Get your greens in while you eat your favorite sandwich! This Green Grilled Cheese recipe is a tasty way to get your kids eating more fresh spinach!
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Heads up! This recipe for Green Grilled Cheese was first published in 2011. Updates have been made to photographs and some text in 2018. Enjoy!
Why not add some spinach to your traditional grilled cheese sandwich? I can’t think of a yummier way to get more greens into your diet or your children’s meals than this Green Grilled Cheese recipe.
It might have something to do with the two different kinds of cheeses and butter that are mixed with the fresh spinach. I’m not going to claim that this is a “light” sandwich, but delicious? Yes, it is.
When someone told me about a grilled cheese sandwich with spinach they saw Giada De Laurentiis make on her show, I knew I had to give it a try. What a perfect way to get some more spinach into Meghan and Tim (and now that Luke is with us, him, too!), who both love grilled cheese sandwiches. (Uh…who doesn’t?)
I really wasn’t prepared for how good it was going to taste. It was with some trepidation that I served it, but after sneaking a bite of Meghan’s, I quickly returned to the kitchen to make my own.
I should have warned Meghan that her “grilled cheese” was not going to look like a normal grilled cheese. I should have made it fun and told her we were having froggy grilled cheeses or something. 
Instead, I just told her we were having grilled cheeses. She took one look at the green mixture dripping from her bread and she said, “No! I need a grilled cheese!”
I tried to explain that it was a grilled cheese, but she wasn’t having it. She wouldn’t even try it.
I didn’t give up, however, and tried to serve this to her a few more times. She finally tried and and realized just how good it is! Check out this video of her eating her Green Grilled Cheese.
Moral of the story? Don’t give up! Keep offering the foods you want your kids to eat. You NEVER know when they are going to start liking something.
And guess what? Here she is SEVEN year later, still enjoying the Green Grilled Cheese recipe. Seeing the comparison kind of makes me want to cry. HOW DID SHE GET SO BIG?!
If you’re going to have a grilled cheese sandwich, might as well add some spinach in there, right?
I’m republishing this just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, so if you want something green and untraditional to serve, this Green Grilled Cheese recipe is perfect. I hope your family loves this Green Grilled Cheese, too!
How to Make Green Grilled Cheese
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Green Grilled Cheese Recipe
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 8 sandwiches 1x
Description
This Green Grilled Cheese recipe is made with two different kinds of cheeses and fresh spinach. It’s delicious and the spinach adds nutrition!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mild cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 cups packed coarsely chopped spinach
- 16 slices sandwich bread of choice
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine the butter, cheeses, salt, and avocado oil. Blend until smooth and the mixture is spreadable. (If needed, add a touch more oil) Add the spinach and pulse until just combined.
- Preheat a panini maker. Spread the cheese mixture over 8 slices of bread and put the remaining bread slices on top. Grill the sandwiches until golden and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then cut each sandwich in half and serve. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sandwich
- Calories: 476
- Sugar: 3.6 grams
- Fat: 33 grams
- Carbohydrates: 23 grams
- Protein: 20 grams
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Maryea, I just made this for my family this weekend and we all devoured our sandwiches. I used the “froggie” sandwich idea on my 3 year old and she loved it. Since I’ve started following your blog, we have definitely tried lots of new things and have been eating much healthier. Please keep up the great work – our family thanks you!
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know. 🙂
Just had this for lunch, my 22 month old loooved it. She mmmmmm’ed the whole time she ate! I took your advice and let her help me with the sandwich making. She was gobbling the mixture down before we even put it all together. I added some tomato slices and fresh alfalfa sprouts to both of our sandwiches and used my george foreman grill to cook them (sprayed it with a little cooking spray to crisp up the bread).
I think for the next time, I might try leaving the butter out and just use olive oil. Also, I think by adding the extra veggies, it easily makes 3.
The real test will be seeing if my 5 year old will eat this. She is pretty picky. But I think I might be able to win her over with this as a St. Patty’s day meal!
Great Recipe! Thanks!
I love the idea of using a food processor for the spinach. Can’t wait to make this for my family on a Saturday for lunch! Thanks for linking to Saturday Swap.
