22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (2024)

There's something magical about baked cheese dishes. Who can resist that impossibly perfect combination of a gooey interior with a golden, caramelized cheese crust? The standard representation is a decadent mac and cheese — the more cheeses it's made with, the better — but the deliciousness certainly doesn't end there. This recipe roundup is devoted to all the cheesy baked goodness imaginable, from light, airy cheddar gougères and a cheese soufflé to substantial mains like eggplant Parmesan and lasagna. Who says you can't make a meal of more than one?

01of 22

Crab Macaroni Gratin

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (1)

"A glorious amount of crab meat baked with shell-shaped pasta in a three-cheese cream sauce — tangy white cheddar, nutty Gruyère, and sharp Parmigiano-Reggiano — is no-joke delicious and trés riche," F&W Cooks contributor Andrea Slonecker says. "That's where the Champagne comes in. The tingly bubbles give your palate an ultrasonic scrub between each creamy, cheesy, blissful bite."

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02of 22

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (2)

This tart is the perfect way to take advantage of late-summer tomatoes. Roasting the tomatoes before adding them to the tart dries them a bit, which concentrates their flavor and helps prevent the crust from getting soggy. Goat cheese has two roles in this recipe, adding a tangy bite to the crust as well as serving as part of the cheesy tart filling. Fresh basil, another seasonal star, acts as the final garnish.

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03of 22

Crispy Frico Cups with Polenta and Brown Butter

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (3)

Star chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson molds traditional Italian frico (cheese crisps) into cups, then fills the salty, crunchy bowls with creamy, warm polenta and nutty brown butter. The frico cups soften as the polenta sits in them, so serve right away, with a fork and knife.

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04of 22

Baked Macaroni with Mortadella and Mozzarella

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (4)

Chef Paul Kahan ramps up this comforting Italian take on mac and cheese with fresh mozzarella, mortadella, eggs, and a rich pork ragù.

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05of 22

Cheddar-Scallion Biscuits

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (5)

The beauty of these biscuits is that you get a double punch of grated sharp cheddar. The cheese is mixed into the dough, of course — and the biscuits are baked on top of a pile of cheddar, resulting in crispy, lacy "feet" that form around the edges, adding beautiful caramelized flavor.

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Best-Ever Cheese Soufflé

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (6)

Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli perused old supper-club menus to come up with this retro cheese soufflé with both Parmigiano-Reggiano and Gruyère.

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07of 22

Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Pear, and Blue Cheese

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (7)

Pear and blue cheese are a classic pairing. This simple focaccia adds sweet caramelized onions and comes together in just four steps.

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08of 22

Cheddar Gougères

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (8)

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar gougères are perfect on New Year's Eve (or any other day!) with cava. The tangy, well-aged cheese is crumbly and deeply savory with a bit of nutty sweetness.

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09of 22

Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (9)

A quick broil followed by a longer bake makes this no-fry recipe hands-off enough to put together on a Tuesday, with results delicious enough for a weekend dinner party. Be sure to let the eggplant drain to achieve the best charred eggplant texture.

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10of 22

Macaroni and Three Cheeses

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (10)

When legendary athlete Michael Jordan and chef David Walzog were working on the menu for his eponymous steakhouse in Manhattan, Jordan insisted on including macaroni and cheese. White cheddar, gorgonzola, and Parmesan make this deluxe breadcrumb-topped version sing.

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11of 22

Pimiento Cheese and Bacon Crostini

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (11)

There’s nothing more indulgent than melted and browned pimiento cheese topped with crispy bacon.

12of 22

Herbed Potato Gratin with Roasted Garlic and Manchego

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (12)

Chef Jose Garces learned how to make a classic potato gratin while studying at Kendall College’s cooking school in Chicago. It's still one of his favorite side dishes. This version combines lots of sharp, nutty Manchego cheese and smoky San Simón cheese (Gouda is a fine substitute) for rich, complex flavor.

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13of 22

Free-Form Sausage and Three-Cheese Lasagna

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (13)

This gooey lasagna is packed with cheese and sausage. The style is called free-form because the pasta can be arranged in different ways — for instance, folded over the filling — instead of traditionally layered.

