{bacon & ranch grilled cheese sandwiches}

what makes bacon so dang magical?

salty. chewy. crispy. crunchy. smoky. perfect.

and who is the brilliance behind combining bacon with cheese?

and what about the lunatic who threw ranch into the mix? i’d like to lick shake their bacon-grease-covered hands.

this is certainly not a ground breaking recipe or a revolutionary combination of flavors. but it came through in a pinch and was delicious.

i also happened to have sourdough bread on hand and that just upped it several notches on its way to flavor town.

bacon & ranch grilled cheese sandwiches

4 slices of sourdough bread
butter
6 slices of bacon
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
4 tbsp ranch dressing

put the bacon in a cold pan over medium heat. bring up to temperature and fry until it is the perfect crispy/crunchy/chewy consistency. drain over paper towels and set aside.

brush four sides of the sourdough bread with butter. place two pieces butter side down on your preheated griddle/grill pan/skillet over medium heat.

spread 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing over the inside of each pieces of bread, place three pieces of bacon on top of the ranch and then sprinkle each sandwich with 1/2 cup of grated cheese.

spread each of the remaining pieces of bread with the ranch and place ranch side down over the cheese.

we used a cuisinart griddler (best. wedding. present. ever.) so we closed the top and let it cook from both sides, essentially making them into paninis. you can place another skillet on the sandwiches and put a couple of heavy cans of food in it to achieve the same effect. or you can use the regular toast-and-flip grilled cheese method.

once the cheese has melted throughout the bacon and melded the slices of bread together and the ranch dressing has incorporated itself into the bread, bacon and cheese and the outside of the sandwich is nice and toasty, slice in half and serve with chips and applesauce. that’s how we roll.

enjoy!

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