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Fill up on savory roasted veggies with this Roasted Veggie Grilled Cheese. Stuffed with pepper, onion, and mushrooms and perfect for dipping in toasty sauce.
save this recipe!Today we’re whipping up a classic lunch favorite: The Grilled Cheese. Only in this recipe, we’re giving it an upgrade and packing it with veggies and rich gouda! And to achieve that sought after crispiness, we’ll coat the outsides of the bread in a generous layer of mayonnaise. It’s the best way to achieve that golden glow!
But we’re not stopping there. While living in the Netherlands I picked up a love for toasty sauce. Gouda grilled cheeses and other panini-style sandwiches (“toasties”) are often served with “toasty sauce”, a flavorful blend of mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce and that serves as the perfect sidekick for this gouda panini!
You can use any sauce you’d like, but I definitely recommend using something to offset the crispiness and add extra savory flavor. We’re sauce people around here!
Here’s what you’ll need
The ingredients in this pepper and mushroom grilled cheese are exactly what you’d expect: lots of veggies and delicious sourdough (or multigrain) bread! For the grilled cheese you’ll need:
- Red Bell Pepper: Roasted bell peppers are a must on any vegetable panini. You can use red, green, yellow, or orange!
- Sliced Mushrooms: As far as mushrooms go, you can use brown, white, or whatever you have on hand! You’ll need 2 cups.
- White Onion: Next up, white onion. You’ll need ½ cup, sliced.
- Bread: Bread can make or break a grilled cheese! For best results, use 4 thick slices of either sourdough or multigrain.
- Gouda: You’ll need 3 slices of gouda, as we’ll be using 1½ on each sandwich. Can’t find gouda? Cheddar, jack, or muenster also work well!
- Mayonnaise: Did you know grilled cheeses are ten times better when the outsides of the bread are coated with a layer of mayo? It helps them reach that perfect golden color!
The toasty sauce is a quick combination of mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, and optionally hot sauce. Whip it up while your grilled cheese cooks!
How to make a roasted veggie grilled cheese
This vegetable grilled cheese is made complete in just four steps. We’ll start by roasting the veggies, then we’ll assemble and cook the sandwiches panini-style.
Step 1: Roast the vegetables
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Slice the pepper, mushrooms, and onion, and throw everything onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing to evenly coat. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
Step 2: Prepare the toasty sauce
While the veggies cook, mix together all of the toasty sauce ingredients (mayo, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce).
Step 3: Assemble
Build two separate sandwiches by layering 1 slice of cheese, a heap of roasted vegetables, and ½ slice of cheese atop the bread. Spread mayonnaise on the outsides of the bread.
Step 4: Cook the sandwiches
Finally, cook the sandwiches in a skillet over medium heat, or in a panini press. Cook until the outsides are golden brown and the cheese has melted. Serve immediately with the toasty sauce for dipping.
Grilled cheese variations
In the mood to mix things up? Here are some ways that you can switch up your vegetable grilled cheese.
- Swap the Pepper: Any mild pepper works well here, to include green bell pepper, poblano, or anaheim.
- Red Onion: This recipe calls for white onion, but you can also use red! You can spice things up by using caramelized or pickled onions too.
- Pepper Jack Cheese: Though this sandwich isn’t a gouda panini without the gouda, it would also taste great with pepper jack (or even a pepper jack and cheddar combo). (Or check out our full list of best cheeses for grilled cheese 👈)
- Sauces: Toasty sauce is the best for this sandwich, but you can use whatever you’d like! Blue cheese, ranch, and even plain hot sauce all taste great.
More grilled cheeses and paninis to devour
Because you can never have too many jam packed loaded sandwiches, here are four more of my favorites! Each recipe presents unique flavor pairings like blueberry x balsamic and strawberry x avocado.
- Strawberry Avocado Grilled Cheese
- Buffalo Tempeh Sandwich
- Pressed Eggplant Sandwiches
- Roasted Chickpea Gyros
- Tomato Pesto Caprese Panini
- Chickpea “Tuna” Melt
Gouda Grilled Cheese With Roasted Veggies
Ingredients
Grilled Cheese
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms, brown, white, or whatever you have on hand
- ½ cup sliced white onion
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, 15 mL
- Pinch salt and pepper
- 4 thick slices bread, sourdough or multigrain are best
- 3 slices Gouda cheese
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
Toasty Sauce
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise, 15 g
- 1 Tbsp BBQ sauce, 15 g
- Splash of hot sauce, optional
Instructions
- Roast: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Slice pepper, mushrooms, and onion. Throw onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing to evenly coat. Bake for 15 minutes, or until veggies are soft.
- Sauce: Meanwhile, Mix together all Toasty Sauce ingredients.
- Assemble: Build two sandwiches by layering 1 slice of cheese, a heap of roasted veggies, and ½ slice of cheese. Spread mayonnaise onto the outsides of the sandwich.
- Cook: Cook over medium heat in a large skillet or panini press until outsides are golden brown and cheese has melted. Serve immediately with Toasty Sauce for dipping!
Nutrition
Nutrition information calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
Looks like my kind of grilled cheese sandwich! I love love roasted peppers – being Italian American from the northeast – we love roasted peppers! Thanks for sharing this!
Yes, that’s just like me. If I work really hard to meet a deadline, I tend to veg for hours and hours the next day. I thought it was just me too. Gouda is my favorite for a grilled cheese, and that toasty sauce sounds pretty divine. Thanks.
Glad to hear I’m not alone then! But nothing a little self-talk and grilled cheese can’t fix 😉
Thanks Rutuja! I’m not sure how I lived without toasty sauce for so many years before moving in with the tulip-man. Happy I could share it with you! 🙂
Haha thanks Kristen! Perhaps I should start cooking up more grilled cheeses 🙂 They’re just so perfect for these cold, cozy winter months. Thanks so much for sharing!
What a divine recipe are you a vegetarian? I love roasted pepper with cheese so delectable.
For the most part I am! Roasted pepper is one of my most favorite flavors, so smoky and savory and just perfect with everything!
Thank you for these vegetarian recipes. After recovering from Covid, surprisingly, 2 of my co-workers independantly decided to go vegetarian. Your chickpea recipes and these sandwich recipes are making it easier for us to fix food at work that the meat eaters can add sliced turkey/chicken to while the vegetarian guys and I can eat it with out. We work 12 hour rotating shifts in a plant and have a full kitchen. Due to the latest hurricane, some of the people from the Lafayette area had to stay here. It was great to have something a bit new and fresh to eat for lunch. Swet Baby Ray’s Barbecue sauce made it awesome!
YAY! I’m so happy to hear these recipes are helping you and your coworkers out through all this turbulence. There’s a new one you all will probably like, give this “Tuna” Salad a go, super easy!
This recipe is awesome, i’ve made it twice and going in for a third time 🙂
So happy to hear it, Condee! Enjoy! 😀
Over 1000 mg. sodium?!? Wow. Yes, I can NOT add a pinch of salt as recommended in the recipe, but that still leaves a lot of sodium.