I tried Martha Stewart's trick for the ultimate grilled cheese, and I found a way to make it even better

martha grilled cheese
Martha Stewart uses mayonnaise on her grilled cheeses.Paige Bennett for Insider; DANNY MOLOSHOK/Reuters
  • Martha Stewart has a simple trick for the perfect grilled cheese that involves a common condiment.

  • I tested her mayonnaise recipe against a buttered and plain one to see which was truly best.

  • After testing everything, I decided a combination of butter and mayonnaise makes the best sandwich.

When I came across Martha Stewart's favorite trick for the most delicious grilled cheese, I knew I had to give it a try.

I decided to test it back-to-back with a few other variations to see which one resulted in the best-tasting sandwich. To keep the comparisons simple, I went with classic white cheddar and white bread for each sandwich.

Here's how the variations stacked up.

I started by making a cheesy sandwich with nothing coating the bread

1 plain
1 plain

I first tested plain bread to get a better sense of how the other toppings would fare.Paige Bennett for Insider

To compare how butter and mayo change the exterior of a grilled cheese, I started by testing a sandwich with nothing spread across the outside of the bread.

I expected this version to be very dry.

It took a while, but the bread did get ever-so-slightly golden on the outside

3 plain on griddle
3 plain on griddle

It barely got any color even after cooking each side for five minutes.Paige Bennett for Insider

I shredded some cheddar cheese — I went with shredded instead of sliced for quicker melting — added it to the plain white bread, and put the sandwich on the griddle.

It took about five minutes on each side to get any sort of golden color.

6 plain
Everything about this sandwich was dry.Paige Bennett for Insider

The sandwich was predictably very dry, with a texture similar to Styrofoam.

The bread was so dry it scraped my mouth and tongue while I was trying to eat it, and the bite was hard to swallow.

Next I tried making a grilled cheese with butter on both sides of each slice of bread

7 with butter inside and out
7 with butter inside and out

I usually make my grilled cheeses with butter.Paige Bennett for Insider

This is my usual method for making grilled cheese, so I expected the sandwich to be buttery and gooey inside and golden and lightly crisped on the outside.

I generously buttered each side of the bread and added the same amount of shredded cheese to the interior.

This grilled cheese looked delicious, but the crust was a bit too soft

9 with butter on griddle
9 with butter on griddle

The bread didn't take long to turn golden-brown.Paige Bennett for Insider

The sandwich came off the griddle with a perfect, lightly golden exterior. I could see the inside was cheesy and soft.

The first bite of this sandwich was definitely a touch too soft and chewy inside, maybe because the dry sandwich was fresh on my mind

12 with butter
The sandwich was good, even if the crust was a little too soft.Paige Bennett for Insider

Because butter has a low smoking point, the bread became golden very quickly on this iteration. That meant that the cheese, although mostly melted, was still coagulated (semisolid), which threw the texture off.

Overall, though, this was delicious. The inside was gooey and the exterior was crispy.

Now it was time to try Stewart's trick of adding mayonnaise to the outside of the bread

14 with mayo
14 with mayo

Martha Stewart has said she likes to use mayonnaise instead of butter.Paige Bennett for Insider

I've tried Stewart's "hack" — which she doesn't claim as her own — before. But I've never noticed a difference in how it compares to my regular buttered version.

I was hoping to detect subtle differences by trying these different methods one after another.

The sandwich turned golden quickly, and the bread was bubbling on the griddle

17 with mayo
17 with mayo

The creamy condiment made the bread crisp up and bubble.Paige Bennett for Insider

Like the buttered sandwich, this bread turned a golden color in just a few minutes over medium heat. I noticed the condiment was bubbling along the bottom crust as it cooked.

After cooking it for a few minutes on each side, I sliced my sandwich and took a bite.

20 with mayo
The texture was better than the butter version.Paige Bennett for Insider

The flavor wasn't really affected by the mayo, but the texture was noticeably different.

The crusts and exterior were crisper and more golden. But the cheese was not quite as soft and gooey as the sandwich that had butter on the inside.

Finally, I decided to combine the mayo and butter methods

22 with mayo and butter
22 with mayo and butter

I wanted to try a combo of the methods.Paige Bennett for Insider

I wanted to try to achieve a perfect texture: melty on the inside and crisp and crunchy on the outside.

To do this, I slathered the insides of the bread in butter and the exteriors in mayonnaise. I expected the best of both previous methods to come into play here.

The sandwich was ready in minutes and just as good as I expected

23 with mayo and butter on griddle
23 with mayo and butter on griddle

The exterior mayo had the same golden-brown effect on the bread.Paige Bennett for Insider

I cooked the sandwich on the griddle, the same way as the others, and it browned just as fast, resulting in that perfect, golden bread.

I picked up a slice, and I could feel that the center was soft and squishy.

26 with mayo and butter
The butter on the insider resulted in perfectly squishy cheese.Paige Bennett for Insider

I enjoyed every bite of this version.

The exterior and edges were crisp and flavorful, and the interior was even softer with the extra butter on the bread.

I'll definitely be using this creamy combo in the future

27 with mayo and butter
I think mayo on the outside and butter on the inside works best for a classic grilled cheese.Paige Bennett for Insider

As long as I have both softened butter and mayonnaise on hand, this will be my new go-to way to make grilled cheese.

But if I wanted to add watery or soft toppings — like tomatoes, pickles, or avocado — I'd actually just go with Stewart's hack sans butter to prevent the interior from becoming too soggy.

This story was originally published on March 19, 2021, and most recently updated on August 3, 2023. 

Want more cooking tips from Martha Stewart? Check out recipes and lessons from her cookbook for at-home chefs:

Read the original article on Insider