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I just burnt my tongue on the garlic butter tomato sauce and I don’t even care. SO GOOD. I made this with a baguette and it was perfect.
Katie
This recipe is sponsored by Land O’Lakes®
Loaded Caprese Grilled Cheese, you think. That sounds good, you think.
Okay, but DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW GOOD THIS IS. ‼‼‼
It’s summer, and the eating is good. Fresh tomatoes, spicy garlic, creamy butter, and perky green basil. You know it’s SUMMER-summer when they finally start stocking the huge containers of basil in the grocery store – the ones that come straight from a local grower or farmer instead of this five-basil-leaves-for-$5 nonsense that we Midwesterners struggle with through the fall, winter, and spring.
How To Make Our Caprese Grilled Cheese:
You know those times you just get on a good run? It’s the opposite of a rut, in my mind: a rut is when you are bored with what you’re eating. You’re just eating to put food in your body. A run, though. A good run is when you legit *wow* yourself at every meal. It’s like the food of the season is speaking just to your tastebuds – you see possibility everywhere and you just cannot stop yourself from loving every. single. thing.
Good news! I am on a run.
I am just loving food lately – all kinds of food. Healthy food, homemade desserts, fair food, campfire spin-offs, and regular old grilled cheese sandwiches. Except that’s a lie; I’m not eating regular grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m eating loaded caprese grilled cheese sandwiches hot off the grill aka skillet. Holy yummers. These are so good.
A key component to this cheese bomb masterpiece is the garlic butter tomato sauce, which comes together in about fifteen minutes and really deserves its own post. I’ve made variations of that garlic butter tomato sauce before, but this time the addition of balsamic is kicking it up a notch. Also, this one is THICK. Way thicker than any previous versions, in a really good way. It is borderline tomato jam, except not sweet, annnnd not really like jam. You guys know what I mean, right? Is this helping?
Above all else, please just gaze upon the knob of butter that gets melted in at the end and the velvety finish that results.
I know. See it and weep.
Fun product alert: we are using Land O Lakes® Salted Butter in Half Sticks (cuuuute) for this recipe and they are the bees knees.
Rather than getting out a full stick of butter, you can just use the little half-size guys and use the first few pats of butter in your tomato sauce, and the second few pats of butter for frying up your sandwich. Could not be more slick.
These sandwiches are an epic summer cheat. They are not for the faint of heart. I repeat: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
Molten mozzarella cheese will absolutely spill out the sides of your grilled sourdough, as will drips of pesto and chunky buttery garlic tomato sauce, and you will get a feeling in your heart that says: I was made for this caprese grilled cheese moment.
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Loaded Caprese Grilled Cheese
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 1x
Description
This Caprese Grilled Cheese is loaded with basil pesto, a thick and chunky garlic butter tomato sauce, and fresh mozzarella cheese, all on grilled sourdough bread. The perfect taste of summer.
Ingredients
For the Caprese Grilled Cheese:
- 4 large slices of thick, yummy sourdough bread
- 4 thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup pesto (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons butter – I used Land O Lakes® Salted Butter in Half Sticks
- Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce (ingredients follow)
For the Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce:
- 10 ounces fresh cherry tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons butter – I used Land O Lakes® Salted Butter in Half Sticks
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Make the Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce. Pour the tomatoes into a dry nonstick skillet. Heat until they start to get just slightly charred on the outside. Reduce heat and add one tablespoons of butter and give it a stir (it will probably splatter). Press the tomatoes gently with the back of a wooden spoon to release their juices. Add balsamic, garlic, and one more tablespoon butter. Simmer all together until thick and yummy. Season with salt and pepper.
- Assemble. Layer the pesto, cheese, and tomato sauce onto a slice of bread. Top with a slice of bread, spread with butter on the outside of the bread. (Repeat for second sandwich.)
- Pan-fry. Transfer your sandwich to a skillet over medium high heat. Cook until the cheese is melted, flipping once or twice to get both sides browned. When you pull that sandwich off the skillet, let me just tell you: you are in for THE BEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE.
