Sometimes you want something super easy for lunch, sometimes you make that something super easy into something that takes several hours to make. But is still easy. These pulled pork grilled cheese sandwiches are easy to make but to get that perfect, fall-apart pork, you have to braise it for a couple of hours. The beauty of this recipe is that you can braise the pork in any way you want. Today, I chose the stovetop. You can do this in the oven and also in the crockpot or slow cooker. You could make more of the pork and do other things with it too or do this with a leftover brisket that has been shredded. This could be a great leftover sandwich to make after a Sunday roast.
For this absolutely fantastic pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich you will need, pork, of course, cheese, I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar, some butter, nice bread, and a kick-ass sauce. Bread, I used some fluffy milk bread, brioche, and white sandwich bread works great. For grilled cheese, you can go in any direction, but the grilling time of each bread will be slightly different, so will your choice of the pan and whether you have an electric stove or a gas range. I always burn the first piece of bread I grill because I have an electric stovetop. So it is almost impossible to heat a whole pan on low heat, you have to heat it fully and then let it cool, which takes a lot of time and is a waste of electricity in my opinion. But in the end, I always go for low grilling for more time for the best-melted cheese center.
I like to butter the bread from the outside too but it is optional. I feel like a good grilled cheese sandwich should get sauce all over your hands and butter dripping and cheese over your chin. Just like a good burger and some great tacos. Things will get messy. This pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich will stretch cheese from your mouth to all across your kitchen, that is why I like to add mozzarella, it has the best stretch.
Since I added some pickle relish into the sauce, which is similar to most popular burger sauces, I wanted to add another level of acidity and topped the whole thing with pickled red onions.
Now let’s go and make some pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich.
Pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich
Ingredients
Pulled pork
- 500 g pork shoulder
- 150 ml tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp chipotle paste
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 l hot water
Grilled cheese sandwich
- Cheddar grated
- Mozarella grated
- 3 tbsp butter
Sandwich sauce
- 1 tsp chipotle paste
- 2 tbsp pickle relish
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
Instructions
- Heat some oil in a roasting pot or dutch oven
- Sear the pork from all sides until nice and brown (about 7 minutes)
- Add the water, bay leaves and the spice and sauce mix
- Put on a lid and braise on medium low for 2 hours
- Remove from the pot and shred using two forks
- Let it cool before making the sandwiches
- Make the sauce by mixing the chipotle paste, mayo and the pickle relish
- Butter both sides of each bread slice
- Place the ingredients, bread - cheese – sauce – pork – sauce – cheese – bread
- Heat a skillet with some oil on medium-low and grill the sandwiches from each side until golden brown and the cheese is melty