It’s National Grilled Cheese Day! My personal humble opinion is that a grilled cheese sandwich is comfort food at it’s finest – especially when accompanied with tomato soup. Grilled Cheese + Tomato Soup = Happy Anne!

So when my handsome hubby showed me this article this morning, I KNEW what I’d be having for lunch today. (The things I do for this blog.) Unfortunately the article wasn’t pinnable (is that a word now?), so I had to find a similar one to make things official. This is PINtesting, after all. Thankfully, the folks at the Kitchn had already obliged and I found this pin on the topic.

The articles said that using mayo rather than butter would give the sandwich a nice crust, one described as french toast like, and also a nice tangy flavor that butter didn’t provide. These are the qualities that I’m looking for in this grill-off.

So with no further ado, on to the Pin Test!

This had a total of 4 ingredients; the cheese (Sharp American), the bread (whole wheat), butter and mayo.

I used 2 1/2 slices of cheese per sandwich. This keeps an even amount of cheese on the whole sandwich for better cheesey distribution.

The sandwich on the left was spread with mayo, and the sandwich on the right was spread with butter. (Outside only for both sandwiches.)

I preheated the pan to medium-high so that it would be warmed, then reduced the temperature to medium before dropping the sandwiches in to grill.

Each sandwich was dropped into the pan within 5 seconds of each other.

Each sandwich was flipped in the order in which they went in to keep the cooking time even; about 2-3 minutes on each side.

The bread was toasted nicely for both sandwiches. There wasn’t a noticeable distinction between the butter or mayo “greased” sandwiches. Neither gave a crust like french toast. The cheese was evenly melted on both sandwiches, as well.

The only discernable difference that I could tell was the taste. The buttered sandwich had the traditional grilled cheese taste that I’ve known since childhood. The mayo-ed sandwich had a bit of a tang; not overpowering, but definitely there.

Honestly, I don’t think either one had a huge advantage over the other. But if you ever run out of butter and HAVE to have a grilled cheese sandwich at that very moment and don’t want to run out to the store, now you have options.

So here are the official Pintesting results.

Overall Rating: 4 Pins

Accuracy: Both articles gave promises of an unbelievable crust that would come with using mayo rather than butter, described as french toast like in one article, and also a tangy flavor. While I definitely got a nice tang with the mayo, the crust was not any different than the buttered sandwich. Because the crust was not elevated to heights of glory, this gets 4 Pins.

Difficulty: The method for making a grilled cheese sandwich with either spread is exactly the same. Since neither is difficult, 4 Pins.

Time: The total time to make either version is about 5 minutes from start to finish. 5 Pins

Cost: I had to run to the store to pick up the cheese, because we don’t normally buy any kind of American sliced cheese. However, I think it’s the best to use for a grilled cheese sandwich because of the superb meltability. It was on sale for less than $3.00 for the 16-slice package. Add the cost of 2 slices of bread and a schmear of butter or mayo (all of which were on hand) and you’re looking at about $1 per sandwich. 5 Pins

Practicality: I don’t know that I would go out of my way to grab mayo vs. butter for a grilled cheese sandwich unless I was making something more gourmet that would be accentuated by the tang that came with the mayo. Adding tomato and bacon might make it a better choice, for example. If you were out of butter, this is a helpful trick. Since this is such a toss-up I’m going right down the middle and giving it 3 Pins.