Mod R has been mentioning the panini press lately and the need for some recipes. Warning: stock pictures of delicious food ahead.
What is a panini press?
Panini comes to us from Italy. It is thought to have originated in Lombardy, and was mentioned in some Italian writing as early as 16th century. In very simple terms, panini is a sandwich that has been smooshed between two heated plates.
A panini press is a sandwich press that’s heated on both sides. The first American sandwich press was patented in 1920’s by Thomas Edison, and became popular a bit later, when grilled cheese sandwiches came onto the scene. The classic pairing of a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup? Panini presses are perfect for that.
Which panini press do you use?
I have Griddler by Cuisinart. Here is a link to one at Target. It has a handy video. It’s super easy to clean because the heating plates pop right out. They are also reversible. One side has ridges and the other side is flat and suitable for pancakes. As always, none of the links on this website are affiliate links, so we receive no money if you decide to purchase one.
What do you make with your panini press?
If you watch the video, you can see they have all sorts of stuff on there, but I use the press for mostly two things: paninis and something that involves tortillas.
Panini
A basic panini recipe is pretty simple. Plug the press in. Turn the middle selector onto Grill/Panini and Panini selector onto sear. Close the press and let it heat up. The light will turn green when hot.
I lightly butter 2 slices of bread on one side, and by lightly, I mean just a bare coating of butter. We need it for the crisp. Alternatively, you can either brush the press with oil or use one of those aerosol oil cans.
I tend to assemble the sandwich on the press, but you can preassemble if you want. One slice goes on the bottom press, buttered side down, then cheese, meat, tomato, or lettuce, or whatever it is you want, little bit of condiments such as mayo or mustard, a bit more meat, cheese, and the final slice buttered side up.
Press. I tend to hold it a little bit.
Then you eyeball it. You can lift it the top press at any point to check how brown you want your panini. I tend to sear it to brown crispiness.
Quesadillas
Easiest thing in the world, super fast when you need dinner in 20 minutes or less.
- 2 tortillas burrito size
- Shredded cheese of your choice – Mexican cheese blend works well, you can do pizza blend, of shredded smoked Cheddar, etc.
- Topping: left over shredded chicken, steak cut up paper thin, left over taco ground beef or turkey, plant-based meat substitute, etc. Whatever floats your boat, as long as its thin
- Your favorite taco sauce
- a little bit of oil for crispiness
Slightly oil 2 tortilla shells on one side. 1 tortilla goes oil side down on the press.
We toss some shredded Mexican cheese blend or shredded cheese of your choice, we toss some shredded meat, then we drip taco sauce in a kind of spiral – you will need a bit less than you think. We follow that with a handful of cheese, we slap the second tortilla on there oiled side up, press, sizzle until we see some light brown grill marks, and then we use the spatula to slide it straight onto the cutting board and apply pizza cutter.
Boom, done.
You can throw a bit of shredded peppers in there or sauté some bell pepper slices if you want to go vegetarian route, etc.
You know what else is amazing on the panini press?
Breakfast tacos
- 1 pack of 10 torillas, soft taco size
- 4 eggs
- 6 slices of bacon
- your favorite shredded cheese
- your favorite taco sauce
You can assemble these just like we did with quesadillas or you can save some sanity like me. I’m lazy.
Make sure your panini press is good and hot.
Cook bacon. Make basic scrambled eggs. Turn off the heat. Break bacon up into the eggs. Mix well. Throw about a cup of shredded cheese. Mix.
Oil your soft taco tortillas on one side. We flop the soft taco down, we spoon a bit of filling into it, drip a bit of taco sauce, fold the shell over with a spatula or tongs, and press. 30 seconds, and we pull it onto a plate and rinse and repeat.
You can get creative with fillings. Again, hatch chilli or some people like tomato, or whatever floats your boat.
Happy cooking!
Yum! I my have to pull my sandwich press out of the pantry.
Hang on . . . let me just wipe the drool from my keyboard . . .
Thanks. Ilona, for the recipes. Thanks, ModR, for representing us in the best way and mentioning the need for the recipes.
* and mentioning * not mentioned. Sheesh.
I use a mixture of mayo and jalapeno juice( the liquid from the jalapeno jar or bottle) to brush on the outside of the tortilla before grilling. It is amazing 🤩
And now I’m hungry again… thanks a lot! Also, my “panini press” is my George Foreman Grill. I make whatever sandwich I want and then press it on the Grill after spreading either softened butter or mayo on the outside slices. Can be messy at times, but very easy to clean.
I have that panini maker. My parents gave it to me two days after I was let go from a job. They wanted to do something to cheer me up. Years later, I still think of it as my Sorry-you-got-fired-hope-this-helps panini maker.
The weather just turned cook so I have been enjoying tomato and red pepper soup with grilled cheese sandwiches – YUM!
Yum to all the above recipes (leave out the raw tomato for me). It’s nice having both the grill side and the griddle side in one machine.
