Chilli cheese on toast is a quick, easy and lovely option for breakfast, brunch, lunch or a late-night snack. Adapt the recipe to make a chilli cheese toastie or serve it with a fried egg for the ultimate savoury indulgence.
This post is sponsored by The Carved Angel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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For a deliciously different twist on a British classic try chilli cheese on toast. It’s quick, easy, and simply divine. It can be prepared in the oven or even an air fryer.
Try serving your chilli cheese toast with egg to take this recipe on an Indian culinary adventure. That golden liquid centre from the soft yolk adds to the delight of this simple meal.
Alternatively, you can forgo the egg and the need for cutlery by transforming it into a chilli cheese toastie.
What is chilli cheese on toast?
It’s exactly as it sounds. Slices of lightly toasted bread topped with mounds of melted cheese. But, unlike classic cheese on toast, this version comes laden with fiery chilli spice for a very modern take on this much-loved snack.
Reasons to love this recipe
- Appearance: colourful speckles of diced chilli and onion liven up the appearance of this cheese on toast recipe.
- Taste: the inclusion of both fresh chilli and fiery chilli chutney work wonders to turn this into a particularly flavourful chilli cheese toast recipe.
- Texture: the crunch of the bread and the softness of the cheese (and egg if using) are a winning combination.
- Easy: this is a very quick and simple recipe and, because it’s baked in the oven, it can easily be scaled up to serve more people.
- Versatility: it’s a very forgiving recipe as you can use red or green chillies, include or omit the onion, vary the cheese (within reason) and use any bread of your choice. Add an egg, leave it just as it is or use the recipe to make the ultimate chilli cheese toastie.
Ingredients notes
Bread: the choice of bread is largely at your discretion. My preference is for thick-cut white sourdough, but standard crusty white bread works well too. Go brown, wholemeal, seeded…. have fun.
Chilli chutney: I used Blaze hot chilli chutney from The Carved Angel. This red relish has a tangy taste and plenty of fiery chilli heat. I highly recommend you seek out a jar (buy it directly from them online). This chutney keeps well in the fridge and has other uses besides this chilli cheese on toast recipe.
Cheese: use a good melting cheese with plenty of robust flavour, such as a mature cheddar or a strong Red Leicester.
Chilli: use red or green. I like mine with medium heat, but the fiery strength of chillies can vary considerably, so keep this in mind.
Onion: spring onion (also called salad onion or scallion) is the ideal option here.
Egg: this is entirely optional, but a fried egg on top of a slice of chilli cheese on toast is a bit of a brunch crush of mine.
Step by step instructions
Full instructions and measurements are given in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Chilli cheese on toast can be made in the oven or in an air fryer. Thisrecipe can also be adapted to make chilli cheese toasties. Here are the instructions for each version.
How to make chilli cheese toast in the oven
- Lightly toast the bread until it just feels dry but has yet to begin to turn golden.
- Spread the hot chilli chutney over each slice.
- Finely grate the cheese and put it into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice it finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop it finely and add to the cheese.
- Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly.
- Spread the cheese mixture over the bread and bake in a preheated oven until golden and bubbling (7-10 minutes).
- Optional: when the toast is almost cooked, fry the egg in oil.
- Serve the toast immediately, topped with the egg (optional) and a little extra spring onion, chilli and a pot of hot chilli chutney for anybody who wants to increase the fiery heat of their chilli cheese on toast.
How to make chilli cheese toast in the air fryer
It is possible to make this chilli cheese toast recipe in an air fryer, but keep in mind the size of your air fryer if making for more than 1 or 2 people, as you may need to cook it in batches.
- Cook the bread in a single layer in a preheated air fryer for 2-3 minutes until it just feels dry but has yet to begin to turn golden.
- Spread the hot chilli chutney over each slice.
- Finely grate the cheese and put it into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice it finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop it finely and add to the cheese.
- Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly,
- Spread the cheese mixture over the bread and lay the slices back in the air fryer.
- Cook for 7-8 minutes until golden and the cheese has melted.
- Optional: when the toast is almost cooked, fry the egg in oil.
- Serve the toast immediately, topped with the egg (optional) and a little extra spring onion, chilli and a pot of hot chilli chutney for anybody who wants to increase the fiery heat of their chilli cheese toast.
How to make a chilli cheese toastie
- Finely grate the cheese and put it into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice it finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop finely and add to the cheese.
- Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly.
- Spread butter over one side of each slice of bread then spread the hot chilli chutney over the opposite side of each slice.
- Spread the cheese mixture onto the chutney on one slice of bread then top with the other slice of bread with the chutney side on top of the cheese (the buttered sides of the bread should be on the outside of the sandwich).
- Lay the sandwich into a frying pan and cook over moderate heat for 5-6 minutes until the bread looks golden.
- Carefully flip the sandwich over and cook the other side for another 5-6 minutes until golden.
- Slice the chilli cheese toastie in half and serve immediately.
Expert tips
- This is a great recipe for using up bread that is past its best.
- If your slices of bread are either very small or very large, then this will affect how much of the chutney and cheese mixture you will need. Adjust accordingly.
