35 Ultra-Cheesy Recipes We Love

By Food & Wine
Updated November 11, 2019
Credit: Chloe Crespi
Gouda! Camembert! Mozzarella! We’re big fans of cheese at Food & Wine, and this roundup pays homage to some of our favorite recipes. You’ll find creamy grits laced with extra-sharp cheddar, a melty brie raclette that’s ripe for dipping, and a grilled cheese sandwich that will produce the cheese pulls of your dreams.
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Baked Camembert with Pears

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A splash of pear brandy plus maple syrup and Spanish almonds put a modern spin on baked Brie.

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Baked Four-Cheese Spaghetti

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Marc Murphy grew up eating this intensely cheesy baked spaghetti. "When I was young, we lived in Genoa, where spaghetti is the pasta of choice. This is my mother's version of macaroni and cheese," he says.

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Labneh

Credit: © Abby Hocking
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Labneh, a soft cheese made from strained yogurt, is rich, lightly tart and entirely delicious. Because labneh is not always easy to find at the grocery store, we make our own. While many recipes call for just whole-milk yogurt, we like the creamier texture and tangier flavor of a combination of yogurt and sour cream.

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Quick Apple Crumble with Labneh

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The blend of flavors and textures here—crunchy, smooth, nutty, sweet, tart—makes this simple dessert irresistible. Opt for labneh or another soft fresh cheese that won't melt quickly underneath the warm apples topped with a quick granola crumble.

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Macaroni and Many Cheeses

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At the end of their wine-and-cheese parties, Cheesewhizzes Helen Jane Hearn and Natalie Wassum gather any leftovers to make an incredible mac and cheese later in the week. The adaptation below, based on a recipe from Marion Cunningham's The Supper Book, works beautifully with any semihard cheese but is particularly good with an international blend of French Mimolette, aged Dutch Gouda and American Vella dry Jack. A fine layer of Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano forms a crisp topping.

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Classic Cheese Fondue

Credit: © Rob Howard
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Chef Ryan Hardy makes his luxurious fondue with two kinds of Swiss cheese (Emmentaler and Gruyère) and two kinds of spirits (white wine and Kirsch), all traditional ingredients. Some of the dipping items are also classic, like cubes of crusty bread and pickles, but some are unconventional, like slices of Hardy's salami and other hearty house-cured charcuterie, which are all wonderful with the winey fondue.

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Four Cheese-Stuffed Portobellos

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Laurent Tourondel's mushrooms, which are stuffed with cheese, brightened with lemon zest and topped with golden toasted bread crumbs, are a perfect side dish or appetizer.

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The New American Grilled Cheese

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The best grilled cheese is the gooiest grilled cheese, says author Laura Werlin: "After you bite into it, the cheese should stretch out past your face as far as your arm will reach. Otherwise, it's just not right."

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Three-Cheese Baked Pasta with Porcini and Radicchio

Credit: Food & Wine
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This rich dish includes Asiago cheese, Fontina Cheese, and freshly grated Parmesan, with added savory flavor from pancetta as well.

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Best-Ever Cheese Soufflé

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Diners—and the chefs who feed them—are embracing retro dishes like sole amandine. Alexandra Guarnaschelli perused old supper-club menus and came away with ideas for cheese soufflé and chilled tomato soup.

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Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Honey

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Club soda lightens the egg batter that coats the cheese, and a double-coating of panko crumbs amplifies the crunch. Victoria Moore serves the sweet-savory balls as an appetizer or a dessert.

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Grilled Ham-and-Cheese Sandwiches with Tapenade

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To make a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, you need a good melting cheese like Mahón; be sure to choose a young semi-soft variety rather than a hard aged one. Meaty lomo, a newly imported ham made from dry-cured pork loin accented with garlic and paprika, is definitely worth seeking out, though Serrano ham is a very acceptable substitute.

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Grilled Manouri Cheese with Caramelized Plums

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Michael Psilakis likes to riff on saganaki—fried cheese with lemon. He uses manouri, a fresh, milky white cheese made from the whey that's drained off during feta production. Like nearly all Greek cheeses, it's produced from either sheep's or goat's milk.

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Goat Cheese Puddings

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Dana Cree uses techniques she picked up at the Fat Duck in the U.K. and New York City's WD-50. "I learned to divorce flavors from their original textures to create something new," she says.

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Toasted Pistachio-Cheese Arancini

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This recipe for arancini—fried risotto balls—comes from Renato Poliafito, who got it from his Sicilian cousin Emanuele Sanfilippo. "Renato is obsessed with arancini," says Matt Lewis, "especially this version with toasted pistachios." These arancini are the size of tangerines, filled with creamy, cheesy rice, studded with nuts and green peas and encased in a great crunchy crust.

