I just LOVE a good grilled cheese sandwich and this Ham & Brie Grilled Cheese is at the top of my list for being perfectly delicious.
The best part, by far, is how easy it is to make if you have the Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven. No worries if you don’t though! You can certainly make this sandwich in the Ninja Foodi PC & AC, any air fryer, or on the stove!
Jeff and I are always trying different combinations of ingredients for grilled cheese and I happened to have some ham and brie and thought, let’s try it!
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Sometimes the best meals are made from looking in the fridge and grabbing ingredients and that is exactly what happened here. I had just finished a recipe for Blueberry BBQ Sauce in the blender and thought… let’s add that, too!
The result was perfection. Simple and easy with the perfect balance of flavors. I hope you give this one a try!
Tips for making the PERFECT Grilled Cheese
The funny thing about grilled cheese is, it’s simple, but not always easy to get perfect. Here are a few tips that will help!
Butter: Use soft and spreadable butter. If your butter is too hard, you will gouge the bread and if it is melted, it will absorb into the bread too much. If your butter is still not spreadable when you go to make your grilled cheese, use a butter knife or the back of a spoon to mash it and this will soften it. I usually put it in a small bowl and use a spreader to mash the butter and stir it around until it is a nice, soft consistency.
You also don’t want to use too much. About 1 tsp per slice of bread is all you need. Going heavy handed with the butter will actually create issues with your bread crisping up. When butter melts, steam is formed from the water in the butter and this can steam the bread and you’ll have a hard time crisping the bread.
Heat: One of the reasons I love using the Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven to make grilled cheese is because the heat is completely regulated from start to finish. This allows the bread to toast up and the cheese to melt perfectly. If you don’t have the NF Air Fry Oven, you can still achieve this on the stove. Heat your pan on low-medium and maintain that heat while your grilled cheese cooks. A lot of people will increase the heat to speed things along, but this won’t allow enough time for the cheese to melt.
Time: I’m super excited that the Air Fry Oven reduces the time drastically without reducing the quality of the grilled cheese, but if you are using the stove top, allow enough time to cook your sandwich. The perfect grilled cheese takes time. Around 20 minutes, believe it or not! Sure, you can get them done faster, but the quality will be affected.
Ingredients: You can use any combination of ingredients to make your perfect grilled cheese sandwich, but the order in which you layer them will have an effect on the outcome.
When you are using more than one type of cheese on your grilled cheese sandwich, take into consideration which cheese will melt faster and put that on the inside. For example, if I used a smoked Gouda and Brie in this sandwich, I would put the smoked Gouda on the bread and the brie in between the two slices of smoked Gouda because the Gouda will take longer to melt and you want it closer to the heat.
If you are using a meat and a cheese, like I did in this Ham & Brie Grilled Cheese, then put the meat on the bread and the cheese in between the two slices of meat. Otherwise, the meat doesn’t get hot enough usually.
If you want to use more sauce or a thinner sauce, you may not want to put it directly on the bread. Instead lay the cheese or the meat down first and then spread the sauce. This will prevent the bread from getting soggy. I do this in my Reuben Sandwich video.
Bread: You can use any type of bread that you like, but if you are using a thicker type of bread, like a sourdough, you may want to lower the heat even more. It will take longer to get your cheese melted and you don’t want to over brown the bread.
How to Make the Blueberry BBQ Sauce
Homemade Blueberry BBQ Sauce is so easy to make and all the instructions can be found in the written recipe post right here: Homemade Blueberry BBQ Sauce
I will recap the instructions here as well. These instructions are for the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender, but you can make this on the stove as well or in the inner pot of the Ninja Foodi and then use an Immersion blender to blend it at the end.
Ingredients
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp chipotle
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
Instructions
-
Add all the ingredients in the order they are listed into the Ninja Foodi Hot & Cold Blender. Select the cook mode on high an cook for 5 minutes.
-
Move the liquid and solids around with a long spatula and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Move the liquid around again and cook another 5 minutes.
-
Cancel the cook mode and select the smoothie function. Allow to cool slightly so it thickens up. Serve and enjoy!
How to make a Ham & Brie Grilled Cheese in the Digital Air Fry Oven
These instructions are for 1 Ham & Brie Grilled Cheese, but you can make at least 6 sandwiches at the same time using the NF Digital Air Fry Oven.
Butter two pieces of bread with about 1 tsp of soft butter. Spread 1/2 Tablespoon of blueberry bbq sauce on each slice of bread (unbuttered side). Put a piece of ham on one slice of bread on the unbuttered side. Add about a Tablespoon of the Blueberry BBQ Sauce on one slice of the ham and spread. Slice the brie (I remove the rind) and place it on top of the blueberry sauce. Top with the second slice of ham and then put the second slice of bread on top with the buttered side facing outward.
Place the sandwich on the tray of the Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven. Select the Air Fry setting and the temp of 375°F/190°F. Air Fry for 5 minutes and flip carefully. Air Fry for another 3-5 minutes until the bread is toasted on the other side.
Remove and place on a cooling rack for a few minutes. Cut & Serve.
Ham & Brie Grilled Cheese
Equipment
- Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven
Ingredients
- 2 tsp butter salted or unsalted
- 2 slices pumpernickel bread
- 2-4 slices ham either deli ham or from a leftover ham
- 1 Tbsp blueberry bbq sauce
- 3 ounces brie
Instructions
- Butter one side of each piece of bread.
- Layer the sandwich: 1 piece of bread butter side down, 1-2 pieces of ham, 1 Tablespoon of Blueberry BBQ Sauce, 3 ounces of brie, 1-2 slices of ham, second slice of bread butter side up.
- Place the sandwich on the tray of the Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven. Select Air Fry and set the temp to 375°F/190°C. Set the time for 10 minutes. Flip after 5 minutes. Then Air Fry for 3-5 minutes or until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack. Cut & Serve.
Video
Notes
Ingredients
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp chipotle
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
Instructions
-
Add all the ingredients in the order they are listed into the Ninja Foodi Hot & Cold Blender. Select the cook mode on high an cook for 5 minutes.
-
Move the liquid and solids around with a long spatula and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Move the liquid around again and cook another 5 minutes.
-
Cancel the cook mode and select the smoothie function. Allow to cool slightly so it thickens up. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
ABOUT THE RECIPE AUTHOR, LOUISE LONG
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of 
experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and getting the most out of the Ninja Foodi.
Ninja Foodi Fresh & Healthy Meals
Seeing the need for easy, delicious, and high quality recipes, she is focusing all of her efforts creating recipes specifically for the Ninja Foodi. Her recipes are easy for the home cook to follow and provide step-by-step instructions.
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can.
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