Up next in 10
How to Make Homemade Pimento Cheese - Simply Jocelyn
497 views
May 9, 2025
Pimento Cheese is a definitive Southern staple for parties, tailgates, and snacking. This cheesy goodness is easy to make with only a few ingredients, sharp cheddar cheese, Duke's Mayonnaise, and pimentos (a dash of salt and pepper doesn't hurt either). It makes a great dip, can be put in omlettes, and makes devine toasted cheese sandwiches. Follow Jocelyn on Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/jocelynwoltersworld Follow Simply Jocelyn on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Simply-Jocelyn-A-Globally-Inspired-Life-100312851709273/ Grab Some of Jocelyn's Favorite Kitchen Gear Ninja Blender/Food Processor - https://amzn.to/30F4vXZ Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware - https://amzn.to/30sZ91O GreenPan Lima Ceramic Non-Stick Griddle - https://amzn.to/2BNCa77 PriorityChef Mortar and Pestle - https://amzn.to/3ff4rCd Silicone Stretch Lids for Keeping Things Fresh - https://amzn.to/2UvX6pL Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock - https://amzn.to/2UwIxSV
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey, I'm Jocelyn and today we're going to make one of my favorite southern
0:05
specialties, pimento cheese. I know a lot of people are like, ew, pimento cheese
0:10
gross. What I have found is that people don't like pimento cheese because it's
0:15
overly mayonnaise and there's something special about mayonnaise and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about that as we make this. But I want to
0:24
go over really quickly just the few ingredients that this takes. Extra sharp
0:27
cheddar. It's best to make your own and not buy the pre-shredded stuff because the pre-shredded
0:34
stuff has things in it to keep it from like glumping up and things like that. Fresh shredded
0:41
on your own is a lot better. You need mayonnaise and we're going to get to that. A little bit of
0:48
fresh ground black pepper, pimentos, and you can roast your own red peppers and do that. But you
0:55
know what I cheat and I just buy jarred pimentos because I ain't got time for all that. And then
1:02
some ground cayenne pepper and you can use chili pepper if you want but cayenne is really better
1:09
for it. So we'll just get started. First of all you're going to need about two and a half cups
1:14
of the cheddar and this is a monster block so I'm going to go ahead and cut this thing in half
1:21
like as if I can do that. There we go. I'll just set half of it over here and we're going to grade
1:29
this. You can grade it on the big side. I really like to use the skinny side. I think that it kind
1:35
of mixes up better, but I will also throw some of the bigger ones in there. So you kind of get some
1:40
big chunks. Um, I don't know why, but I really like the chunks. Um, I don't know. I like, I like
1:46
the two different things to cause a little bit different texture. So we just start grating
1:53
And as I grate my cheese, I'm going to talk to you about mayonnaise. In the South, mayonnaise is
2:02
king. And in my opinion, there are only two kinds of mayonnaise. Well, really, there's just one
2:08
but there's a runner up. So first and foremost is Duke's mayonnaise. I think it is the greatest
2:13
mayonnaise on earth. I have friends who literally will forego mayonnaise if they can't get Dukes
2:20
And quite frankly, if you live somewhere and you can't get Dukes, you should probably ask
2:25
your grocery store to carry Dukes for you or you should move because it's that good
2:33
Second place is Blue Plate. Blue Plate is good. It's just not as tangy in my opinion. It's got a
2:40
different flavor than duke's um but it's still good southern mayonnaise and it you know it'll do
2:45
um everything else doesn't exist in my world i my friend who is a big foodie and she knows my love
2:53
of mayonnaise and how particular i am she suggested i get some kewpie mayonnaise so i did and it's um
3:01
fancy japanese mayonnaise i i just gave her i tried it one day and i just went ahead and gave
3:07
her the entire container because I hated it but mayonnaise is a very personal
3:15
thing and if you have ever lived in the South or spent much time down there you
3:19
will find that everybody got their own personal opinion but mine right okay good so I have grated a bunch of this that probably about two cups I going to do a little bit more on the big side
3:34
and like I said just to have a little bit of variety in the cheese and how it mashes together
3:40
I love grating cheese this is like one of those fun things to do and when my kids were little they
3:46
You still want to always help me grate the cheese. And I let them
3:51
But I let them begrudgingly because I really enjoy grating cheese. I don't know why, but it's like a zen sort of thing for me
3:57
It's very satisfying. Oh, yeah. And this is how, so as to not make a huge mess, this is how I move my grated cheese
4:07
I just take the back end of my knife. You should never scrape things with the sharp end of your knife because it dulls your knife
4:13
But I take the back end of my knife and kind of slip it underneath. pick it up and drop it in the bowl. It makes it really easy. So we've got a whole lot of good
4:26
cheese in there. I'm going to mix it up just a little bit. I do everything with my hands if I can
4:32
I'm like, go ahead, play with your food. You should. All right, so we're going to move that off
4:36
My recipe, the general recipe comes from this great old Southern cookbook
4:42
and it calls for two and a half cups of grated extra sharp cheddar and three quarters cup of
4:50
mayonnaise. When people don't like pimento cheese, it's usually because there's too much mayonnaise
4:57
It's just this glompy mess. So I'm going to probably end up using close to three quarters
5:04
maybe not quite um but I'm gonna I'm just gonna scoop it in there with with a
5:11
tablespoon and I'm just gonna kind of mix it until it's the right consistency
5:15
and it'll probably end up being around three quarters of a cup so that's what I
5:20
do next just what is that that's maybe a cup that I just threw in there and I
5:25
will sort of smash it down and then fluff so kind of smear it all around and
5:31
and then fluff it to get it mixed in nicely. So I will scoop it in with a spoon
5:39
and then once I get about to the amount of mayonnaise I wanna have in total, I will get out a fork
