Supreme Pizza Grilled Cheese Recipe

When a comfort food craving hits, why choose between pizza and grilled cheese? This supreme pizza grilled cheese, developed by Kate Shungu, combines two favorites for a restaurant-quality meal you can make at home.

To make it, we'll load up thick-cut Italian bread with some classic pizza toppings: pizza sauce, crumbled Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, and green bell peppers. The quintessential pizza cheese, mozzarella, holds it all together. And, to make it a true restaurant-style grilled cheese, we'll coat the exterior with softened butter and finely grated Parmesan cheese. The butter and Parmesan combination creates a crispy, toasted cheese exterior with that characteristically salty and nutty flavor from the Parmesan. Red sauce fans will love a small bowl of pizza sauce on the side for dipping. 

While we would make this from scratch any night of the week, it's also a genius way to use up extra pizza toppings from pizza night. Pair it with a leafy green salad and a glass of wine for an easy weeknight meal that you can make in just 25 minutes.

Thick-cut Italian bread makes the base of the sandwich, which we'll top with ground Italian sausage, pepperoni, green bell peppers, onion, pizza sauce, and shredded mozzarella. This is no small amount of toppings, but this is a supreme pizza grilled cheese we're building here! The outside of the bread is spread with softened butter and grated Parmesan to create a crispy, toasted exterior. 

Place the ground sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring to break it up, until browned and cooked through, about 3–4 minutes.

Remove the sausage from the pan but leave the drippings. Add the chopped onion and green pepper.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion and pepper are soft, about 4–5 minutes.

Lay the Italian bread on a flat surface. Spread the butter evenly over the top of each slice and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Heat a griddle over medium heat (you can also do this in two large skillets).

Add 4 slices of the bread, buttered-side down. Divide the pizza sauce over the top, then divide ¾ of the cheese over the top of the marinara.

Divide the pepperoni, sausage, onion, and pepper over the top of each slice. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

Top with the remaining bread slices, buttered-side up. When the bottom of the bread is lightly golden brown, carefully flip each sandwich. Continue cooking until the bread is golden brown on the other side and the cheese has melted.

Remove from the griddle and serve warm.

Here are a few tips for making the perfect grilled cheese:

Any extra ingredients should be chopped small or thin (finely diced bell pepper, or sausage made into small crumbles, for example). Pepperoni is great because it's already thin. Finely chopped ingredients ensure that the sandwich won't get too thick, and you'll taste a bit of each ingredient in every bite. Also, when choosing ingredients, thick-cut bread allows you to stuff the sandwich with extra toppings. Choose hearty loaves, such as Italian, French, or sourdough.

Add the shredded cheese to the bottom of the toppings, and again on top of the toppings. So, here's the full order: bread, cheese, toppings, more cheese, and bread. The gooey melted cheese will help the bread stick to the toppings and to the other half of the sandwich so that it doesn't fall apart.

Finally, when making multiple sandwiches, move them around in the pan occasionally so that they cook evenly. Some parts of your griddle or skillet may be hotter than others, causing one sandwich to be extra crispy while another sandwich needs more toasting. A quick swap of the sandwiches will remedy this, or just rotate the skillet periodically while you cook the sandwiches. 

Looking to level up your grilled cheese? We have some truly amazing grilled cheese recipes with plenty of ideas for jazzing up this humble sandwich. This ultimate grilled cheese may just take the cake when you're looking for some tried-and-true comfort food. The interior of the grilled cheese holds all the good stuff, but let's not forget the exterior. We use Parmesan for a crispy crust here, but other varieties of finely shredded cheese, such as cheddar, can be used on the exterior, as well. 

As for the inside, if supreme pizza isn't your go-to, stuff the inside of this cheesy sandwich with some of your other favorite pizza toppings. To start, you could build on the supreme pizza feel with sauteed mushrooms — use a medley of varieties, such as baby bella, cremini, shiitake, or others. Try a BBQ variation by adding shredded chicken and sauteed red onion and swapping the pizza sauce for BBQ sauce. You could also go for Hawaiian style (finely diced ham and thin slices of fresh pineapple), white pizza (shredded chicken, mozzarella, and Parmesan, with Alfredo sauce in place of the pizza sauce), or triple meat (crumbled bacon alongside the pepperoni and sausage). For dunking, pesto mayo or a mixture of half marinara and half Alfredo sauce are excellent choices for any pizza-inspired grilled cheese.