Butter on the bread is non-negotiable, Greg's made that abundantly clear. His air fryer grilled cheese is loaded with ham, tomato, onion and melted cheese, ready in five minutes flat with zero fuss and, crucially, minimal mess inside the basket.
Source video by Greg's Kitchen on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.
Greg's Kitchen shows how to make a loaded toasted sandwich in the air fryer with ham, cheese, tomato and onion. The whole thing cooks at 180°C for 5 minutes with no flipping or fuss. A tip from the video: skip plastic cheese slices and use shredded cheese instead so it doesn't blow around the basket. Simple, fast, and barely any washing up.
Ingredients
Sandwich
1 slicebread
butter, for spreading
tomato sauce (ketchup)
onion, thinly sliced
ham, cut into small pieces to stop it curling
tomato, sliced
to tastesalt, to taste
to tasteblack pepper, to taste
grated cheese
Method
Butter the slice of bread all the way to the edges.
~1 min
Spread a little tomato sauce over the buttered side for a pizza-like flavour.
Lay thin slices of onion over the bread.
Cut the ham into smaller pieces so it does not curl up in the air fryer, then scatter over the onion.
Add a few slices of tomato. Season with salt and pepper.
Top with grated cheese and press down gently.
Place the open sandwich into the air fryer basket. Cook at 180°C for 5 minutes.
~5 min
Carefully lift the sandwich out onto a plate, avoiding the hot basket sides. Serve straight away.
~1 min
Frequently asked
Do I need to preheat my air fryer?
Not for this one. It goes straight in cold at 180°C for 5 minutes. If your air fryer runs cool, give it a 2 minute preheat to help the cheese melt and the bread crisp from the start.
Can I use sliced cheese instead of grated?
You can, but as Greg points out in the video, lightweight sliced cheese can lift off the bread and blow around inside the air fryer basket. Grated cheese sits down into the toppings and stays put, with much less mess to clean up.
Why does my ham curl up in the air fryer?
Whole slices of ham shrink and curl as they heat, forming a little cup that traps everything else inside. Cutting the ham into smaller pieces before adding it to the sandwich stops this and keeps the toppings spread evenly.
Can I make this as a closed sandwich with two slices of bread?
Yes, but you may need to weigh the top slice down with a small trivet or skewer, otherwise the air fryer fan can lift it off. You may also need to add 1-2 minutes to the cook time so the cheese melts through.
How do I stop the bread burning on the bottom?
5 minutes at 180°C is usually safe, but air fryers vary. Check at 4 minutes the first time you make it. If the base browns too fast, drop the temperature to 170°C next time.
Extraction notes (transparency): Recipe is presented as an open-faced toasted sandwich (single slice of bread with toppings), not a closed grilled cheese. Quantities for butter, tomato sauce, onion, ham, tomato, cheese, salt and pepper were not stated in the transcript, sensible single-serve amounts inferred. Number of bread slices not explicitly stated but appears to be one open slice. | Second-pass critique flagged 3 quantified issues (quantities/times not stated in transcript).
