The 10 Best Melting Cheeses

Gooey grilled cheese sandwiches, noodles topped with molten cheese, strings of mozzarella dangling from a slice of pizza—a dish with perfectly melted cheese is superbly satisfying. But what makes a cheese a good melter, and what are some of the best cheeses for melting?

Higher moisture

“For the most part, you want higher moisture cheeses for that ultimate melt quality,” says Laura Werlin, James Beard award-winning author of six books about cheese, including Great Grilled Cheese and Mac & Cheese, Please! She explains that semi-soft and semi-hard cheeses are ideal. “If you can bend a cheese with your hands, chances are it’s going to melt pretty well.” Read more about Laura Werlin.

“Higher moisture cheeses, like a young gouda or a mozzarella, melt very well,” agrees Shannon Berry, ACS Certified Cheese Professional and marketing specialist for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. “Drier, aged cheeses like aged gouda or parmesan don’t melt as well—they don’t have that water in there.”

Curd size

Jason Sobocinski, owner of Connecticut-based food truck Crispy Melty by Caseus and author of The Caseus Fromagerie Bistro Cookbook, notes that curd size affects a cheese’s moisture content and thus its melting ability. Dry, aged cheeses are made with smaller curds to expel as much whey as possible during the cheesemaking process, while moist, young cheeses are made with larger curds. “Because the curds are larger, when the cheese melts, it holds together better—you get more of that stretch, more of that pull. The larger the curds are cut, the better of a melter it is,” he explains.

Shannon Berry photo credit Fromagination

The pH and the preparation

Another factor that determines cheese’s melting ability is its pH, which is influenced by the amount of calcium in the curd structure. “There’s almost a bell curve,” says Berry. “A low pH cheese—like juustoleipä from Carr Valley—you can grill that and it gets gooier and warmer, but it doesn’t melt all the way. And then when you think of a very high acid cheese, like a feta, that also doesn’t really melt.”

How you prepare the cheese also makes a difference—each of the experts we spoke with emphasized the importance of grating the cheese before cooking with it. Grating increases the cheese’s surface area, ensuring a quicker and more consistent melt throughout the dish.

“I know it’s sometimes controversial,” says Werlin. “People say, why do you have to grate it for grilled cheese? But you do, because you want the cheese to start melting as soon as it hits the pan so that you’re not worried about burning the bread while you’re waiting for the cheese to melt.”

Grating also allows cooks to combine cheeses for a more nuanced flavor profile. “We shred all of our cheese fresh and then we blend all of those different cheeses together so you get a nice mix of tastes and textures,” says Sobocinski. “When you do that, you can add in some older cheeses. If you add in a hunk of Pecorino Romano, if you grate it up with the other cheeses, it will bind together really nicely.”

Mozzarella

Each of the experts we spoke with mentioned mozzarella as the paradigm of a great melting cheese, thanks to its supple, stretchy quality. Berry notes that mozzarella has the high moisture content and moderate amount of acid development that ensures an excellent melt.

Fontina

A cow’s milk cheese that originally hails from Italy, fontina is a smooth cheese with a mild, savory flavor. “Any kind of fontina melts really well, but I especially like the D.O.P. one, Fontina Val D’Aosta from Italy,” says Werlin.

Provolone

Another top-notch Italian melting cheese is provolone, which plays a key role in the Crispy Melty by Caseus classic cheese mix. “We use a BelGioioso provolone because we like the nuttiness of it,” says Sobocinski.

Gruyere

Alpine-style cheeses, including fondue staple Gruyere, are excellent melters. “I love Alpine cheeses,” says Sobocinski. “When [Alpine cheeses] melt, it almost enhances their flavor and you also get that really gooey, stretchy texture.” Read more about Gruyere.

Comté

Werlin describes Comte as “an absolute go-to.” The French cow’s milk Alpine cheese has a slightly sweet flavor. Read more about Comté and find out why it's a favorite of cheesemongers.

Raclette

Originally a Swiss cheese, raclette is designed to be melted and served over boiled potatoes, and Alpinage Mount Raclette puts a Wisconsin spin on the Alpine classic. “This cheese melts amazingly like a raclette should, but it’s also really good to snack on as well,” says Berry. The raw cow’s milk cheese has earthy and fruity flavors and is aged for 60 days.

Toma

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. Toma is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese that’s aged for 90 days, with tasting notes mentioning its buttery flavor and grassy tang finish. “It melts extremely well—it makes a great grilled cheese sandwich,” says Werlin. For truffle lovers, she recommends TomaTruffle, which features flecks of Italian black truffles from Umbria. Read more about Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.

Young Gouda

“Marieke Gouda Young Gouda melts so well,” says Berry. “It has wonderful flavor—there’s a particular adjunct culture that is added to the make process of gouda, and eventually in the breakdown of the fat and protein, diacetyl is released, which is literally the flavoring of buttered popcorn.” The creamy, buttery Wisconsin-made farmstead raw cow’s milk cheese is aged for 2-4 months on Dutch pine planks.

Marieke plain gouda half wheel and wedge photo credit Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin

Belaire

Belaire is a Port Salut-style cheese with a creamy texture and appealing yellow color. The cow’s milk cheese is made with milk from the oldest Guernsey herd in North America. Berry mentions that it melts beautifully into tteokbokki, a Korean dish featuring chewy rice cakes simmered in a gochujang sauce.

Colby

“Sometimes I really like to have an orange-colored cheese when I’m melting cheese for grilled cheese or mac and cheese,” says Werlin. “For that, I really like colby, in particular I like Widmer’s Colby, which is the gold standard—it’s made in Wisconsin, and colby itself comes from Wisconsin. It adds great color, it’s the right texture, it melts really well, and looks good.”

Cheese EducationStacy BrooksSeptember 5, 2024