Our 16 Best Pimento Cheese Recipes

By Maria Yagoda
Updated March 30, 2020
© Abby Hocking
Pimento cheese, that beloved Southern staple, is perfect on its own, but it also makes for an excellent addition to other dishes. Here, our best dishes featuring pimento cheese, from pimento quesadillas to squash blossoms with pimento ricotta.
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Pimento Cheese Grits

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In this clever dish from Bobby Flay, he folds the classic ingredients of pimento cheese (a Southern starter made with cheddar cheese, cream cheese and roasted peppers) into warm, creamy grits, switching up smoky Spanish piquillos for the jarred pimientos.

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Grilled Ham-and-Pimento-Cheese Sandwiches with Fonduta and Fried Eggs

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This crispy, melty sandwich is topped with creamy three-cheese sauce and a fried egg.

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Pimento Cheese with Salt-and-Pepper Butter Crackers

© CON POULOS
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TV chef Carla Hall makes her own crunchy crackers to serve with her cheese spread, a riff on a Southern classic.

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Katie's Pimento Goat Cheese

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"My grandpa always used to make pimento cheese for me with sharp cheddar, or even Velveeta," says Katie Lee about the sweet pepper-studded spread, a Southern classic that's also a great dip. "I wanted to make it more grown-up." Katie's goat-cheese version is light and silky.

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Pimento Cheese & Bacon Crostini

BURCU AVSAR
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There’s nothing more indulgent than melted and browned pimento cheese topped with crispy bacon.

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Pimento Cheese

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Pimientos are large, sweet, heart-shaped peppers that are typically used for canning. Pimento cheese—the simple combination of grated cheddar cheese with mayonnaise and pimientos—is a Southern staple often served on crackers or vegetables. The key to making the best pimento cheese is top-quality sharp cheddar. But Angie Mosier, owner of Blue-Eyed Daisy Bakeshop in Palmetto, Georgia, says her personal secret is using sweet onions like Vidalia or Walla Walla.

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Pimento Cheese Quesadillas

MOLLY YEH
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Serve these Southern-style quesadillas with guacamole and lots of salsa.

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Pimento Cheese Fries

LUCAS ALLEN
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To take his french fries over the top, chef Jonathon Sawyer broils them with a tequila-spiked pimento cheese topping. It's wonderfully decadent melted into the fries and also excellent as a dip.

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Pimento-Cheese-and-Tomato Pie

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This luscious, quiche-like pie is a mash-up of two Southern favorites--tangy pimento cheese and silky tomato pie. The riper and more flavorful your tomato is, the better the pie will be. Crumble bacon over the top to really push it over the edge!

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Pimento Cheese Muffins

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Chef Lincoln Carson likes to bake a nugget of pimento cheese. The version here mixes the pimento cheese into the batter, so you get cheesy, peppery flavors in every bite.

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Squash Blossoms with Pimento Ricotta

FREDRIKA STJÄRNE
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Leigh Magar loves the fresh taste of edible flowers. For her, Matt Lee and Ted Lee created a new version of a Tuscan classic, fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta. They mix the ricotta with pimentos--an homage to pimento cheese, a Southern favorite--and serve the blossoms raw.

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Pimento Cheeseburgers with Bacon Jam

© Abby Hocking
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“This is like a bacon cheeseburger that went to heaven,” says chef Edward Lee. We agree.

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Achari Pimiento Cheese Spread

Victor Protasio
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Farhan Momin gives the dish a fresh twist by incorporating Indian pickling spices.

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Peaceburg Pimiento Cheese

Caitlin Bensel
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Chef Evan Babb uses dry, crumbly Peaceburg cheddar from Wright Dairy, paired with quick-roasted bell pepper and smoky chipotle chile powder.

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Pimiento Mac and Cheese

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Melissa Clark’s cheesy and warming mac uses a combination of cheddar and cream cheese.

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Poblano Pimento Cheese

Abby Hocking
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Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner and Beasley’s Chicken + Honey in Raleigh, North Carolina inspired Justin Chapple’s spicy riff on classic pimento cheese. Serve with crudité and crackers.

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By Maria Yagoda