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Fromage Fort

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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Fromage fort is the ultimate way of using leftover cheese. Jacques Pépin's father used to combine pieces of Camembert, Brie, Swiss, blue cheese and goat cheese together with his mother's leek broth, some white wine and crushed garlic. Now his wife makes a milder version in a food processor that takes only seconds. It is delicious with crackers or melted onto toasts. It also freezes well.

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Three-Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Pimientos

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Fontina, Roquefort, and Parmesan form the sassy cheese trio here. Their piquant flavor blends delectably with the pimientos and sweet golden onions.

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Corn Husk–Grilled Goat Cheese with Corn Relish and Honey

Credit: Victor Protasio
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With the smoky essence of the husk infused into the hot molten cheese, a generous drizzle of honey melting in, and that charred sweet corn relish, all spooned onto a hunk of crusty bread, plus a bottle of pink bubbly (high in acid to stand up to the tartness of the dish), a patio, and a pile of friends, this is the perfect pre-dinner snack on a summer evening.

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Aged Gouda Biscotti with Walnuts

Credit: PHOTO © FRANCES JANISCH
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These crunchy biscotti are surprisingly rich-tasting thanks to aged Gouda and chopped walnuts. Try other hard cheeses, too, like aged Prima Donna, a lighter Gouda-style cheese from the Netherlands.

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Whiskey-Cheese Fondue

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Matt Lewis is enamored of fondue—in fact, he had a special pot made for dessert fondues at his former Manhattan shop, Chocolate Bar. His terrific cheddar-Jack cheese fondue includes whiskey, which adds a great kick.

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Brie Raclette

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Swiss raclette, the dish of gently melted cheese (also named raclette) that is served with boiled potatoes, air-dried beef, and cornichons, inspired this more accessible version that uses easy-to-find, quick-to-melt Brie.

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Crespelle with Ricotta and Marinara

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In this recipe, adapted from Wine Bar Food by Tony Mantuano and his wife, Cathy, lush ricotta-filled crêpes bake in a rich marinara sauce.

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Honeyed Goat Cheese Tart with Pistachio Crust

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Like sugar, honey caramelizes as it cooks. Here, warm honey is drizzled over a mixture of goat cheese and Greek yogurt, where it cools to a caramel-like consistency. For a crunchier topping, heat the honey until it reaches 250° on a candy thermometer.

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Summer Squash Pizza with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

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Zucchini and yellow squash can both be mild in flavor, but nothing about this tangy, herby pizza is bland. The summer squash is sliced into slender coins, then roasted in a hot oven until it's lightly caramelized, bringing out its sweetness.

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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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Marinated Goat Cheese, Olives, Artichokes and Tomatoes

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Christophe Emé's late uncle, Auguste Fauqereau, had never been on an airplane; he made his own wine and goat cheese in the Loire because that's what he'd always done. Today, Emé spices up goat cheese with fresh herbs, salt and the piquant ground red pepper piment d'Espelette, then forms it into balls. He likes to serve them in a spectacular way, by packing them with olive oil, artichokes, olives and tomatoes in a giant jar that he sets out on the table with a big spoon for scooping.

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Creamy Cheese and Green Herb Spread

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This fresh cheese spread, called cervelle de canut, is a specialty of Lyon, France; the name means "silk worker's brain." Chef Owen Kenworthy makes it with herbs, cider vinegar and walnut oil.

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Cheese Grits

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"I seriously have received three marriage proposals over a bowl of my cheese grits," says Amber Huffman. "I've accepted none so far."

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Cheese-Stuffed Grilled Peppers

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Robert Perkins and John Lancaster love making this snack at backyard barbecues using all types of medium-sized peppers: As the peppers blister, the cheese mixture tucked inside turns warm and gooey.

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Fried Zucchini Blossoms with Prosciutto and Mozzarella

Credit: Greg Dupree
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Zucchini blossoms can be ordered online, and are seasonally available at farmer’s markets. Prosciutto cotto and Parisian ham should be available at a well-stocked grocery store with a cheese counter; substitute cooked ham, if needed.

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Cheddar-Scallion Biscuits

Credit: Greg DuPree
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The buttermilk dough for these biscuits bakes atop a pile of grated cheddar, bringing not just a wonderfully caramelized flavor, but a clever textural element in the form of crisp, lacy "feet" that form around the bottom of each biscuit. Add a hefty amount of chopped scallion into the mix and it's a savory, joyous match for the ages.

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Baked Cheese with Herbs and Crudités

Credit: Victor Protasio
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A splash of vermouth helps cut through the richness of the cheese and allows the herbs and garlic to permeate. Fresh, crisp vegetables are the perfect accompaniment to this take on Brie en croûte.

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Achari Pimiento Cheese Spread

Credit: Victor Protasio
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Farhan Momin took this Southern staple and gave it a makeover by incorporating his mom’s classic Indian pickling spices. Serve this with some crackers, between two slices of white bread, or toasted naan.

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Cherry and Cream Cheese Kolaches