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14of 22

Camembert Baked in the Box

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (14)

This tender, melty cheese bakes in its box to keep it from collapsing. Be sure to buy Camembert in a box that’s stapled, not glued.

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15of 22

Pull-Apart Cheesy Onion Bread

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (15)

This recipe is as fun to eat as monkey bread (little balls of yeast dough that are baked in a pan together, then pulled apart at the table) but a lot less time-consuming to make. We spread buttery biscuit dough with a savory onion-Gruyère mixture, stack layers of it sideways in a loaf pan, then bake it until golden and fluffy.

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16of 22

Wild Mushroom and Swiss Dutch Baby

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (16)

This puffy pancake gets an extra-savory touch from grated Swiss cheese and a hint of Dijon mustard, while a combination of mixed wild mushrooms, shallot, and arugula tops it off. Use room-temperature milk and eggs to give the Dutch baby a higher rise than you'll get from fridge-cold ingredients. This dish makes a next-level breakfast or brunch.

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17of 22

Detroit-Style Pizza

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (17)

With a light and tender crust that's crispy on the bottom, charred on the sides, and topped with lots of melty cheese and savory pepperoni slices, there's so much to love about Detroit-Style Pizza. Layering is key here: Start with pepperoni, then add the cheese. Wisconsin brick cheese is the traditional choice, but you can also use a blend of low-moisture part-skim mozzarella and provolone.

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18of 22

French Onion Baked Brie

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (18)

If that first spoonful of French onion soup — with toasted bread, melted cheese, and savory caramelized onions — is your favorite, then you’ll love this appetizer, which is a decadent mash-up of French onion soup and baked Brie. Smear the cheesy snack on slices of toasted baguette.

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19of 22

Baked Butternut Squash and Cheese Polenta

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (19)

Anna Thomas’ 1970s book, The Vegetarian Epicure, is iconic; updated in the ‘90s and rechristened The New Vegetarian Epicure, it focuses on recipes for entertaining. One of her latest dishes is this crusty baked polenta, swirled with mashed butternut squash and smoked Gouda cheese.

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20of 22

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Radicchio

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (20)

A splash of red wine vinegar balances the richness of this cheesy pasta and magnifies the pink color of the onions and radicchio. Omit the prosciutto to make this a vegetarian main dish.

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21of 22

Basque Cheesecake

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (21)

2020 F&W Best New Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph bakes a perfectly creamy cheesecake, without a water bath and with no risk of a cracked or sunken top, by incorporating whipped cream cheese with heavy cream in the batter. To make the cake properly, you're going to have to burn it. The more caramelized it gets, the sweeter and creamier the batter becomes, intensifying the flavor.

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22of 22

Three-Cheese Cauliflower Gratin

22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (22)

If there’s a better way to eat cauliflower than this gratin, we have yet to come across it. A powerhouse of English cheeses — Montgomery’s crumbly and nutty cheddar; Ogleshield, a washed-rind Jersey cow's milk cheese; and buttery, blue-veined Colston Bassett Stilton — blankets cauliflower florets in a bechamel.

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22 Indulgent Baked Cheese Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are the best baked cheeses? ›

What Are the Best Cheeses for Baking? While French cheeses like brie and Camembert are obvious choices for baking, they aren't the only options. Fresh or brined cheeses including ricotta, goat cheese, feta, and blue also bake up beautifully.

What are the 4 ingredients in cheese? ›

Natural cheese is made from four basic ingredients including milk, salt, a “good bacteria” and rennet, an enzyme. From there, cheesemakers can adjust the basic recipe by adding other ingredients to make all of the cheeses we know and love.

How to eat baked cheese? ›

⭐️ What to serve with Baked Camembert

Fresh bread or crackers. Breadsticks or crudites. Serve it on its own or as part of a Christmas banquet or dinner party starter.

What is baking cheese used for? ›

In baking, cheeses have different functions. Soft cheeses, mixed with other ingredients, are used in fillings for pastries and coffeecakes. They are used for certain European deep-fried goods, such as cannoli. They may also be used, sometimes in combination with a richer cream cheese, for cheesecakes.

