The Easiest Way To Flip Your Grilled Cheese (It's Not What You Think)

The grilled cheese sandwich is a beloved comfort food, and it's easy to see why. It has a universally pleasing, crispy, and savory flavor profile, and its simplicity makes it an accessible recipe to cooks of any skill level: Just grab two bread slices, the desired cheese, and heat until golden brown. While you could certainly enjoy it from here, there are ways to elevate the sandwich further, such as adding complementary ingredients or swapping what you're cooking with for something uniquely flavorful. There are even ways to hack the cooking method, including one that alters how a grilled cheese is flipped to cook the other side — meaning you may have been flipping it wrong this whole time.

When flipping a grilled cheese sandwich, most cooks choose the traditional route of sliding the spatula under the cooked side, using it to turn the sandwich over. While there isn't much skill involved in flipping bread, this does take some finessing. Sometimes the cheese may not be melted sufficiently, and the pan being used may be too small for the spatula to get under the slice. Thankfully, one cooking hack proposes placing the bottom of the spatula on top of the sandwich and flipping the pan instead. This method is incredibly easy to execute and allows for the pan size not to be a factor. Once the hack is completed, simply slide the uncooked side of the sandwich back into the pan. 

Of course, before getting to the flipping step of a grilled cheese recipe, there are ways to enhance the sandwich. Butter or olive oil is the standard route for a perfectly crisp grilled cheese sandwich, but swapping in mayonnaise incorporates a top-notch crispiness and tangy flavor. Gordon Ramsay's expert grilled cheese advice would be to use onions, caramelized in sherry vinegar and cheddar cheese. Taking inspiration from Ramsay's use of unique ingredients to elevate the dish, Worcestershire sauce can incorporate rich, spicy, umami flavors to make the sandwich go from mid to elite.

Flipping the pan is certainly the easiest, but it's not the most stylish or mess-free method when cooking grilled cheese. Those who lubricate their pan before adding the bread risk the butter or oil spilling everywhere. Often, those seasoned in the grilled cheese culinary arts employ the classic push-pull saute method, which slides the sandwich forward and flips it via a small wrist flick while pulling the pan back. In all fairness, this takes practice and could send the sandwich flying. Fortunately, there are some simple and safer ways to hack the flip: Applying butter or cooking spread on the bread slices instead of the pan minimizes the chance of spillage when flipping it and better ensures that hard-sought golden brown crisp. Placing a pot lid or heat-safe dish over the sandwich can also be beneficial, as it helps the cheese to melt more cohesively, and could catch any debris for anyone still wanting to utilize the pan-flip hack.