Notes
This recipe makes two whopper sandwiches. Works to serve two or four, depending on your self control.
For the pesto, I used the Walnut Pesto from this recipe.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: caprese grilled cheese, grilled cheese
Thank you to Land O’Lakes® for sponsoring this post!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy summer dinners page. Check it out!
Best sandwich I have ever had! I used jar pesto and the feta spread- absolutely amazing!!
Can I make the tomato butter ahead of time?
Yes!
This dish is seriously mouth watering. I’m gonna try it for real. Thanks lindsay for sharing this recipe. The yearning of cheese was real. I would like to share my website link in here for my folks to have a look at. love yaaa!!!
http://cravecorner.lovestoblog.com/
My family has dubbed this the sandwich of the summer! We are absolutely crazy about this recipe and think that it is perfect. It is the coziest, simplest, most delicious sandwich and we love it!
This was delicious! Couldn’t find sourdough bread,so substituted Wegmans rosemary olive oil bread and it was really good. The tomato jam is to die for.
Looks delicious – can’t wait to try it out later!
Being gifted fresh garden tomatoes from my son. Not going to be as easy with whole tomatoes as with the cherry ones – but willing to give it a try. Any suggestions? Looks super yummy!
This is incredible and I cannot believe that I didn’t consider making it before on my own. I especially love the Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce.
So yummy!
The absolute best Mozeralla sandwich ever created !! So easy to make and delicious
You’ve done it AGAIN… I followed you recipe to a tee but added grilled chicken breast….OMG!!!
That looks delicious!
So good!! A little messy to eat, but so worth it!
Hello!
Can the Garlic Butter Tomato Sauce be frozen in jars? I have a bumper crop of tomatoes and I’m tired of making pasta sauce. I need something else please! If not, how long will this keep in the fridge?
Hi Jerri! We haven’t tried freezing the tomatoes in jars, but we think it’s worth a shot! They should keep for a few days in the fridge.
Very tasty and looks so delicious. Will try this out sometime soon. Thank you for the delicious recipe.
Those sandwiches look delicious! Gonna try this out soon!
OMG .. Delicious and simple sandwich. i like it.
This was so good! It tasted like a mozzarella stick dipped in marinara sauce!
One of my go-to recipes for summer weeknights!
I make this on a regular basis now. It is so easy and good. I double it. Whole family loves it.
So glad your family likes the recipe, Maggie!
I read through all the comments and while this looks like it might be a great recipe it doesn’t look like anyone has actually made it. Just a lot of ‘I can’t wait to try it’ type comments. Some actual feedback about the finished product would be appreciated.
OK, wait just a second. I haven’t even eaten the grilled sammies yet (they are in the pan, currently) and I am rolling my eyes back into my head just over the tomatoes! HOW. DO. THEY. TASTE. SO. GOOD?! My husband, verbatim: “Why is the tomato so good?” I need to put this on literally everything. Thank you for such an easy and impressive Sunday comfort dinner!
Iv’e already told all my cohorts about your site being my favorite destination for all things delicious, but this is something else. Adding to favorites! Bless you and your kitchen talents.
🎉
I made this for my dinner tonight, and oh man, you were not kidding! It was DIVINE! I was in such bliss as I ate it that I didn’t even care that my cats were chewing on a houseplant two feet away. Definitely will make this again!
Is there an approx calorie count for this dish?
Hi, I own a grilled cheese business and I introduced a Caprese to the menu this past week, but I noticed it came off the press soggy and kind of falling apart due to the moisture of the cheese and my diced tomatoes. Would you recommend just using thicker bread or maybe to spread the pesto on each side to help form a barrier to the moisture? Or something else? Thanks!
Hi Lauren! Great question – this is definitely a “wetter” sandwich. 🙂 The pesto might help a bit! I’ve also heard that if you toast the inside of a sandwich/burger first, it will help create that barrier and hold together as well. Hope this helps!