pimento cheese BLTs

plus, how to throw a BLT party (menu + prep!)

Hello from the last day of our annual two week trip to visit our families in the Carolinas!

We are headed back to California today, and during our *tram to ferry to taxi to plane to second plane to taxi* travel day with three kids under age 5, we’ll be thinking happy thoughts and dreaming about these BLTs that were our final dinner on Bald Head Island last night.

Build-your-own-BLT night is an absolutely epic, simple, gorgeous summer dinner.

This specific recipe is inspired by the BLTs at Merritt’s Store & Grill in Chapel Hill, NC, where you can order a single, double, or a triple BLT. Bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes are stacked three times high between toasted sourdough bread for the most epic sandwich in the Southeast. I love adding a little brown sugar and pepper to my bacon for BLTs, but do your thing, you don’t have to!

Adding a generous swipe of pimento cheese instead of the traditional swipe of mayo takes makes this BLT absolutely next level. If you’re unfamiliar with the Southern classic, pimento cheese is a spread made of shredded cheese (usually cheddar), diced pimento peppers, and mayonnaise. It’s creamy, salty, tangy, and savory all at once. It’s a classic companion to crackers as a snack or appetizer but it’s also begging to be spread thick inside these BLTs.

Feel free to build your sandwich as high as you like depending on how hungry you are! I like to set out platters full of toasted bread, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon, and pimento cheese and let everyone build their own. It’s such a fun and unexpected dinner spread, people really go wild for this. But on a more casual night, I would just slice the tomatoes and lettuce on my cutting board and let everyone come into the kitchen to build their own sandwich versus dirtying a bunch of platters.

Here, you’ll cook enough bacon, slice enough tomatoes, and pull off enough lettuce leaves to make triple BLTs, but if you’re not feeling it, just build singles or doubles and save the extra ingredients for more sandwiches another day.

Here’s how to throw the ultimate BLT party with ease!

The Menu:

• DRINK // John Dalys (aka Arnold Palmer’s spiked with vodka — to make a big pitcher, stir together 4 cups iced tea, 2 cups lemonade, and 2 cups vodka. Taste and adjust how you like! Serve over ice, garnished with lemon wedges and mint sprigs. If you’re having guests and they ask what to bring, ask one to bring iced tea and lemonade, and one to bring vodka!

• THE APPS // Deviled eggs and Peach Crostini (crostini aka toasted baguette slices topped with ricotta, sliced peaches, a drizzle of honey, sliced mint, and finely chopped pistachios) or keep it simple: throw out some chips and salsa and call it a dang day.

• THE MAIN COURSE // BLTs and only BLTs! Similar to my taco philosophy (no sides needed!!!), you do not need sides when you’re serving BLTs for dinner. It’s honestly more fun if you just get to make a massive BLT and call that dinner!

• DESSERT // Key Lime Pie! There’s a great recipe in Just Married if you have it, but FYI the frozen key lime pie from Trader Joe’s is fantastic, so please just buy that.

Party Prep:

• Up to 72 hours in advance: make the pimento cheese.

• The morning of: slice the tomatoes and arrange them on a platter. Prep and wash the lettuce leaves, dry them well, and arrange on a platter. Refrigerate until party time.

• One hour before guests arrive: bake your bacon and toast the bread. Throw some gluten-free bread in there if you’re hosting and unsure about everyone’s dietary concerns. Place the bacon and bread on platters. It does not need to be served warm.

• Right before guests arrive: have everything totally ready to go, on platters / in serving bowls, with the appropriate serving utensil ready.

• Right before you eat: salt the tomatoes and lettuce generously. Bring all of the platters to the table.

• Serve family style! It’s so fun to sit at the table and build your perfect BLTs together. Some people will make triples, some will make doubles, some will make open-faced sandwiches, it’s fun to see how everyone’s turn out!

OMG, THE WHAT TO COOK BOOK TOUR STARTS IN EXACTLY TWO WEEKS!! We’ve added more tickets / moved to larger locations in many of the places that were originally sold out, so be sure to check if your location was originally sold out. So excited to meet y’all, OMG!!!

Boston: stay tuned — we are working on adding a Sunday Funday event from 5-7pm on August 18th since the event on the 19th sold out so quickly. Those on the waitlist for the event at Trillium on the 19th will get first dibs on tickets — so be sure to join that waitlist if you haven’t already and want to come on the 18th!

pimento cheese blt

Serves: 4

Cook time: 25 to 35 minutes

Tools: