Gooey Grilled Cheese Dairy-Free

Yes, a good ole’ grilled cheese sandwich can be made dairy-free. 

In fact, it’s one of our favorite quick meals at my house.

See below for my kids’ favorite milk-free cheese for these sandwiches.

There’s one special thing my oldest misses most about home school…

and that’s mom’s dairy-free grilled cheeses for lunch. 

Even though we had a rough start with grilled cheese in our milk allergy house, 

we pivoted well and this has become one hot sandwich well loved by our family. 

Can you really get all that gooey goodness with a dairy-free grilled cheese? 

Yes you can! 

And I’ll show you how. 

OUR FIRST EPI-PEN

Just to explain the rough start with grilled cheese real quickly, because food allergy moms appreciate this kind of info…

my son needed his first epinephrine injection when he was almost three-years-old because I mixed up the cheese in our house and fed him a dairy grilled cheese. 

Instead of never making grilled cheese again, which I definitely considered, we made a fast rule that we would no longer have dairy cheese slices in the house. 

Kiddo loves the same dairy-free cheese squares after all these many years so his cheese stays. 

And the rest of our family can work with that. 

Thankfully, he was ok after his anaphylactic reaction. 

But it is true. 

One can be so allergic to milk that two tiny toddler bites of a Kraft American cheese square can be unbelievably dangerous. 

We learned a lot. And I’m glad that’s now a distant memory. 

All that to say, amazingly, grilled cheese is my boys’ favorite quick meal still today. 

And yes, I make it correctly, now…using my son’s favorite dairy-free cheese. 

Here’s how to make the best dairy-free grilled cheese!

DAIRY-FREE GRILLED CHEESE INGREDIENTS

Over the years, I’ve tried to dazzle my kids with some pretty creative grilled cheese variations. 

I’ve made an olive dip to go with it. 

I’ve added ham slices. 

I’ve tried the latest and greatest newest dairy-free cheeses on the market. 

But alas, my kids are just meh about all the grilled cheese hoopla. 

What do they want? 

Just a good ole’ soy cheese slice that’s been on the market since maybe the 1980’s. 

Go Tofutti! 

These American cheese slices made with soy is where it’s at when it comes to my kids and their grilled cheese. 

Perhaps that’s because this was the first dairy-free cheese they ever had back in 2007? 

But that’s ok! 

It melts wonderfully, see the ooze with two slices?

Here’s how we make our dairy-free grilled cheese just they way my kids like it. 

CHEESE – soy cheese slices

Like I said, my kids stick with what they’ve always known. But I’ve gotten some great melt using dairy-free cheese shreds, too. I’d say use your favorite milk-free cheese and see how it melts!

BREAD – sandwich bread or thick bread

With sandwich bread, my kids mostly like one slice of dairy-free cheese. But they prefer the thick white bread with two slices of soy cheese. If you prefer, you can make your own allergy-friendly homemade white bread and cut it as thick as you want.

BUTTER – dairy-free butter

So many dairy-free brands for buttering bread, these days. We like to use the softest one we have on hand, for easy spreading. Country Crock works well. But double-check labels! Ingredients can change.

Serve dairy-free grilled cheese with canned tomato soup.

And this may end up being your kids’ favorite meal of all times. 

And that’s super easy for you, mom!

Here are the steps to teach your kiddos how to make their own toasted cheese someday. 

HOW TO MAKE YOUR DAIRY-FREE GRILLED CHEESE OOEY GOOEY

TIP 1 – Toast your grilled cheese low and slow on the stove. That gives plenty of time for the cheese to melt. 

TIP 2 – For hard-to-melt dairy-free cheese…before toasting, top one slice of your bread with cheese and microwave cheese side up to melt the cheese. 

Both of these are great options for getting the gooey grilled cheese you want. 

STEPS FOR MAKING DAIRY-FREE GRILLED CHEESE

1. Pull out two pieces of dairy-free bread.
2. Spread dairy-free butter on one side of each piece of bread.
3. Put one piece of bread down on the griddle (affiliate), butter side down.
4. Layer dairy-free cheese on top of the bread in the skillet.
5. Top the cheese with the second piece of bread, butter side up. 
6. Toast the sandwich on the griddle, medium heat, until the butter side down is golden brown.
7. Flip sandwich with a spatula and toast the second bread, butter side down, until also golden.
8. The cheese inside should be melted and ready to serve when both sides of the bread are golden.

We hope you like dairy-free grilled cheese as much as we do. 

Let us know in the comments your favorite milk-free cheese and butter to use. 

We’d love to hear!