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Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
A grilled cheese sandwich is one of those dishes that you’ve probably made a hundred times and feel like you’ve got down pat. In fact, it might have even been the very first recipe you ever learned how to make with bread, cheese, and a little bit of butter.
Because grilled cheeses are so ingrained in the home cook’s brain, whipping one up the way you always have probably seems like the easiest option. I, for one, rarely stray from my sandwich with melty American cheese and mayo on the outside for perfectly browned and crisped edges.
However, I recently saw a new grilled cheese-making method on TikTok, and it utterly blew my mind.
The Viral French Toast Grilled Cheese Sandwich
“I think I’m on to something here. I’m about to make a grilled cheese French toast—but my French toast mix is tomato soup with some milk and egg, some salt and pepper,” TikTok user @chrystaelliott99 said in a video, which amassed more than 1.2 million views.
I thought she was on to something, too. And I had to ask myself, how had I never tried something like this before?
Instead of slathering the bread in butter or mayo for even browning, she dunks her assembled grilled cheese sandwich into the tomato soup mixture—just like you would a piece of French toast. Then, she flips it over to ensure both sides are evenly coated in tomato soup, egg, milk, and seasonings.
To the greased pan—because you’ll still need some kind of grease to keep the grilled cheese from sticking—she adds the sopping wet sandwich. She cooks it like usual, flipping the sandwich until both sides of the bread are crispy and the cheese is melty.
While she doesn’t do an on-camera taste test, the caption reads, “This was 10/10 try it right now.” So I did.
I Tried the Viral French Toast Grilled Cheese Sandwich
I followed my typical grilled cheese “recipe” using bread and American cheese; however, I did try @chrystaeliott99’s suggestion of adding pesto to the sandwich. Once I built the cheesy, pesto-topped sandwich, I dunked it into a mixture of tomato soup, egg, and seasonings. I ensured the bread soaked up all the tomato-y goodness, then added it to my hot, greased skillet.
The French toast-style grilled cheese cooks pretty similarly to a regular grilled cheese, but it does stick a little bit more, so make sure you grease your pan well.
Once the tomato soup-coated bread was evenly browned and the cheese was melty, I took it off the heat and dug in.
The flavor is phenomenal. Why doesn’t savory French toast show up more often? The bread is crispy, yet moist and filled with tomato soup flavor. Since I dip my regular grilled cheese into tomato soup anyway, I already knew the flavors worked together, but this was over-the-top good.
Admittedly, I still served the dunked grilled cheese with a bowl of tomato soup (old habits die hard), but it wasn’t necessary. The flavor is there and, for those who like to dip, the texture is, too.
Since @chrystaelliott99 posted her original video, she’s made a few other French toast-style sandwiches, including a Buffalo chicken grilled cheese and even a Jersey Mike’s sub. I have to agree with one of the comments on her recipe videos—these “sandwiches are epic.”
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