What is the tastiest cheese in the world? ›

10 Best Cheeses of the World
  • Valencay With Ash French Goat Cheese. ...
  • Camembert du Bocage French Cheese. ...
  • Buchette with Ash French Goat Cheese. ...
  • Brillat Savarin Fresh French Cheese. ...
  • French White Winter Truffle Butter Roll. ...
  • Parmigiano Reggiano DOP Italian Cheese, Aged 24 Months. ...
  • Perlagrigia Italian Truffle Cheese.

What cheese doesn't melt when baked? ›

There's one type of cheese that no amount of tweaking will melt: Acid-set cheeses, like fresh goat cheese, quick farmers cheese, paneer, queso fresco, and ricotta, just can't do it.

What kind of milk do you use to make cheese? ›

Jess: Most cheeses, with a few specific exceptions, are made with whole milk. This can mean pasteurized milk from the grocery store, or raw milk fresh off the farm. The only milk that should not be used for cheesemaking is ULTRAPASTEURIZED milk.

How long should the milk be heated to make cheese? ›

Heat milk to 176°F (80°C) for 20 minutes. Add the vinegar (5% acidity) to the distilled water, then slowly add the vinegar/water mixture to the hot milk until the whey is semi-clear and the curd particles begin to mat together and become slightly stretchy.

Which cheese has the most calories in one serving? ›

Cheese: Calories
FoodServingCalories
Gjetost 1 slice (28.35 g)100 g466 cal
Goat Cheese 1 slice (30 g)100 g347 cal
Gorgonzola 1 portion, crumbed (28 g)100 g360 cal
Gouda Cheese 1 slice (28 g)100 g368 cal
65 more rows

Why does baked cheese taste so good? ›

The process of melting releases fat from cheese, where it has been held by networks of milk proteins. Heating causes the networks to relax, pushing out water and leaving gaps for fat to move through. Heat also brings out amino acids with a savoury 'umami' taste, such as glutamate.

What is perfect bakes cheese? ›

Perfect Italiano Perfect Bakes is a special blend of Cheddar for flavour, with Mozzarella for stretch and Parmesan for bite to give the golden brown crust for your bake dishes.

How do French eat brie? ›

If you want to serve cheese as the French do, you should serve it to your dinner guests as an individual course before your dessert. Doing this allows the Brie to have a moment in the spotlight. However, many people also serve Brie as an appetizer with fruit, meat, and crackers.

What is the best baked cheese? ›

Read on to find out which cheeses bake best.
  • Camembert. Camembert is a surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. ...
  • Raclette. Whilst you can serve raclette cheese at the table using a tabletop grill, you can also easily bake it in the oven. ...
  • Feta. You might not have thought to bake feta before, but it's delicious!

How do you clean baked cheese? ›

Hot water and a scrub brush just mean melted cheese shmeared everywhere. It's counterintuitive, but turn your water temp to icy cold when cleaning cheesy dishes. The cheese will harden. Then trade your scrub brush for a pan scraper and scrape off the hardened cheese.

What cheese do bakeries use? ›

Cheeses with high moisture content, “like a Havarti, mild cheddar, Monterey Jack or mozzarella, are going to melt really well,” he adds, “whereas harder cheeses, like Asiago or Parmesan, tend to not be as creamy,” so you're able to manipulate them more.

What is the best cooked cheese? ›

8 Best Cheeses for Melting in Pastas, Paninis, Omelets, Casseroles, and More
  1. Fontina. Fontina can be buttery and a bit fruity; Fontina Val d'Aosta, from Italy's Aosta Valley, is firmer, more pungent, and nuttier (and always made of raw milk). ...
  2. Gouda. ...
  3. Asiago. ...
  4. Taleggio. ...
  5. Reblochon. ...
  6. Provolone. ...
  7. Mozzarella. ...
  8. Gruyère.
Oct 18, 2023

What cheeses are best for baked mac and cheese? ›

Gruyere is a classic addition because it melts much like Cheddar, but has a lovely nutty flavor. Other classics include Gouda, Muenster, Parmesan, fontina, Havarti and Monterey Jack. Brie works well too, just make sure you remove the rind before mixing it in.

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