This Smoked Ham Grilled Cheese is a true heavy weight champion: with over half a pound of cheese and a quarter pound of meat, it WILL satisfy your hunger.

No, I’m not kidding… I’m actually giving you a Grilled Cheese Sandwich recipe today. Yep! A recipe for a sandwich. I mean, what could possibly be easier to make than a sandwich, right? Why would one even need a recipe for that, let alone step-by-step instructions and pictures?

Well, because sometimes, decadent food needs not be complicated, and sometimes, you just need the inspiration to get you started.

Plus, in my defense, this is not just your average grilled cheese, you know. This is a MAN’S sandwich, a true heavy weight champion, a fare fit for a lumberjack. Indeed, just one of these babies contains over a half of pound of cheese as well as a quarter of a pound of meat, in the form of smoked ham and homemade smoked bacon cooked to crispy perfection. Once everything is said and done, the finished product weighs close to a pound and a half. Now THAT’s what I call a sandwich! 

As you will see in the pictures, I’d made two of these ginormous smoked ham grilled cheese sandwiches: one for me, one for my son. We ended up splitting one between the two of us, and I kept the other one to give to my daughter, who ended up sharing it with her boyfriend.

So unless you’re particularly hungry that day, or haven’t eaten in like a week, you might want to consider finding a good friend to share this sandwich with.

Step-by-step instructions & pictures

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, you know…

At that rate, I guess words were hardly even necessary!

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Yes, you will be needing the oven to get that cheese perfectly melted…

Next, spread a generous amount of Dijon mustard over both slices of bread. Oh, and about that bread, you will want to find real big and real thick slices. The middle slices of a thickly sliced round loaf are absolutely ideal.

Top one of those slices of bread with half the mozzarella cheese…

Note that I chose to cut my cheese into really thin slices, but grating it would work just as well.

Now top the mozzarella with half of the aged cheddar cheese…

…bring in the crispy bacon…

…then the smoked ham…

My personal preference goes to super thinly sliced black forest ham, and I like to bunch it up like crumpled paper. This works particularly well for grilled cheese sandwiches, because as the cheese melts, it gets into all the nooks and crannies and sort of becomes one with the ham. Oh! It’s a beautiful thing, trust me!

Alright, so top that mound of crumpled smoked ham with the remaining sharp cheddar cheese…

and finally, add the rest of the mozzarella cheese.

Place the second slice of bread over the last layer of cheese, mustard side down.

Butter that top slice of bread very generously…

…and place your sandwich (or sandwiches, if like me, you’re making more than one) in an oven-safe skillet set over medium-low heat, buttered side down.

Generously butter the now exposed top slice of bread.

Cook your sandwich for 3 to 4 minutes, until the bottom slice of bread becomes all crispy and golden brown.

Flip your sandwich over, continue cooking for one minute just to get the crust going, then cover with foil and transfer the pan to the preheated oven.

Cook your grilled cheese for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cheeses start to ooze on all sides…

Allow your grilled cheese to rest for a minute or two, just so you don’t go burning your tongue on that delicious melted cheese, then slice and serve.

I guarantee you, you won’t need much of anything else than a few butter pickles and sweet pickled onions to go with that. Maybe a light salad, if you absolutely must have a side, but trust me when I say that this is an extremely filling grilled cheese sandwich.

You may want to pass on the potato chips or French fries, just this time…