Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese

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Tender pork, a beautiful combination of cheeses, and sourdough bread combine for a mouthwatering Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese.

As a kid, summers meant all day, every day at the neighborhood pool. The pool was only 1/4 mile from my house so I went home for lunch every day. In high school I became a lifeguard, and was still there all day every day. We sometimes ordered lunch from a local sub shop, but most of the time my dad brought me lunch when he came to swim laps. Grilled cheese was one of my most common requests, because he made it right before he came to the pool.

I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I’ve made grilled cheese since then. I’m not sure why I stopped, because it’s such a quick and easy meal. So I jumped at the chance to create a recipe for National Grilled Cheese Day. I briefly considered plain grilled cheese, but that’s boring. I found a lot of very fancy options on Pinterest, but I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew for my first recipe. Finally I decided on Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese.

Great idea until I realized I had no clue how to make pulled pork. Between dozens of Pinterest recipes, a borrowed slow cooker, and inspiration from friends, I made Slow Cooker Pulled Pork. Everyone was right…pulled pork is crazy easy to make, and the house smells amazing while it cooks. Plus, I now have lots of pork to use for other recipes.

The most important part of any grilled cheese is the cheese…and the bread. Again, I went to the internet, and found tons of options. I finally decided on sourdough bread, with a combination of Fontina, smoky cheddar, and smoked Gouda.

Yes, of course you can use just one type of cheese. But I love the idea of a combination, for a great mix of flavors. I also added bread and butter pickles, as Michele recommended. The pickles add a wonderful crunch, and the tartness pulls the flavors of the pork and cheese together.

Wow, this Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese is fabulous. I don’t know what is wrong with me, and why I’ve waited so long to make grilled cheese again. Crispy buttery bread and melty gooey cheese is a fabulous combination.

The smoked cheeses work beautifully with pork, and Fontina is a great melting cheese. I love the thick, crispy crust of sourdough, and it browns beautifully. I didn’t dress the pork, because I wanted to leave myself lots of options for recipes. But for this Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese, I used a basic BBQ sauce.

I made two big mistakes with this Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese. I used butter straight from the fridge, so it was quite difficult to spread on the untoasted bread. Then I melted some butter with some minced garlic, but then of course I had the other problem: it was difficult to control the application. Room temperature butter would solve that problem. I cut the cheese slices too thick, so they didn’t melt like I wanted. I should have either shredded the cheese, or cut the slices more thinly. The good thing is, these are easy fixes.

I won’t make the mistake of waiting so long to make grilled cheese again. Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese will stay on the rotation, but there are so many other recipes out there to try.