Our 16 Best Pimento Cheese Recipes

Pimento Cheese Grits

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.

• Creamy Cheese Grits with Poached Eggs

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

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

• Three-Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese with Salt-and-Pepper Butter Crackers

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

• Apricot Butter

Katie's Pimento Goat Cheese

"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.

• Crispy Wonton Goat Cheese Ravioli

Pimento Cheese & Bacon Crostini

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

• Tuna-and-Apple Crostini

Pimento Cheese

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.

• Three-Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese Quesadillas

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

• Hawaiian Quesadillas

Pimento Cheese Fries

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.

• Salt-and-Vinegar French Fries

Pimento-Cheese-and-Tomato Pie

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!

• Provençal Vegetable Tart

Pimento Cheese Muffins

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.

• Cheddar-Chive Corn Muffins

Squash Blossoms with Pimento Ricotta

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.

• Butternut Squash with Homemade Harissa

Pimento Cheeseburgers with Bacon Jam

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

Achari Pimiento Cheese Spread

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

Peaceburg Pimiento Cheese

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

Pimiento Mac and Cheese

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

Poblano Pimento Cheese

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.