- I tried Kylie Jenner's six-ingredient grilled-cheese recipe.
- It was simple, classic, and definitely filled my craving for grilled cheese.
Beauty mogul and reality TV star Kylie Jenner shared her recipe for grilled cheese in 2016. I tried it out for myself and found it to be both easy and delicious.
Going into it, I knew this would be a basic version of the classic lunchtime treat. Though there weren't any standout ingredients like in Chrissy Teigen or Joanna Gaines' recipes, there were a couple of techniques Jenner used that I hadn't seen anywhere else.
I gathered my toppings and a loaf of sourdough bread at Jenner's recommendation — which I totally agree with from both a flavor and texture standpoint — and I got to grilling.
Jenner's recipe calls for six ingredients, most of which you probably already have
When I think of an easy and simple grilled cheese, I typically think of bread, cheese, and butter — that's it. Jenner's addition of salt, pepper, and hot sauce may seem minor, but they added sophistication and flavor depth.
Sourdough bread has a tangy and fragrant flavor profile, which worked well with the cheese and was amplified when grilled on the stove.
In her video, Jenner added each ingredient in a particular order, starting with butter
Of five different celebrity grilled-cheese recipes I tried, Jenner's was the only one that instructs home cooks to butter the pan rather than the bread. While that did make for a semi-uneven cook on the bread, it didn't ruin the sandwich, in my opinion.
I started by melting butter on a skillet over medium heat, laying down two pieces of sourdough bread, cloaking one of those pieces with American cheese, and topping the unmelted cheese with salt and pepper.
The addition of salt and pepper made this sandwich feel a little more grown-up than the ones I make for my seven-year-old nephew, but I'm not sure I was really able to taste it.
After about two minutes of cooking the sandwich in an open-face style, I closed the bread, flipped it over for another two minutes of cooking, and then pulled it off the stove.
Then, Jenner did something that baffled me
When I saw that hot sauce was involved in this recipe, I assumed it would either be added on top of the cheese before closing the sandwich in the pan or on top of the bread after the sandwich had finished cooking. But that wasn't Jenner's plan.
Instead, she opened up the cooked sandwich, put the hot sauce inside, and then closed it again before serving.
I was shocked — and almost personally offended — that she would encourage home cooks to wreck a beautiful melty cheese situation by opening up a fully-cooked grilled cheese after pulling it off the stove.
The bizarre step still made for a delicious sandwich
This grilled cheese is, in Jenner's own words, "nothing special."
I was skeptical of buttering the pan rather than the sourdough directly, and I'm not sure I would do the same next time. Doing so made for simultaneously crispy and soft pieces of bread, but they cooked unevenly, which was frustrating.
Though I had a strong aversion to ruining the gooeyness of this grilled cheese by opening it up, I did appreciate the flavor of room-temperature hot sauce. It tasted more fresh and bright than it would have if I added it before closing the sandwich in the pan.
Jenner's tip of putting hot sauce between the bread slices allowed each bite to be cheese and bread-forward with a hint of sauce. Had I topped the sandwich with sauce, that's the component I would have tasted first — it would have overtaken the flavors of the sourdough.
In my opinion, this recipe is great for anyone who appreciates a small level of sophistication in kids' menu food, but really just wants a simple, classic, easy-to-make grilled cheese.
You can watch Jenner's tutorial here: