The Key To Making Starbucks-Style Grilled Cheese At Home Is Not What You Expect

Of all the many secrets of Starbucks, one that you might already know is that its extensive menu is filled with copycat-worthy items. But it's not just signature drinks like the famed Medicine Ball or the comforting vanilla sweet cream latte that home baristas will create dupes of. Starbucks also has an excellent selection of food that's equally worth trying to replicate. Further, there's one in particular that may have even flown under your radar: Starbucks' crispy sourdough grilled cheese. 

What makes this menu item stand out isn't necessarily its dual cheeses (note that the ingredients list specifies cheddar and mozzarella, while the menu description states cheddar and Gouda), or even that they're sandwiched between crusty sourdough bread. The surprising key ingredient that makes Starbucks' fans clamor for its grilled cheese is a garlic Parmesan butter spread. 

Traditionally, grilled cheese is a humble, comforting dish that's easy enough to make at home. By standard, it includes two buttered bread slices and melty cheese, cooked on a greased pan with butter or oil. This might already be drool-worthy, but Starbucks raises the flavor game by blending the aged tanginess of garlic and Parmesan cheese into its butter. This addition makes perfect sense because it introduces a wonderful umami to the sandwich. Even better, it pairs nicely with the crispy, dense sourdough bread and mild, melty cheeses to enhance the sandwich's overall flavor.

Since Starbucks uses a compound butter to enhance its grilled cheese, which you can recreate with grated Parmesan cheese and garlic powder or roasted garlic cloves, this idea can be used as a springboard for similarly flavorful spreads. Compound butters are easy recipes to build from, so you don't need to use just cheese and garlic. The spices and herbs of cowboy butter, such as paprika, cayenne, and thyme, would also complement the sandwich's savoriness. Alternatively, honey cinnamon butter would round out that same savory flavor with a sweet, warm earthiness. 

It's certainly debatable whether a restaurant of any sort can beat a homemade grilled cheese sandwich, but if Starbucks' simple twist is any indication, an elite sandwich can be achieved at home by adding just one or two extra ingredients. While garlic Parmesan butter may already be a major game changer, a swipe of mayonnaise on the exterior of each bread slice further increases the sandwich's richness and makes it perfectly crispy (butter's lower smoke point is more likely to burn when exposed directly to a hot pan). Other additions like crunchy bacon and hot honey can lend a smoky, sweet heat to the sandwich.

There's no denying that one of the largest coffee shops globally has gotten our attention with its take on one of America's favorite sandwiches. Whether you take Starbucks' lead and make your own garlic Parmesan butter or try your own twist on this special sandwich, this buttery foundation is easy to recreate at home.