5:47
and use a fork because with the cheese being all grated and fluffy in there
5:56
it just kinda works better. So there we go. That's about three quarters of a cup
6:02
How do I know that? I don't know. I'm just telling you and you should believe me
6:07
So I will just kind of, again, smear it around and then fluff it in there
6:17
Yeah, this is one of those just easy, simple things. You can make it ahead of time
6:23
You can put it on sandwiches. You can, shoot, you can eat a plain
6:26
You can put it on crackers, whatever. and you can see that as you mix it it gets a lot smaller so sometimes like right now I feel like
6:37
it's a little bit too much mayonnaise there's I'm seeing a little too much white and not enough
6:42
yellow in this mix so as I have gotten that all nice and mixed you can see it I gonna put just a little more cheese in there this is I love recipes that I can finagle to my own will and make them however I want My dog standing over here
7:01
He loves cheese. He really wants some of this right now, but he's not getting any
7:06
So I'm just going to grate up a little bit more cheese, see where we're at after I add that
7:17
Brigadier, you can just keep on baking. his little his little tail is going about a mile of a minute he thinks he's getting some
7:24
or at least he's waiting for me to drop something a little piggy oh you know that's what you get
7:31
when you have a big old dog right big old beggar all right so yeah that's a little bit better
7:38
I'm happier with that. So we're going to put away the mayonnaise
7:47
And okay, so this recipe calls for an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne. My family likes spicy
7:58
foods, so I'm going to do a really heaping eighth of a teaspoon. It probably comes out to closer to
8:04
a quarter of a teaspoon and then a few grinds of pepper. I fresh ground pepper is my preference
8:11
because you get those big chunky bits and it's kind of spicy so like you know five six grinds
8:18
worth and mix that all together. Just kind of kind of work that in a little bit and then we'll throw
8:28
in pimentos. So I've got my pimento jar here and it's a new jar and I'm sure it's going to be hard
8:35
to open. So if you have, if you ever have a stuffed jar, this is one of my stupid tips
8:43
And it's like a metal top. You just hit it with the back of your knife in a couple, three places
8:49
and it'll make it pop right off. It's really nice. So we're going to do probably three tablespoons
9:00
Let's see how many ounces are in here. This is four ounces. So I'm going to do, you know what
9:09
I'm just going to do it by sight. That's what we're going to do. You don't want me to do it by sight
9:15
Do you not like that? Do you all hear him? He's talking to me. He's telling me what to do
9:19
Mm-hmm. Really? Okay. So I had these cups out like as if I was going to measure anything. I'm
9:27
really pitiful at measuring things. So I'm just going to drain off some of this oil that's in
9:34
there, just a little bit of it. Leaving a little in, coming with your pimentos is not a bad thing
9:41
So that's like a tablespoon, two, three, and a little more. So I'll put that over here
9:52
Pimentos sometimes are hard to find up here in Yankee Land. I don't know why, but I have to go to several stores to find them
10:01
You know, there are just certain things that you miss regionally, and it's hard sometimes to make cuisines from other places
10:09
So you can always order them on Amazon, but I usually, after a while, I can find them
10:16
So all right we just going to keep stirring These are sliced You can get sliced You can get diced It doesn really matter It entirely up to you Like I said you can roast your own tomatoes or tomatoes
10:29
Pepper. No tomatoes in this. I promise. All right. So that's about it
10:36
How nice is that? I love being able to make easy things
10:40
And like I said, this is like one of those things I'll make a whole mess of it
10:45
and you can kind of you can see how that cheese on my finger my thumb you can see how it kind of
10:52
will hold its shape so you can put this um out to serve on a plate and make this really pretty mound
10:59
um i have taken endive and if you pull apart the endive leaves it looks kind of like petals so i
11:06
will put endive all the way around it and have this big heaping brigadier doesn't like the idea
11:13
of that either. Listen, mouthy dog, just cram out your pie hole. So I'll make a big round mound of
11:23
it, put it in the middle and then put the endive all around it. So it looks like a pretty little flower and you can scoop it up and eat it on the endive. It's really especially nice for those of
11:31
us who are gluten-free or who are just trying to watch some of those carb intakes. So anyway
11:38
This is a great thing. I'll make a huge mess of it for all sorts of occasions
11:43
It also makes really, really good grilled cheese sandwiches. Just, you know, butter your outsides, your bread, put it in the middle, slap it on a hot skillet
11:53
and you'll have a really good melty, really decadent sort of grilled cheese sandwich later
12:00
A little bit of spice to it. So, there you go. This is comando cheese
12:04
you've gotten a lesson in the mayonnaise and the impostors and you also learn how
12:11
to open a stuffed jar dang lot of pimento cheese all right I will get
12:22
something mental to the dog is following me everywhere perfect now it's got a
12:30
nice and mixed. It's not over mansy, not too cheesy. It's got nice little, puts them in
12:34
into a heat. Very nice, babe. All right. Awesome. Yep, you're welcome. Get out of here. I'm leaving
12:42
All right, so now it's finished. I thought it was finished, but it wasn't finished. So now
12:47
we're finished and I'm going to just serve this up. At home, I would just leave this in a bowl
12:52
If I'm having company or something, then I would put it on a plate, make a pretty little mound and
12:57
you know do it up really nice but um this is just for my family and so we're probably just
13:03
gonna eat it right out the bowl possibly with just spoons but i'll try to get some you know
13:08
crackers out and at least make it like we're not actual pigs so there you go pimento cheese okay
13:14
so we'll taste it i don't know we'll see if mark's right if it really is any good it looks pretty
#Condiments & Dressings
#food
#Pizzerias
#Tourist Destinations