Provolone Grilled Cheese with Garlic Confit

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This provolone grilled cheese sandwich is stuffed with provolone cheese and a garlic confit spread and drizzled with honey making it deliciously indulgent.

Using my homemade garlic sourdough bread to make the best grilled cheese sandwich from scratch, I load this provolone grilled cheese recipe with only the best ingredients.

Related: Roasted Garlic Sourdough Bread Recipe

Related: Grilled Cheese without Butter – 8 Alternatives

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Turn a run-of-the-mill grilled cheese sandwhich into something to run home to mom about! Pair this provolone grilled cheese with my lemon gnocchi soup for the perfect meal.

What is Provolone Grilled Cheese with Garlic Confit

Firstly, I’m assuming we all know what a grilled cheese sandwich is, so I’ll explain everything else! Provolone cheese is a semi-hard cheese (mostly soft) with smooth with mild flavor and salty undertones.

Garlic confit is a way to preserve garlic cloves by slow cooking until they are very soft and all the bitterness is gone; leaving you with sweet garlic cloves that are spreadable like butter.

Equipment You’ll Need

All you need are the basics for a good provolone grilled cheese sandwich. But, I will say that a good cast iron skillet makes all the difference.

Related: How to season and cook with cast iron

Recipe Highlights

1. Gourmet, yet kid friendly – children and adults alike will absolutely gush over this provolone grilled cheese.
2. Easy to prepare – just like a classic grilled cheese, there’s not much to this recipe.
3. Customizeable – not a fan of garlic or you want to use different bread? Go right ahead! This can be customizeable to fit your preferences.
4. Easy to pre-prep – make your life even easier at dinner or lunch time by prepping these sandwiches ahead and grilling when you’re ready. There’s no butter on these grilled cheeses so the bread wont get soggy.
5. Insanely unique – drizzle of honey on the inside and out with a garlic confit spread… then fried in olive oil! Doesn’t get more interesting than that.

How to Make Provolone Grilled Cheese

Step up your grilled cheese sandwiches by using provolone cheese, garlic confit, and even some honey! Trust me, the combination is divine and you’ll never see a grilled cheese sandwich the same again.

Provolone Grilled Cheese Ingredients

Sourdough bread – my roasted garlic sourdough bread is perfect for this recipe.

Provolone cheese – provolone cheese is a semi-hard cheese, making it so gooey and perfect for grilled cheeses.

Garlic confit – recipe is in the recipe card below. All it is is garlic and olive oil and you get the most buttery garlic spread ever.

Olive oil – that’s right, we’re using olive oil instead of butter for these! It makes for a delicious flavor that pairs well with the garlic and provolone.

Honey – trust me.

Step by Step Instructions (with photos)

Make your garlic confit by adding garlic and olive oil to a small saucepan and simmering on low for one hour.

Slice your bread into thin(ish) slices. Not too thick or the cheese wont melt, but not too thin or they’ll be flimsy.

Preheat your cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. Then add olive oil and let preheat.

Spread the garlic confit over one slice of bread for each sandwich (or go crazy and spread it on both).

Place one side of bread on the preheated skillet with oil then top with cheese. Fold the cheese in half and use several slices to make it extra cheesy. Drizzle the top of the cheese with honey.

Add the other slice of bread to the top and place a cover over your skillet then let them sit for a few minutes until browned on the bottom.

Remove the skillet lid, then use a spatula to flip the grilled cheese to the other side to brown that side.

Once browned on the other side, remove from the skillet, drizzle a little more honey overtop the crusty grilled cheese, slice in half and enjoy!

How to Store Provolone Grilled Cheese

Don’t be fooled – you can absolutely store a grilled cheese for later! Here’s how:

1. Store your grilled cheese in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
2. To reheat, simply heat over very low heat on a covered cast iron skillet for about 5 minutes. Flip and heat on that side for several minutes until heated through.
3. Alternatively, to reheat, you can place in a 300F oven for about 10 minutes until heated through.

See below to learn how you can prep grilled cheese sandwiches ahead of time and even freeze for later.

In a Pinch Ideas

• Prep ahead of time – save time cooking dinner or lunch by prepping these provolone grilled cheese sandwiches ahead of time. Here’s how:
  1. Slice your bread
  2. Spread garlic confit
  3. Place your cheese
  4. drizzle honey over cheese
  5. place in airtight container for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator
  6. alternatively, you can place in a freezer bag and freeze for up to a month.
  7. continue with frying the grilled cheese when you’re ready! If frozen, let defrost in the fridge before frying.

Provolone Grilled Cheese Tips

1. Start on low and cover – starting on a lowish temperature and covering immediately will help the cheese to melt while perfectly browning your bread.
2. Use quality bread – even if you can’t make your own homemade sourdough bread, I highly recommend going to the bakery and getting a freshly baked loaf.
3. Thin(ish) slices – 1/2 inch slices of bread are ideal.
4. Keep warm in oven – Put a baking sheet in a 200F preheated oven and place the finished grilled cheeses in there until you’re ready to serve. Right before serving drizzle the honey on top.

Grilled Cheese Serving Suggestions

• Serve on the side of a bowl of soup – my lemon chicken gnocchi soup or my spiced chorizo pumpkin chili are perfect companions.
• Make it a tuna melt – add some of my southern tuna salad and my dill aioli to this provolone grilled cheese. I’d skip the honey in this case but keep the garlic confit, please!
• Serve with a steak salad – My steak and arugula salad is another great dish to serve with these grilled cheeses.

Best Cheese to Use for Grilled Cheese

Using fresh cheese for grilled cheese is always going to give you optimal results. I prefer using semi-hard cheeses like provolone. However, using a combination of cheese can level-up a grilled cheese.

Here are some ideas for your next grilled cheese. Use one or a combination of the below:

• Sharp Cheddar
• Herbed Feta
• Provolone
• Parmesan
• Goat cheese
• Muenster
• Smoked Gouda
• Gouda
• White Cheddar
• Swiss
• Blue Cheese
• Fontina
• Havarti
• Pepper Jack
• Monterey Jack
• Burrata

Provolone Grilled Cheese Ideas

These are some ideas to customize your provolone grilled cheese.

What to use instead of butter for grilled cheese

• Olive oil
• Avocado oil
• Coconut oil (will give a sweeter taste)
• Mayo
• Ancho aioli
• Rendered lard

What to put inside grilled cheese

• Caramelized onions
• Ancho aioli
• Bacon Jam
• Salsa gremolata
• Tomato Jam
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Honey
• Pesto
• Fresh or dried herbs
• Proscuitto
• Salami
• Bacon

Alternative ways to cook grilled cheese

• Air fryer
• Oven
• BBQ
• Panini grill

How to Make Provolone Grilled Cheese Healthier

Making your provolone grilled cheese healthier isn’t difficult – it just takes a little attention to each detail:

1. Use sourdough bread – our bodies digest soaked and soured grains much better and provides great nutrients and probiatics. Using sourdough bread will give you a healthier grilled cheese.
2. Use cheese without MSG – Did you know that cheese is one of the main sources of MSG? Be sure you’re using a quality cheese without additives and MSG.
3. Keep your toppings healthy – in other words, go easy on the honey and anything else that might be a little treat.

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(These affiliate links help to support this blog at no extra cost to you. Your support means the world to me!)

• Berkey water filter (we use the Royal because we drink an insane amount of water!)

• Thrive Market – 25% off & free gift! (where I get a ton of my ingredients)
• Azure Standard: $25 off your order. Code kyrieluke1
• Dutch oven
• Stand mixer
• Boos Block Butcher Block
• 12 inch Cast Iron Skillet

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