Plus, my new secret weapon grilled cheese technique!
Havarti Grilled Cheese with Pickles and Chili Crisp. Friends, say hello to your new fave grilled cheese sandwich. It’s everything you want it to be. Well, it’s everything I want it to be, but you’re about to see why it’s everything you want too. You do. Trust me. Rich, gooey, melty havarti cheese sandwiched with juicy, briny pickles and spicy chili crisp. And wait until you hear about how I take it even one very yummy step further…

Self-Indulgent foodie Chatter…
You already know to heavily butter the outside of your bread before cooking your grilled cheese. You’ve even seen people spread mayo on the outside (something I still haven’t actually tried so if you have and believe it’s a must-try please, convince me). But here’s what we’re going to do…
You know when you make a grilled cheese and some of the cheese falls out into the pan and gets all golden brown and crispy and unbelievably delicious? It’s actually the best part about making grilled cheese if you ask me. Why wouldn’t we want more of that deliciousness? We do! So instead of just buttering the outside of our sandwich, we’re going to spread on the softened butter and then squash a whole bunch of extra cheese right into the butter and make the whole outside of the sandwich a surface of browned, crispy cheese.
You will never make it any other way again.

havarti grilled cheese with pickles and chili crisp, the details…
I’m sure if you’re over the age of six you’ve probably made a grilled cheese or two in your life, so you probably aren’t in need of a whole bunch of highly specific instructions, so I’ll make this short and sweet.
Pile the cheese on the bread. Add the pickles. Drizzle with the chili crisp. Close the bread to make a sandwich. Heavily butter the outside of the bread. Then… and this is the good part… press some extra shredded cheese into the butter so it sticks.
Lay the sandwich into a skillet (I always use my cast iron skillet) and cook over medium-low heat until browned and crisp on both sides.
Eat!

Recipe ingredients, tips, substitutions:
Havarti – there are a zillion different flavours of creamy havarti in the deli at my grocery store, but I use the regular for this sandwich. Feel free to try another one if you like.
Bread – I’m a big fan of sourdough bread so that’s what I love using for this sandwich. Any bread will work though… white, rye, whole grain bread all work.
Pickles – I usually use baby dill pickles, but any dills will work. Or you can switch it up and use sweet pickles if you like.
Options – looking for ideas for other add-ins to this recipe? Try a little dijon mustard, some caramelized onions, or a little arugula.

Looking for more easy, flavour packed lunch ideas? Try these…
- Sushi Wraps with Chicken
- Air Fried BBQ Chicken Tortilla Pizza
- Grilled Cheese with Honey, Sage & Butternut Squash

Recipe-ish…

Havarti Grilled Cheese with Pickles and Chili Crisp
Ingredients
- 2 slices sourdough bread
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp havarti cheese grated
- 1 dill pickle sliced
- 1-2 tsp chili crisp
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
- Lay the cheese and pickles on the bread and drizzle with the chili crisp.
- Close the bread and generously butter each side, on the outside.
- Press 1 Tbsp grated cheese to each side of the bread, as pictured.
- Cook in a skillet over medium heat until brown and crisp on both sides.
Let me know what you think below and if you like this Havarti Grilled Cheese with Pickles Recipe you must try my Cottage Cheese Toast Recipes. If you like cheese, you’ll like them too.