasting like churros, for about four ingredients and five minutes of prep. Ten to twelve of them, and they are best warm.
Get the full tutorial at Kylee Cooks.
30. Avocado Toast With Cottage Cheese and Tomatoes
Cottage cheese has quietly become the most useful thing in the fridge, and this is the easiest argument for it. A quarter cup on each slice of toasted whole grain bread, salt and pepper, then sliced avocado, tomato and thin red onion, and another pinch of salt over the top. No cooking at all, five minutes, eight slices. It is a real breakfast with real protein that does not involve turning anything on, which matters more on a Tuesday morning than any clever technique.
Get the full tutorial at The Lemon Bowl.
31. Melty Stretchy Gooey Vegan Mozzarella
Seven ingredients, fifteen minutes, and it genuinely stretches, which most vegan mozzarella does not. Boil a half cup of cashews for ten minutes to soften them, then blend with a cup of water, tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, cider vinegar, salt and garlic powder until completely smooth. It will look alarmingly watery. Pour it into a saucepan over medium high and stir constantly, and after about five minutes it clumps and then turns into actual stretchy cheese. Do not stop stirring.
Get the full tutorial at It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken.
32. Raw Lavender Lemon Chevre
A raw nut chevre, and the flavoring is what makes it worth the trouble: dried lavender and lemon, with maple syrup to round it out. Soak two cups of cashews, pine nuts or macadamias for four hours, then blend with the juice of one lemon, a tablespoon of zest, sea salt and two tablespoons of maple syrup until creamy. Stir the lavender in by hand at the end so it stays speckled rather than disappearing. Roll it in cheesecloth into a log and chill overnight. Serves eight, with crackers or strawberries.
Get the full tutorial at Fragrant Vanilla Cake.
33. Super Easy Puff Pastry Cheese Twists
One sheet of puff pastry and a bowl of cheese, and that is genuinely the whole thing. Mix a third of a cup of shredded cheddar with a quarter cup of shaved parmesan, crushed garlic, oregano and salt. Brush the pastry with beaten egg, cover half with the cheese mix, fold it over, brush again, then spread the rest on top. Cut half inch strips, twist each one and bake at 430 for about fifteen minutes. Twelve twists, and they are excellent in a lunch box the next day, if there are any left.
Get the full tutorial at Cooking Perfected.
34. Cajun Shrimp and Crab Mac and Cheese
Four cheeses, crab and cajun shrimp, and a custard of whole milk, evaporated milk and beaten eggs that sets the whole thing rather than leaving it saucy. Sear the seasoned shrimp four to six minutes, cook the macaroni just to al dente, mix it with the shrimp, crab and basil, then fold in the cheese milk mixture and bake at 350 for forty five to fifty five minutes with foil over the top for the last twenty. Let it rest twenty five to thirty minutes before you cut it. That rest is not optional.
Get the full tutorial at Queenslee Appetit.
35. Vegan Nacho Cheese
No nuts in this one, which makes it the version to hand to anyone with an allergy. White potatoes and carrots boil for about ten minutes and go straight into the blender while hot, and the timing is strict: overcook them and they turn starchy and the sauce will never be smooth. Then oil, nondairy milk, lemon juice, pickled jalapeno slices and their brine, tomato paste, arrowroot, garlic and onion powder and nutritional yeast. You do need a high powered blender. Twenty five minutes, two cups.
Get the full tutorial at Hot For Food.
36. Parmesan Garlic Noodles
One pot, fifteen minutes, and the trick is cooking the angel hair directly in three cups of chicken broth and never draining it. The starch stays in the pan and becomes the sauce. Five or six cloves of garlic go in butter and olive oil first, then the broth, then the pasta. Off the heat, rest it a minute, stir in a cup of freshly grated parmesan until it melts, then the half and half and parsley. Let it stand five minutes, because the sauce keeps thickening as the pasta drinks it up.
Get the full tutorial at Happily Unprocessed.
37. Italian Antipasto Grilled Cheese
An entire antipasto platter folded into a sandwich: provolone, sixteen slices of pepperoni, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, black olives, banana peppers and fresh spinach between two pieces of Italian bread. The one instruction that matters is drain and pat everything dry, all of it, or the bread turns to paste in the pan. Butter goes in the skillet half a tablespoon at a time, once for each side. It makes one sandwich and it is a substantial lunch on its own.
Get the full tutorial at Lemon Tree Dwelling.
38. Creamy Garlic Parmesan Mac & Cheese
This is the mac and cheese recipe I would point a beginner at, because it happens in one pan and it explains itself. Toast the panko in butter first and set it aside, that is what gives you the crunchy top without a separate step. Then a roux with four crushed garlic cloves, four and a half cups of milk added a quarter cup at a time, a cornstarch slurry to finish the thickening, and bouillon powder for depth. Cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella off the heat, then broil ten to fifteen minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Cafe Delites.
39. Vegan Cauliflower Queso in the Instant Pot
A dairy free queso built on cauliflower and made in the pressure cooker, from Kathy Hester’s The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot. It is rich and creamy enough that you forget it is essentially vegetables, and the Instant Pot gets it done fast enough to make it a Super Bowl or March Madness dip rather than a project. The source blogger admits to eating it straight out of the blender, which strikes me as the highest praise a queso can be given.
Get the full tutorial at Tasting Page.
40. Baked Tofu Feta
The other tofu feta on this list, and it takes a different road: this one bakes. Press a block of firm tofu, cut it into half inch cubes and marinate at least four hours, ideally overnight, in water, the juice of a lemon, cider vinegar, dried oregano, two teaspoons of salt, nutritional yeast, olive oil and minced garlic. Then drain off the marinade and bake at 200 degrees for two hours, turning every thirty minutes. Low and slow is what gives it the crumb and the salty bite. Keeps a week.
Get the full tutorial at Fried Dandelions.
