Chilli Cheese Toast

4.63 from 8 votes

Chilli Cheese Toast is a quick and tasty cheese toast made with bread, cheese, green chillies, ginger and seasonings. In this post, I am also sharing a cafe-style variation topped with jalapeños, olives and herbs. Both versions are crisp, cheesy and perfect for breakfast, snacks or tea-time.

Prep Time4

Cook Time10

Total Time14

Course: Breakfast, Snacks

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

Main Ingredients

5 to 6 slices of bread – brown bread, whole wheat or white bread
½ cup mozzarella – grated
½ cup cheddar – grated
salt – as required, optional
crushed black pepper or ground black pepper, as required
butter – salted and softened or melted, as required

For Chilli Cheese Toppings

½ to 1 teaspoon or 1 green chilli – finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger – peeled, grated or minced

For Cafe Style Toppings

3 to 4 olives – black or green, add as required
1 to 2 tablespoons jalapeño – chopped
dry mixed herbs – as needed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preparation

Preheat the oven at 230 degrees C (440 degrees F) for 15 minutes.
In a bowl, mix together cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, green chillies, ginger, black pepper and salt. Mix well.
Slice the bread into triangles or rectangles. You can keep or remove the edges as you prefer.
Spread butter or olive oil evenly on the bread slices.
Spread the ginger-chilli cheese mixture evenly on some of the bread slices and set aside.

Making Chilli Cheese Toast

Place all the prepared bread slices on a baking tray.
Bake or grill in the preheated oven at 230 degrees C (440 degrees F) for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cheese melts and the bread becomes crisp and lightly golden.
You can place the tray on the center rack or lower rack. Keeping the tray on the lower rack helps the bread toast and brown better.
Use both the top heating elements of the oven while baking or grilling.
Bake just until the cheese melts well and the bread becomes crisp and toasted. Avoid over-baking, as the cheese can turn chewy.
Serve the chilli cheese toast hot with tomato ketchup or your favorite dipping sauce. Sprinkle red chili flakes if you like.

Cafe Style Variation

For a cafe-style version, top 3 buttered bread slices with a mixture of ¼ cup cheddar and ¼ cup mozzarella cheese.
Add sliced olives, chopped jalapeños, mixed herbs, black pepper and bake until the cheese melts and the bread turns crisp.

Video

Notes

Use medium-thick bread slices. Very thin slices can become too crisp before the cheese melts properly.
Do not overload the bread with too much topping. A balanced layer helps the cheese melt evenly and toast properly.
You can use cheddar, mozzarella or processed cheese. I often use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella, but any good melting cheese works well.
Freshly grated cheese melts much better than packaged pre-grated cheese. Pre-grated cheese is usually coated with anti-caking starch which can affect the texture and melting.
Add salt carefully as butter and cheese already have salt. You can also skip the salt if needed.
If making for kids, skip the green chilies or reduce the quantity. Instead of green chilies, you can use red chili flakes.
Feel free to add your choice of seasonings and spice mixes. Dried herbs, Cajun seasoning and pizza seasoning also work well.
Garlic can be added instead of ginger. You can add finely chopped coriander leaves or spring onion greens for extra flavor.
To make chilli cheese toast on a tawa, skillet or frying pan, spread butter on one side of the bread and place the buttered side on the pan. Lightly toast the bread. Meanwhile, spread some butter on the top side. When the bread is lightly toasted, turn it over. Spread the cheese-chilli-ginger mixture on top, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the cheese melts.
To make chilli cheese toast sandwich in a sandwich maker or panini press, spread butter on both bread slices. Add the cheese-chilli-ginger filling on one slice, cover with the second buttered slice and toast until crisp and golden.
Approximate nutrition information is for one serving of the classic chilli cheese toast and does not include the olive and jalapeño variation.

Nutrition