Pimento Cheese is a popular spread and favorite dish of Southern cuisine. Serve it as a dip with crackers, chips or in a sandwich.
Pimento cheese is made with just three ingredients cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and pimentos. There are many other variations out there with people adding cream cheese, bacon, jalapenos etc. It can be prepared either smooth or chunky form, depending on your liking. I like mine to be chunky and love to add some hot sauce for some heat.
It comes together in a jiffy and can make a pretty quick lunch. We usually have it with tomato soup and I would also lightly grill it for that melty gooey cheese feel.
You can serve it so many ways, add it to a tortilla and roll it up and cut smaller rolls for kids or party. Add a toothpick to it for easy pickup. It can also be added to burgers, grits etc.
You can trim the edges and cut it in smaller bites for finger food.
I had my first taste of pimento cheese in Charleston few years ago. We had it inside a fried tomato sandwich. It was so good and perfect, that I came back to recreate the same sandwich. Since then, I make simple pimento cheese sandwiches too with soup.
Last week we had some soup in the fridge and I decided to make pimento cheese sandwiches to go with it. I also had some refrigeration issues and needed to use up red bell pepper. I roasted the bell pepper, but I have easily used store-bought ones too.
What is Pimento Cheese?
Before I tried pimento cheese, I had no idea how easy it is to make pimento cheese or what exactly is pimento cheese. I knew the word pimento and its meaning.
It’s the most basic form of cheese spread – made from a combination of cheese, mayonnaise and chopped up pimentos. As I mentioned previously people make all the different versions of this spread.
Tips or Suggestions
You should grate cheese at home whether you use a hand grater or food processor. It’s much better. You can even mix up two different cheeses like cheddar cheese and Monterey jack.
Pimento pepper or roasted red pepper, you can use store-bought one. If you want to roast one at home, feel free to do so.
If you use food processor to grate the cheese, just give it few more pulses and add other ingredients too.
Start with smaller amount of mayonnaise and cayenne pepper, taste and add more if needed.
You can make this in advance and store it in an airtight container for 2-3 days easily. Taste better at room temperature so serve it accordingly.
You cannot freeze this recipe.
Pimento Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese grated
- 1/3-1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 4 oz jar of pimento peppers finely diced, water drained
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Sandwich bread or crackers, chips etc.
Instructions
- Drain pimentos and finely dice them.
- Grate cheese in a large bowl using a grater or food processor.
- Mix pimentos, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper with grated cheese and stir in mayonnaise. Add little at first and then add more if needed. Stir to combine.
- Either serve it as a dip with crackers or make sandwiches.
