Chilli Cheese Toast

If you’re looking for a quick, simple, and zesty snack or breakfast recipe, look no further. This easy Chilli Cheese Toast recipe requires just 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep, plus can easily be customized to suit your particular tastes.

About Chilli Cheese Toast

Whenever you’re in need of a quick bite to eat, toasts are always a good option. They’re simple to make, inexpensive, and almost always deeply satisfying. These particular chili cheese toasts are some of our favorites.

The reason this cheese stuffing is so tasty is that, besides the spiciness of the green chili, it also has the aromatic taste of ginger. This is how I have been making cheese chili toast for the family for years now. 

Aside from being a perfect snack or breakfast, this spicy cheese toast recipe is also:

• Quick & Easy – It doesn’t even take a full 5 minutes of prep time.
• Made With Just 5 Ingredients – And they’re all kitchen staples!
• Easily Customizable – There are many variations of making cheese chilli toast. The cheese stuffing in this recipe is inspired by my neighbor-auntie who would make hot cheese chili toast sandwiches and share them with us. 
  
  While our neighbor-aunt used to add a good quantity of ginger, I usually reduce the amount to suit our taste buds. If you do not prefer ginger, then you can skip it or add garlic instead.

Ingredients & Substitutions

As promised, this simple chilli cheese bread requires just a few ingredients to make. Here’s what to gather:

• Bread – You can use white bread, brown bread, multi-grain bread, whole wheat bread, or sourdough bread. Since I always have a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread or buns on hand, it is what I used in the photos below. 
• Grated Cheese – Any melty cheese like mozzarella, cheddar, or regular cheese will do well here. I have used both cheddar and mozzarella cheese on various occasions while preparing the chilli cheese toasts, and they’re spectacular no matter what.
• Green Chili – For heat. You can’t have chilli toast without chilli, but feel free to use whichever type of peppers suits you best.
• Ginger – Our neighbor-auntie used to add ginger to her cheese toasts when I was little and I simply loved it. Feel free to omit it if you’re not a fan, or swap in garlic if you prefer.
• Salt & Black Pepper – For seasoning, as needed.
• Butter – For toasting the bread. You’re welcome to use plant-based butter or olive oil if you prefer.

Rather than eating it as a toast, you can also make it into a chilli cheese toast sandwich — just grill or toast the sandwich in a sandwich maker or toaster.

How to make Chilli Cheese Toast

1. Grate the cheese in a bowl (½ cup tightly packed grated cheese – mozzarella, cheddar or processed cheese).

Add 1 chopped green chili (about 1 teaspoon of finely chopped green chillies) and ½ teaspoon grated or minced ginger.

Also add salt and black pepper as required (not in the pic) and mix well.

2. Slice 6 to 7 pieces of bread into triangular or rectangular slices. If you want, you can remove the edges.

Since this was very moist homemade whole wheat bread, I have not removed the edges.

3. Place the bread on a rack and bake or grill in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C (392 degrees F) for 5 to 6 minutes or more till lightly toasted.

You can keep the bread in the center rack or on the top rack.

4. The lightly toasted bread from the oven. No need to brown the edges. Just a little crispness on the surfaces.

5. Spread some butter evenly on the slices. Then spread the cheese-chilli-ginger mixture evenly.

6. Again bake or grill in the preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 6 to 8 minutes or more till the cheese melts and the bread slices get golden and crisp. Do not overdo the baking or else the cheese can get chewy. 

Serve the Chilli Cheese Toast with tomato ketchup or your favorite dipping sauce.

Expert Tips

• If you don’t have an oven, toast the bread on a tawa/flat skillet (Check the notes in the recipe details below). On a tawa, the cheese will melt but won’t get as golden as with oven-made toasts, but they will still taste good. I show the tawa method of preparing cheese chilli toast in the video. You can also make in a frying pan.
• Make sure to grate your own cheese. Pre-grated cheese shreds are coated in a starchy substance to prevent them from melting back into a blob in the bag; that same starch also prevents them from melting properly on your toasts.

This Chilli Cheese Toast recipe from the archives first published in November 2013 has been updated and republished on December 2022.