I never thought of mixing grilled cheese ingredients in a blender. This is so smart! Thanks for sharing
I made this sandwich for my 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter tonight. My son looked at me like I was crazy for giving him something that was bright green. After coaxing him to at least take one bite, he loved it! He had the whole sandwich gone within minutes. I was a little more hesitant to give it to my daughter because she has feeding/texture issues and I wasn’t sure how stringy the cheese would be. Once it cooled off a little and I gave her the plate, she didn’t even think twice. I was stoked that she too ate the whole sandwich. I love your recipes, your ideas, and your blog! Thank You!
Yay! I’m so glad they enjoyed it. Now I just need to get Meghan to take that first bite. 🙂
I forgot to mention that we did not use butter with the rest of the ingredients because we put butter on the outside of the slices of bread before we put them in the sandwich maker.
I founf your blog quite by accident but enjoy reading all you have to say. I definitely try to feed my family healthy foods, but you definitely have me thinking about it more and more. Keep up the good work. I think I learn a tidbit with each post.
I can’t wait to serve these on St. Patricks Day ~ probaby for dinner with soup. I wonder wgat my little ones will think…
What a great idea to serve these on St. Patrick’s Day! I will definitely be doing the same. 🙂 Thanks for the idea.
We made this last night and everybody (my 20-month old son, my husband, and I) loved. We ended up making it in the sandwich maker (we don’t have a panini press) and we did not used butter or oil. We made 3 sandwiches from the rest of the ingredients (we used frozen spinach). It is an awesome recipe! Thank you!
Thanks for letting me know! I’m glad to hear it was still good without the butter or oil–that’s good to know!
Hi from Australia – great blog! I saw on one of your posts that one of your New Year goals was to increase your blog viewers. You just got one more with me! I found you by accident and love your recipes / ideas I’ve read so far : – ) Susan
Hi Susan! I’m glad you found me! Thank you for the kind words.
Great idea! My little one actually eats spinach even though she “dislikes” green food!
450?!?! For a fat girl…WOW! Does that include the bread? Do you think the butter could be left out? What about fat free or low fat cheeses?
Yes, that does include the bread. I think you could definitely decrease the butter (I wouldn’t leave it out all together–it makes it really yummy!). I also think you could possibly stretch the mixture the recipe makes to 3 sandwiches instead of 2, which would decrease the calories in each sandwich. You can certainly use low fat cheese and that would lower the calories a bit, too. But again, it wouldn’t taste as good! If you look at the typical sandwich that isn’t just a veggie sandwich w/ a mustard-type topping, this calorie count isn’t actually that high. You just wouldn’t want to eat another calorie-dense food with lunch. 🙂
Check out the comment below from Alina M. Looks like she tried it without any butter or oil and still liked it!! 🙂
My 3 1/2 year old and I made this together twice. The first time with the butter in the mixture, the second without. They were both delicious. I did use full fat cheese but it was just as good without the butter. We both loved it!
Ok, I’m so making this on Thursday for my 5 y/o. I’m hoping that he will love it. I’ll report back and let you know. It looks delicious!
I love this idea! I will most definitely have to try this 🙂
I would eat it!
What a genius idea! Even though she didn’t it this time, you never know if she will in the future! LOVE the pictures of the men eating it! Too funny!
I like the idea of mixing up the filling before making the sandwich. Spinach alone on grilled sandwiches can get a bit of slimy texture that even I, a spinach lover, don’t like. My kids, strangely, don’t like grilled cheese. We do a lot of cheese quesadillas, though, and this filling would work fine in that. I’ll have to let you know how it works.
First, GENIUS! just GENIUS! I wish I was still counseling mommies of toddlers b/c I would give them all this awesome recipe/idea
second… those photos are priceless! bahaha!
I agree with you…sometimes presentation is the trick to getting kiddos to eat things. Mine love a funny story or idea and when they get to help make it! Whatever spinach turns green we call a *Green Goblin* and they gobble it up. 🙂
Next time I make this I am totally involving her in the process. I KNOW she’ll love this.
I’ll have to try it with Pryce and Jadon. Pryce has an aversion to any green foods, but surprisingly, he loves his green smoothies.
What a great idea! Maybe I will actually remember to make this. I wonder if M would eat it.