Mod R, it’s basically trial and error with panini presses. Some things work better than others. Have fun cooking!
I love my panini press. Grilled cheeses, so many different sandwiches. I’ve also used it to reheat meats rather than putting them in the microwave. Everything is better in a panini press. Costco (if you are a member) will occasionally put that specific model on sale once or twice a year. I wound up switching to a pricey model from GreenPan (when it was on sale) as I’m making a valiant (if impossible) attempt to reduce PFAs in my life.
I got a lot of flack on this u til.my sister I law came along, thought it sounded good and made it. It’s my brother’s favorite now. Use your fav bread, and on the inside smoke ham like black forest hame, a flavorful cheese like smoke gouda. This is the odd part. after spreading on your fave mustard, I like a grainy Dijon. slather on some good quality peach jam. You get the the salty, smoky, sweet, crunch and gooey all in one
Jelly or jam and the mustard of your choice basically add up to a sweet and sour sauce. The combinations are infinite and almost all yummy, as long as you taste for balance. I’ve used mint jelly and Dijon as a sauce for grilled lamb. It was spectacular.
Geeta’s mango chutney, lovely Indian spices and it works a treat, though I make my toasties in the air fryer!
We have same press is works great and use it the same way like your Breakfast taco idea we like to add a bit of hash browns as well.
Our Italian exchange student suggested we get one (about 2015). It is flat on top and bottom. Just plug it in, add the Mi Tienda tortillas and flip when needed. After flipping back, I’ll add salsa, beans if we have, and cheese and turn it into a breakfast taco or burrito.
Now and then I’ll add butter to the grill, then bread and toast it. After flipping, I’d add cheese (3 or 4 different kinds) on both sides until fairly melted, then put together, lay the lid on it as it cools down and I have a grill cheesey sandwich. Sometimes I’ll put ham on the edges of the griddle to warm it up for the middle of the cheesey sandwich.
Breakfast tacos in the panini press. It seems so obvious when you point it out! Guess what I’m making tomorrow morning? Thank you!!
My favorite Panina I struggle to replicate. It was smoked turkey, provolone, cream cheese, a raspberry/chipotle sauce, and baby spinach on amazing bread from a local bakery. I’ve made delicious versions, but I haven’t been able to replicate the raspberry/chipotle sauce. The one used by the coffee shop in the original sandwich is no longer made. The use of smoked turkey keeps the turkey from disappearing in the blend of sweet heat and creamy goodness from the sauce and cream cheese. I had the idea last week to try it with pepper jelly but haven’t sourced the pepper jelly yet.
I make Nigella Lawson’s chilli jam every year around the holidays https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chilli-jam. It’s in her Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen 2006 BBC series, in episode 2, if you can find it to watch online and want to see it being done step by step (Nigella is always comfort watching!).
I end up cooking bigger cuts of meat for all the late autumn and winter occasions, *simply* so we can have leftover sandwiches with this chilli jam the next days. Particularly welcomed after abusing champers on NY night hehe 😀 . It works with any meats- ham (or gammon as we call it), leftover beef or pork roast, chicken, turkey, deli meats, cheese etc.
You could try the Raspberry Chipotle Sauce from Terrapin Ridge Farms. We really most everything they make especially the Smokey Maple Bacon mustard.
I have a spray bottle filled with water next to mine. Give stale bread a spray on both sides before toasting it. The hotplates steam up your dry bread and it’s as good as fresh from the oven. Do it without the water and it’ll turn old dry bread to toasted cardboard.
My George Forman grill does double duty as a panini press.. lol very convenient for storage.
I get a log of fresh mozzarella from the store slice it up, then dip it in flour, egg wash then bread crumbs and make fresh mozz cheese sticks. It’s really good.
oh my goodness, this sounds amazing!
One of my favorite things to make on a panni grill is the post Thanksgiving leftovers.
Brush the lower grill with oil and scoop on left over stuffing. Use a spatula to press it flat covering the grill surface – it is best when thin but not see through.
Add leftover turkey slices (or meat of choice).
Dollop on a condiment of your choice. I use cranberry sauce for turkey and mustard on ham but whatever you like works.
optional… sprinkle on cheese.
top with leftover mashed potatoes in the same layer type as the stuffing. brush oil on the top grill and close.
Slowly press down as far as possible. give it at least 3 minutes before checking to allow the top layer to crisp enough not to cling. you can sub more stuffing for the potatoes or vise versus. it should crisp enough that the stuffing acts like bread.
Now I am hungry.
I like my breakfast tacos with a layer of hashbrowns. Everything else as you described, definitely Hatch green chile but I live in NM so it’s not hard to get!
It all sounds very yummy!!!!
Cool!
woohoo!!!! thank you for the info, good reason to dust mine off ❤
The top picture looks like some form of delicious falafel. 🙂
This all sounds so good. I am currently dieting in preparation for my physical in two weeks so no bread or cheese for me. I’m studying for my blood tests. Yes, I know it’s stupid. Yes, I’m doing it anyway.
