Toasty, Cheesy Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt

This Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt is absolutely bursting with flavor. It’s the perfect sandwich for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.

Not Your Mom’s Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Growing up, a grilled cheese sandwich was a lunch staple. It was one of those easy lunch recipes. Take a couple of white bread slices, butter the outside of the bread with butter or margarine, throw a slice of cheese in the middle (usually American cheese) and toast it up in a small skillet until golden brown.

Now, if you wanted to get fancy, you may have gone the route of a tuna melt. This was a fun way of dressing up that basic grilled cheese, but still stay in the easy meals category.

A classic tuna melt had a tuna salad mixture to go along with the cheese. So, a good tuna salad recipe, coupled with the melted cheese and toasty bread, made a really good combination – especially for those tuna fans.

I wanted to find a way to bring that classic tuna melt recipe to a new level. That’s why I created this tuna melt panini recipe.

Making the Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt

Use Shredded Cheese

One of the things that annoys me while making a grilled cheese or tuna melt sandwich, is making sure the cheese melts properly. If the skillet heat isn’t right, your bread may get toasted before the cheese fully melts. Or, your cheese melts out of the side of the sandwich before the bread is properly toasted.

So, to ensure melty cheddar cheese (for this recipe) all throughout the sandwich, instead of a slice of cheddar cheese, I incorporated shredded cheddar cheese directly into the tuna mix. That way, you have that delicious cheese perfectly melted and in every bite.

Preparing the Tuna and Cheese Mixture

For the rest of the creamy tuna mixture, I added in some classic tuna salad ingredients such as canned tuna, creamy mayonnaise, celery and dill pickle relish (I love dill pickles!). I then added in some celery salt (very complimentary to the rest of the ingredients) and some capers for a little additional tanginess and briny flavor.

Selecting the Bread

The final piece of the puzzle was the bread. I wanted to use a good bread, something that wasn’t your basic white bread. Now, a popular choice would be sourdough bread. Easy to find and most everyone loves it.

However, given the flavors of the tuna and cheese mixture, I thought it would overpower the sourdough. I tried a few different types of bread, and I found that the rye bread really worked well in this recipe. It added some interesting earthy, sour flavors that complimented some of the salty, tangy flavors of the tuna and cheese mixture.

Use a Panini Maker

Now, I could have stopped there and just warmed up a skillet to medium heat and toasted the sandwich. But, I thought the best way to prepare this sandwich to ensure everything was hot and melty, was to use the panini maker.

The panini maker heats the sandwich from the top and bottom at the same time and only takes a couple of minutes. No flipping the sandwich, no peaking to see if things are melting – just a perfect toasting.

The result was amazing! The sandwich was tangy and salty from the relish and capers, and the combination of the melted cheese and mayo was ooey, gooey goodness.

This fabulous sandwich only takes a few minutes to prepare, and is such a tasty meal. So, next time you’re in the mood for a tuna melt sandwich, take it to the next level with this Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt!

Make Ahead / Double Up and Store

This is a great recipe to make ahead or double. You simply make the tuna and cheese mixture and store in an airtight container in the fridge. 

It should be good for 2-3 days. Too much longer and it can start to get a bit soupy.

When you are ready to use, simply take out of the fridge, put the tuna and cheese mixture on your bread and toast in the panini maker. Cheesy tuna melts all week long!

Tips and Tricks

• If you don’t have rye bread on hand or are not a fan of it, sourdough, whole wheat or pumpernickel are all delicious options.
• If you’d like a sweeter flavor, substitute sweet pickle relish for the dill relish.
• I like to use sharp cheddar cheese for an extra punch of flavor, but mild cheddar cheese can be substituted, if desired.
• I recommend solid tuna rather than chunk tuna. I feel like you get a chunkier texture from solid versus chunk.
• To round out the meal, I like to serve the sandwiches with Lemon Dill Chicken Noodle Soup or a Greek Style Cucumber Salad.

Ingredients Needed to Make a Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt

Full instructions can be found below in the printable recipe card

• White canned solid tuna
• Mayonnaise
• Dill pickle relish
• Capers
• Celery
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Celery salt
• Black pepper
• Rye bread

How to Make a Tuna and Cheddar Panini Melt

• Combine all ingredients, except the bread, in a small mixing bowl.
• Stir until well combined.
• Spread tuna mixture onto 4 slices of bread.
• Top with remaining 4 slices of bread.
• Grill sandwiches in a panini press or grill pan until cheese is melted and bread is golden and toasty (see notes in recipe card).

ENJOY!

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