Enjoy crisp, never greasy bread and perfectly melted cheese in minutes with an air fryer grilled cheese! This alternative method of making a grilled cheese doesn't use butter and comes in handy if you want to cook multiple sandwiches at once.

Two halves of an air fried grilled cheese stacked on top of one another.

I'll be frank: making a grilled cheese sandwich in the air fryer isn't anything revolutionary over its traditional stovetop preparation. You don't save a ton of time (like you do with air fryer red potatoes) or lighten up the nutrition in any way (hello, air fryer eggplant).

So now that that's out of the way, let me tell you why I do like an air fryer grilled cheese:

It crisps up nicely without becoming greasy. The thin layer of mayo (!) allows just the very surface to turn golden brown and crisp, while the bread underneath remains satisfyingly soft. Yes, this is an air fryer grilled cheese made without butter - I promise you won't miss it!
You can easily cook multiple sandwiches at a time.
I find the air fryer throws off less of a lingering "fry smell" than cooking grilled cheese in a pan.
...and the obvious, it's an easy way to make a grilled cheese if your stovetop is out of commission!

What You'll Need to Make Air Fryer Grilled Cheese

A grilled cheese sandwich in the process of being assembled.

Bread: I've found that relatively thinly-sliced bread works best for air frying grilled cheese. This way the cheese can melt fully before the outside becomes too toasty. Sliced sourdough, potato bread, or multigrain sandwich bread are great options. I often use Dave's Killer Bread with 21 Whole Grains and Seeds for extra protein and fiber oomph.
Sliced Cheese: Choose one or several of your favorites: cheddar, American, provolone, etc. Freshly shredded cheese can work, but makes more of a mess in the air fryer basket when flipping. Keep in mind the anti-caking agents added to store-bought pre-shredded cheese prevent the shreds from clumping together in the bag, but can impede meltiness. You may have mixed results if using them here.
Flavored Spread (optional): An easy way to zhuzh up a grilled cheese is to add a flavored spread to the inside of each piece of bread. Chipotle aioli, Calabrian chili aioli (both cheater versions with no raw egg), or other flavored mayos are great options, as is a Laughing Cow wedge. <-- Spreading one of the smoked gouda flavored wedges on both inner sides of bread is my current favorite twists.
Mayo: Spreading a thin layer of plain mayonnaise on the outside of the bread has been my favorite way to cook a grilled cheese since I heard Martha Stewart talk about it years ago. It totally disappears flavor-wise, spreads so much easier on a grilled cheese for air frying than cold butter, and doesn't turn greasy at ALL once the sandwiches are cooked.

Easy Recipe Steps

Making this recipe is straightforward, but the one potential pitfall would be burning the bread before the cheese melts. I prefer to air fry on a slightly lower temperature and tack a minute or two onto the cook time to prevent this from happening.

Assemble - Assemble sandwich(es) as you like and spread mayo thinly on both the top and bottom outer sides of bread. Place in the basket.
Cook - Air fry at 350°F for 5 minutes, then flip each sandwich over and air fry for another 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the grilled cheese is as golden brown as you like.

Two grilled cheeses on an air fryer basket before cooking.

Two air fryer grilled cheeses on the wire basket.

Weeknight tomato soup in a shallow bowl garnished with basil with half of a grilled cheese sandwich dunked in.

Perfect Grilled Cheese Pairing

It has to be my weeknight-friendly tomato soup with canned tomatoes. It's a speedy homemade soup recipe with a richer, deeper flavor than you might expect given the basic ingredients.

Get the recipe

Tips and Tricks

Tweak temperature and time as needed. All air fryers behave a little differently - some seem to cook quicker than stated recipe times, slower, etc. It's not a bad idea the first time you make a grilled cheese in the air fryer to pause and check on them as they cook to see if you need to reduce the temperature, extend the timing, etc.
Use thinly sliced cheese. Thicker slabs or chunks of cheese will take longer to melt, risking the bread overly toasting before they're nice melty. I've noticed some of the sliced cheese brands now make a variety that includes a bit of cream in the product for extar melt - those would be great here.
The more sandwiches, the merrier. You can cook as many sandwiches as you can fit in a single layer in your air fryer basket - the cook time will be the same. Pictured here is the air fry basket from a Cuisinart toaster oven-style air fryer and it can fit four grilled cheeses made with a loaf of standard sandwich bread.
Jazz up a grilled cheese. Add cooked bacon, pulled pork, grilled or shredded chicken, etc. to bump up the protein. As an air fryer grilled cheese cooks pretty quickly, I recommend heating the meat up separately and adding it hot to your sandwich prior to cooking. If cold, it can slow down the cheese melting.

A grilled cheese cut in half with cheese stretching between the halves.

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