Did you realize that paninis are just grown up grilled cheeses? They’re still bread. They’re still cheese. They just have grown up – maybe added meat, some sauces, some veggies. But at the heart? They’re a grilled cheese. With a bigger price tag…

How to Make Paninis

You don’t need a fancy panini press to make these paninis at home. I normally make them in a pan on the stove.  But the other day, I had another friend over for dinner and I needed to make 4 sandwiches, so I pulled out my griddle. Make 4 at one time and I could have easily fit another 4 onto my family-sized griddle!

I made mine Italian style – at least that’s what I’m pretending it was. It had ham, pepperoni, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, provolone cheese and pepperocinis (for my husband’s – I don’t care for them).

Since you can mix and match the meats, cheeses and veggies, you can have paninis all week and still not eat the same thing!

Love easy recipes with 5-ingredients or less? Check out our cookbook with a menu plan AND shopping list: ‘Incredibly Easy 5-Ingredient Meal Plan and Cookbook’ available on Amazon! Or, try one of these recipes:

• Oven-Baked Chicken Drumsticks
• Cajun Sausage and Green Bean Skillet Meal
• Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken Pasta
• Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
• Tuna Noodle Casserole

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Paninis

Easy, customizable panini sandwiches - perfect for one or family meals!

Course Main Course

Keyword paninis

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 1 serving

Ingredients

• 2 slices bread per sandwich
• butter or olive oil
• meats (I like ham & pepperoni)
• cheeses optional
• veggies optional
• mustard optional
• balsamic vinegar optional

Instructions

• Make sandwich. On 1 slice of bread, add balsamic vinegar and add mustard on the other one slice of bread. In the middle, layer in your meats, cheeses, and veggies. I like to do the cheeses next to the bread to help them melt better.
• Preheat pan or griddle to medium heat - not too hot! You need time for the cheese to melt without getting your bread too toasty. If I'm using a pan, I just put some olive oil in the bottom. If I'm making a few sandwiches on the griddle, I lightly butter the outside of the bread.
• Put sandwich in the pan (or on the griddle).
• Panini usually means pressed. If you want to do that, put another pan on top of the sandwich to use as a weight. Or just use your spatula to hold it down.
• After a couple of minutes, check on sandwich. Flip when the down side is toasted.
• Serve and eat!

Jayme is a wife to 1 and, so far, a mother to two little boys. She coupons, but isn’t super extreme about it. She price matches and loves it! While she likes to cook, she’s in the stage of life where simple is usually better! She never knows how many hands she’ll have free at dinner time! You can find her at No Regrets Living