I too have the Cuisinart model. We like making Reubens-rye bread with a light layer of mayo, then Swiss cheese, pastrami or corned beef, more Swiss cheese and a drizzle of thousand island dressing. What’s really neat is that you can buy waffle plates for the Cuisinart model-I found online at Amazon. (It’s been a while, but I believe the plates are manufactured by another company, but they fit perfectly) You can turn them over and use the flat side as a griddle, too. So versatile!
Ack, forgot to mention the sauerkraut for the Reuben! It’s an integral part of the sammy!
Do you cook your bacon on the press or in the oven?
My mouth watered & I wanted quesadillas for breakfast.
Next step, see if they sell this brand in Australia. They do!
My son & I had been talking recently about our desire for a panini press. More versatile than the jaffle maker we have.
Thanks for the suggestion & the recipes
I have the Griddler and it makes great steaks and grilled chicken too. Love that thing
all these recipes are making me hungry!
I have a good old sandwich toaster (very British thing to have if you grew up in the eighties) and I still love it. Mine is around 10 years old and has releasable plates that pop straight into the dishwasher. The newer version does 3 sets of plates: classic sandwich, waffle grid and flat and I have appliance envy.
Still make samosa sandwiches a lot. Basically make a samosa filling (I go classic potato, pea and onion) and then toast. Can add in cheese or spread some green coriander chutney inside before toasting.
Oooooh yessss, panini is a big thing here in Germany as well. And now I am so unbelievably hungry 🤤 ….
We simmer this with chicken instead of taco sauce for quesadillas. It is amazing, and makes leftover rotisserie chicken into the perfect topping.
https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/rojo-taco-seasoning/c-24/p-1676/pd-s
I live using mayo on the outside, it gives the sandwich an almost battered feel, a bit like a monte cristo.
*love
back in the “Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine” craze, I wasn’t interested in one. But, then, I got sick a couple of years later and was dying for grilled cheese sandwich and tomatoe soup, but my sister’s stove was fried from an electrical surge, so I grabbed her George Foreman grill and discovered a wonderful panini press! Soup got microwaved… wonderful meal when sick with laryngitis and sore throat.
Then, a couple of years ago, I fell head over heels for Crepes and Dosas, at which point I discovered http://www.dosamaker.com (no, I’m not affiliated, I’m just a HUGE Fan) and bought their Dosa Maker. I make dosas, for use as dosas, super thin tortillas, and crepes. The machine can also make pancakes, but while I love baking bread(the magic of it is fascinating), I am not much of a bread eater, so lighter crepes are more my style. It also makes awesome quesadillas, and pizza-pockets! it would also work great as a panini press for multiple sandwiches at the same time, but the $2 thrift shop Foreman grill, is still my favorite for paninis.
sometimes, I make my dosas crispy to the point of shattering when bitten, sometimes the crepes are soft, paper-thin and drapey, but I love my paninis crispy on the first 2mm and melty-steamy in the middle.
I use my press to make the bread for arepas. The bread is traditionally fried in a pan, but I find cooking it from both sides is faster and makes for a perfect crispy crust. It’s a great tool for all kinds of things, and mine is actually the Cuisinart waffle iron with plates that flip to flat ones that I use for sandwiches.
If you don’t have an easy-clean model you can put your sandwich in a paper sandwich bag and it saves melted cheese going everywhere. I don’t butter/oil the outside of the bread and the sandwiches have alwaays been crispy. My favourite is cheese and mushroom (with or without fried onions) and a splaah of worcestershire sauce.
I am definitely going to try the breakfast sandwiches – why haven’t I done this before?
Time to get a panini press! I had one years ago but it was such a pain to clean. This sounds so much better. Off to shop! Happy Friday!
I was out for lunch today and saw panini in the menu….of course I had to have one.
mmmmm…crispy multigrain turkey and swiss.
Someone on Ravelry, from Australia, a few years ago, mentioned a Chinese woman talking about how the panini presses there had something like 30 interchangeable plates. Waffles, fish shaped waffles, bubble waffles, tako balls, donuts, hand pies…. I’ve been looking ever since but no joy. So we just make pressed sandwiches with our Cuisinart press instead of fun waffle shapes stuffed with adzuki beans.
I also have the Griddler from Cuisinart – it is a very handle appliance. I got the waffle heat plates for it so between that and the original griddle/flat plates, I have 3 devices in one!
My beloved mother in law has one. We ate SO MANY paninis while visiting that I refuse to buy one. That way lay dragons…very chubby dragons.
My favorite grilled cheese is goat cheese with tomato slices and olive paste (pitted Kalamata olives and garlic cloves blended in a food processor until your preference of smooth or chunky). My kids also loved it, enough to make the olive paste for it. We use our panini press frequently.