- If your bread is browning around the edges but the cheese is still not fully melted then protect the edge of the bread using kitchen foil (or finish melting the cheese using a kitchen blowtorch).
- Use room-temperature cheese to ensure that it melts before the edges of the bread burns.
Frequently asked questions
Strong (mature or sharp) cheddar cheese is the most popular cheese to melt onto toast and it pairs gorgeously with chilli. Red Leicester is also a good option and, at a pinch, Monterey Jack could be used.
To really make your chilli cheese toast stand out from the crowd consider using a robust blue cheese such as Blue Stilton. You’ll be amazed at how well the flavours pair together.
Yes, you can. Keep an eye on the bread as you do so as grilling rather than baking means that the edges of the bread are more prone to catching and burning before the cheese melts.
In all honesty, making this recipe in advance and reheating it has one major drawback – the bread will dry out too much. Technically, it’s possible, but fresh is best for this recipe.
Of course, if the food will be going to waste otherwise, there is no danger from reheating it, just expect the texture to be compromised.
There are similarities but this recipe is not exactly the same as the Dishoom recipe. Theirs uses green chilli and it does not include the hot chilli chutney.
Variations
Aside from including a fried egg or turning it into a chilli cheese toastie you can make the following additions to the recipe for some additional fun:
- Bacon: include some diced cooked bacon in the cheese mixture.
- Coriander: roughly chop 1 tablespoon of fresh coriander and add it to the cheese. Use a little extra to garnish the chilli cheese on toast when it is ready to serve.
- Peppers: boost the veg content by finely dicing some red or green bell peppers and mixing them into the cheese.
- Chilli bread: if you fancy boosting the fiery heat then hunt down some chilli bread.
- Pineapple: if you think that the notion of chilli, cheese, bread and pineapple sounds crazy, then think of the best Hawaiian pizza and let your mind sprinkle a touch of chilli over it. The result is not wrong, it’s plain delicious.
More breakfast and snack ideas to try
The Carved Angel is rather famous for producing excellent Christmas Puddings. However, you’d be wise to take a look at their range of pickles & chutneys and their fruit preserves & curds too. You’ll be impressed. I work with them regularly, developing recipes that encompass these products and I can vouch wholeheartedly for their quality. They are a delight to have in my pantry.
Have you made this recipe for chilli cheese on toast? Did you add an egg or did you turn it into a chilli cheese toastie? Let me know how you got along by leaving and comment and rating below. It really does help fellow readers know whether they can trust a recipe.
📖 Recipe
Chilli Cheese on Toast
Ingredients
- 1 Slice bread thick
- 2 teaspoons Hot chilli chutney Such as The Carved Angel
- 45 g Cheddar cheese mature
- ½ Chille red or green
- 1 Spring onion
- 1 Egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F
- Lightly toast the bread until it just feels dry but has yet to begin to turn golden.
- Spread the hot chilli chutney over the bread and place it on a baking sheet.
- Finely grate the cheese and put into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop finely and add to the cheese.Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly.
- Spread the cheese mixture over the bread and bake until golden and bubbling (7-10 minutes).
- Optional: when the toast is almost cooked, fry the egg in oil to your liking.
- Serve the toast immediately, topped with the egg (optional) and a little extra spring onion, chilli and a pot of hot chilli chutney for anybody who wants to increase the fiery heat of their chilli cheese on toast.
Notes
- Cook the bread in a single layer in a preheated air fryer for 2-3 minutes until it just feels dry but has yet to begin to turn golden.
- Spread the hot chilli chutney over each slice.
- Finely grate the cheese and put it into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice it finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop finely and add to the cheese.
- Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly,
- Spread the cheese mixture over the bread and lay the slices back in the air fryer.
- Cook for 7-8 minutes until golden and the cheese has melted.
- Optional: when the toast is almost cooked, fry the egg in oil.
- Serve the toast immediately, topped with the egg (optional) and a little extra spring onion, chilli and a pot of hot chilli chutney for anybody who wants to increase the fiery heat of their chilli cheese toast.
- Finely grate the cheese and put it into a bowl.
- Deseed the chilli and dice it finely. Strip the outer layer from the spring onion, slice and chop finely and add to the cheese.
- Use a fork to mash the ingredients slightly,
- Take 2 slices of bread and spread butter over one side of each slice then spread the hot chilli chutney over the opposite side of each slice.
- Spread the cheese mixture onto the chutney on one slice of bread then top with the other slice of bread with the chutney side on top of the cheese (the buttered sides of the bread should be on the outside of the sandwich).
- Lay the sandwich into a frying pan and cook over moderate heat for 5-6 minutes until the bread looks golden.
- Carefully flip the sandwich over and cook the other side for another 5-6 minutes until golden.
- Slice the chilli cheese toastie in half and serve immediately.
- This is a great recipe for using up bread that is past its best.
- If your slices of bread are either very small or very large, then this will affect how much of the chutney and cheese mixture you will need. Adjust accordingly.
- If your bread is browning around the edges but the cheese is still not fully melted then protect the edge of the bread using kitchen foil (or finish melting the cheese using a kitchen blowtorch).
- Use room-temperature cheese to ensure that it melts before the edges of the bread burns.
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