Cheese On Toast air fryer recipe

While making cheese on toast under the grill - with perhaps a start in the toaster - the air fryer does offer convenience of which, none of these methods provide.

Convenience being, the cheese on toast can be completely cooked in an air fryer, whereby multiple appliances could be needed to make it the traditional way; namely a toaster followed by the grill - or what is known as the broiler if your American.

Straightforward has it seems, toast a couple of slices of white bread, flip over after 5-8 minutes; air fry the opposite side while melting the cheese at the same time.

And that's it to making cheese on toast in an air fryer; providing you don't run into compatibility issues, like only one slice of bread will fit - it really should be a breeze with few steps to successfully making cheese on toast.

My cheese on toast air fryer recipe is simplicity at its best, two standard sliced white bread and a few slices of mature Cheddar cheese to melt.

How the cheese melts in terms of a pale imitation of itself, or a beautiful golden crust will depend on the cheese - and of course how quickly your bread turns to toast - will again depend on the bread used.

About the ingredients

Not much goes into making cheese on toast in an air fryer but certainly the combination of bread - in terms of thickness and quality - along with what cheese you use like mild or mature Cheddar, can change the taste and texture overall.

Bakery sliced bread

On this occasion I used leftover sliced bread direct from the bakery section of my local Tesco supermarket.

Bread slices were fairly long but very thin which I think helped the bread toast to a light, crumbly texture. I would go as far to say the texture was more brittle than crumbly - which caused the toast to melt on my tongue.

Mature Cheddar cheese

While its perfectly acceptable to use any mild Cheddar cheese you have spare in your fridge, I like to opt for a mature Cheddar because I prefer the strong taste.

Mature Cheddar is especially good in cooking and thus I feel improves cheese on toast.

You will need approximately 100g of cheese slices to cover the bread which should be cut about 2- 3mm thick, that fit perfectly to the length of the bread.

Serving Suggestions

By all means eat your air fried cheese on toast like you normally would but bear in mind there are options to spruce up this British classic.

Beans is a good choice whereby the cheese on toast is made in the air fryer along with one or two ramekins filled with a whole cans-worth of baked beans. How long cook baked beans in an air fryer would take approximately 10-12 minutes.

To air fryer beans on toast would be limited to larger air fryers only, thus to balance the cheese on toast on top of the baked beans-filled ramekins could free up space; although toasting bread next to the ramekins would avoid the beans' steam softening the toast.

What else you can do is add a little Worcestershire sauce to the cheese just before you melt it, to add a little zing to this often bland recipe.

Recipe PROS & CONS

Don't rush into making what will hopefully be a quick snack without finding out what's involved in making this simple dish.

PROS:

Or course what you will benefit most by making cheese on toast in an air fryer, is that you will be able to do it all inside a reasonably size air fryer basket. You toast the bread on the one side only, then proceed to turn slices over to melt the cheese.

No toaster or grilling is required when toasting and melting of cheese which is all done inside an air fryer.

And don't forget, that means you can make a quick toastie to up your cheese on toast game; while attempting to make a hefty but flavourful American style grilled cheese - of which can include many types of cheese along with meats like ham, sausage and chicken.

CONS:

Downside to making cheese on toast in an air fryer is this is a recipe that requires a lot of improvisation on your part; the kind of bread and cheese you use will either shorten or lengthen the time it takes to air fry either.

Biggest disadvantage of all is the limited space you have in even the largest air fryers, which means a minimum of two slices are can be air fried in one session.

In addition, a rounded air fryer basket would normally be limited to one slice of cheese on toast only, whereas a square basket will be the right shape to add two slices of bread.

Depending on how powerful the air flow is in your air fryer, while set to a high temperature; it can absolutely cause your bread and cheese slices to float around inside your air fryer.

In Pictures: How to make cheese on toast in air fryer

What better way to make cheese on toast in an air fryer then by following along with a step by step recipe in pictures.

STEP 1: Preheat air fryer

Nothing to it, press the PREHEAT preset to heat up your air fryer for a minimum of 5 minutes, or why not dial it in manually, which applies largely to analogue air fryers.

STEP 2: Add 2 Bread Slices to air fryer

You don't have to follow along with this recipe with two slices bread when only one slice will fit. While its vital you check to see if your two bread slices fit prior to air frying; the toast will gradually shrink as it air fries and so could free up a little more space.

STEP 3: Set TEMP to 400°F/205°C; time to 5 Mins.

We need to air fry on a really hot temperature much like toast is made under an open flame under a grill, or pushed next to the heating element inside a toaster.

Set air fryer temperature as high as it will go - setting the time to 5 minutes - while adding addition minutes until the toast is air fried to your desired brownness.

STEP 4: Turn over Bread Slices after 5 Minutes

Once the 5 minutes of air frying time has been reached, its time to turn the bread over if its brown enough for you. Disparity between cooking bread in any air fryer could allow for an extra few minutes until the toast is done.

I previously air fried a slice of medium cut Hovis which required 10 minutes of cooking time, while the opposite side didn't brown at all - even though it was properly toasted.

STEP 5: Sit Cheddar cheese on hot toast

Cut enough Cheddar to cover the top of the toast leaving no voids in between, as the cheese helps to stop the toast burning as the cheese is given extra time to melt - at this point I've lined the basket in baking paper to catch melting cheese.

With the possibility of light cheese slices flying about in your air fryer - so check inside the air fryer a few moments later - its vitally important to press the cheese into the hot toast in an attempt to soften the cheese enough it will stick to the rugged toast.

STEP 6: Close air fryer to melt cheese on toast

Close the air fryer basket once you've added enough cheese to melt, but open the basket again a few seconds later, just to be sure the cheese hasn't flung off the toast, and instead is melting through the bottom of the basket.

STEP 7: Serve immediately

No time to waste with cheese on toast which must be added to a preheated plate and eaten immediately.

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