6 incredible grilled cheese sandwiches even the incredibly lazy can make

grilled cheese sandwiches
All photos by Lee Breslouer
All photos by Lee Breslouer

The grilled cheese sandwich is the staple meal of the lazy person, especially since all you need are two pieces of bread, a few slices of cheese, butter, 10mins, and a little self-respect. But like the time you settled for generic soda because "that extra 30 cents could come in handy someday", you can do better. So, to help with that, we cooked up six of the most popular/ interesting sammies from around the Internet in one gloriously lactose-filled afternoon just to prove you can do it too.

classic grilled cheese

THE CLASSIC GRILLED CHEESE
What it is: American and bacon on white
Why you should make it: Because it's hard to improve on.
Approximate cooking time: 15mins
Was it worth the time it took to make this? Blink as many times as it takes to blink in around 15mins and you're done. Yes.

Now let's up your grilled cheese game.

grilled cheese academy sergeant pepper

GRILLED CHEESE ACADEMY'S #1 RECIPE (THE SERGEANT PEPPER) -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Pepper jack, Cheddar, roasted cauliflower, deep-fried-and-battered-onions on sourdough
Why you should make it: Cauliflower and those crunchy onions combine for spectacular, in-depth flavors you don't often get on a grilled cheese.
Approximate cooking time: 30mins
Worth the time? Absolutely. Making the batter was as simple as mixing a few ingredients in a bowl, and the payoff is fried onions and melty cheese. And maybe saying that you went to the Grilled Cheese Academy.

martha stewart grown-up grilled cheese

MARTHA STEWART'S GROWN-UP GRILLED CHEESE -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Gruyere, prosciutto, arugula, tomato on white
Why you should make it: You can't screw this up unless you accidentally drop all the ingredients down the garbage disposal and then set your toque on fire, and hide under your bed. Your job is to just place the ingredients gently on bread.
Approximate cooking time: 15mins
Worth the time? Yep, especially considering this totally might have been one of Martha's prison recipes.

bobby flay's grilled cheese

BOBBY FLAY'S GRILLED CHEESE -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Grilled Brie, goat cheese, bacon, green tomato (we used yellow because we're rebels) on white
Why you should make it: It has multiple cheeses and bacon.
Approximate cooking time: 25mins
Worth the time? Yeah, this was another super-easy one to make. The only prep is watching the bacon fry and not letting your tears of joy drip into the pan.

mario batali's grilled cheese

MARIO BATALI'S GRILLED CHEESE -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Mozzarella, basil pesto, serrano peppers, jalapeños on Ciabatta
Why you should make it: There's a beautiful, tangy heat to this that you can't approximate even if you drank a bunch of "mild" Taco Bell sauce packets. Also, don't do that.
Approximate cooking time: 23mins
Worth the time? Absolutely. We even wished there were leftovers, because this would be equally good cold.

paula deen's grilled cheese

PAULA DEEN'S GRILLED CHEESE -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Grilled apple, bacon, Cheddar, red onion-mayo on sourdough
Why you should make it: Some people in this world like mayo on their grilled cheese, and Paula Deen is one of them. We hope that's the only thing you two have in common.
Approximate cooking time: 20mins
Worth the time? Sort of! She wants you to wait 20mins for the onions to roast in the oven so you can make the mayo. Buy regular mayo off the shelf and use that extra 20mins to watch Richard Sherman interviews on YouTube.

food network's grilled cheese

FOOD NETWORK'S GRILLED CHEESE -- Get the recipe here
What it is: Cheddar, pulled pork, mac & cheese on white
Why you should make it: Because it's like eating a Summer barbecue in-between two slices of bread.
Approximate cooking time: 15mins
Worth the time? The recipe tells you to make your own pulled pork and mac & cheese, because it assumes you have time and patience. We know better. Make the mac from a box and buy the pulled pork. Magically delicious.

Lee Breslouer writes about food and drink for Thrillist, and doesn't believe the ice cream headache is a real thing that can happen to someone. Follow him @LeeBreslouer, because you can't make a name that good up.