The Ultimate Savory-Sweet Bacon and Blue Cheese Panini with Hot Honey and Apple

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Recipe: Bacon and Blue Cheese Panini with Hot Honey and Apple

Makes 4 sandwiches; Prep and cooking time: <40 minutes

Ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• 1 small yellow sweet onion, sliced into rings
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 12 slices bacon
• 8 slices sourdough bread
• ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 large sweet apple (like Honeycrisp or Gala), cut into ⅛‑inch slices (top to bottom)
• 3 or more tablespoons hot honey

Instructions

1. Gather, measure and prep all of the ingredients before you start cooking.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the 1 small sliced onion, ¼ teaspoon salt and several grinds of freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring every so often, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Take them out of the pan and set them aside.
3. In the same skillet, cook the 12 slices of bacon until crispy. Drain them on paper towels and set aside.
4. Preheat the panini press to high. Brush one side of each of the 8 slices of sourdough bread with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Flip 4 of the slices over so the oiled side is down and start building the sandwiches: drizzle about 1 tablespoon of hot honey on each slice, then layer on 3 slices of bacon, about 2 tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese, a few apple slices, and one‑fourth of the sautéed onions. Add a little extra salt and pepper if you like. Top with the other bread slices, oiled side up, and press them down gently with a spatula to help the paninis hold together.
5. Put the sandwiches on the hot panini press and cook until the bread is as toasty as you like, about 4 to 6 minutes. If your panini press won’t hold all 4 sandwiches at once, keep the finished ones warm in a 200° oven while you make the rest.

If you don’t have a panini press, just cook the sandwiches like grilled cheese in a big skillet, pressing lightly with a spatula as they toast.

Menu and Pairing Notes

I snapped this picture in the split second between plating and eating, so it’s not the panini’s best angle

But it shows off our menu quite well:

• Ultimate Savory-Sweet Bacon and Blue Cheese Panini with Hot Honey and Apple
• Sunburst Carrot‑Mango Salad
• Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho

The sides for this panini should be light, fresh, colorful and flavorful; heavy starches are not the ticket for this hearty sandwich. Other sides that would be terrific are any kind of non-mayo slaws, like our Pepper Jelly Slaw or Fruit Salad Slaw. Or you can start with an appetizer and just serve this delicious panini with fruit. Wine pairings that work include a fruity but dry rose or a crisp sauvignon blanc.

The Backstory

The Grill-Meister Takes Requests

If you’re a Glover Gardens follower, you know that Sandwich Wednesday is a THING here. The Grill-Meister is the master of the kitchen on Wednesdays, and he always makes a special sandwich for dinner, often a panini. He loves to take my requests and has a stable of thoroughbreds in the regular rotation, but he also likes to try new combinations. These are all good reasons to love him (and there are many more)!

Brainstorming a Salty-Sweet Winner

This panini was the result of a Wednesday morning brainstorm during Happy Coffee, before we both went to work. We first envisioned a panini on sourdough with bacon, sautéed sweet onions, Cambozola, arugula and apple with Dijon mustard on the side (or both). I don’t love strong blue cheese (or is it bleu cheese?) so we picked Cambozola, which I DO love. The creamy Camembert with the bits of Gorgonzola inside has just the right mix of creamy pungency and mild sharpness for me. BUT, our local grocery store, which has a pretty good cheese selection, was out of Cambozola, so we went for a sharp blue cheese and I got a smoked gouda for my sandwich. But when I tasted the blue cheese, it was fine! Maybe my palate is finally maturing in this department? Anyway, it was full steam ahead with the “punch you in the face” bold blue cheese.

An Immediate Masterpiece, Crowned with Hot Honey

The panini was an enormous hit, an immediate masterpiece. My ‘sister’ joined us, and we followed The Grill-Meister’s usual panini process: he prepares all of the ingredients, calls the hungry diners to assemble their own sandwich, and he does the pressing. At the last minute, I realized the Dijon might be too salty combined with the bacon and the blue cheese, and grabbed some small-batch hot honey we bought in Colorado, drizzling a very generous amount on one slice of sourdough. I was pretty sure it would work well with the rest of the ingredients and the other two followed my lead. Sweet baby bumblebees, it was good!! The pop of heat amid the slather of sweet brought this already tasty panini to a new level. Interestingly, we forgot the arugula, but all agreed that it wasn’t necessary; this mix of flavors and textures was already Goldilocks-good.

Join Me in the Kitchen

Since I was creating a new side dish myself that night, the Sunburst Carrot‑Mango Salad (you should try it!), I didn’t have a chance to snap photos while The Grill-Meister was creating his masterpiece. No worries! That panini was worth repeating, so I recreated it a couple of days later, just for me (well, and also for you here in the pages of the blog). The Grill-Meister was traveling so I had to take on the panini press all by myself. I did a good job, if I dare say so myself!

Step-by-Step Assembly

The pictures below start from the point where the bacon has already been cooked, and everything has been sliced, crumbled, prepped in every way. I was lucky because I already had the necessary ingredients from the Grill-Meister’s earlier efforts.

Happy with the Results!

For a second time, this panini scored!!! It wasn’t as fun eating it alone, but taste‑wise—chef’s kiss!

Don’t wait – try this savory-sweet panini today and let me know how much you love it!

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