Old Fashioned Pimento Cheese Recipe

My old-fashioned pimento cheese recipe is lusciously creamy and tangy with a bold Cheddar cheese flavor. It’s spiked with a touch of citrusy sumac and a mild kick of chipotle to wake up and excite your tastebuds!

Pimento cheese will be your new favorite quick and easy summertime appetizer dip and spread. You can make it in minutes with ingredients already in your fridge and pantry.

Whether it’s a backyard barbecue, a movie night with your girlfriends, or summer celebrations like Memorial Day and the 4th of July, this scrumptious old-fashioned pimento cheese recipe will be the center of attention on your snack table.

Slather pimento cheese on crackers or toasted baguette slices. Stuff it in celery or cherry tomatoes. We love it with all types of fresh veggie crudites. My old-fashioned pimento cheese recipe is also a spectacular burger topping, and it will take your hotdogs, next-level.

Just think what delicious pimento cheese could do in my delectable Tuna Melt Open Face Sandwich recipe! Delish! Or use it as the cheesy topping on scrambled eggs or in your favorite casseroles.

Vintage recipes are gaining popularity right now. Being retro is cool, even at the dinner table! Taste my homemade pimento cheese and you’ll understand why!

Pimento Cheese Origins

You may have heard it said that pimento cheese is a Southern dish. So, you’ll be as surprised as I was to discover that it actually originated in New York in the 1870s.

That’s when cream cheese was first developed in the U.S. to offer an alternative to French Neufchatel. It was developed in New York and soon made it’s way to Philadelphia.

Pimentos appeared on the scene in America about that same time. They were a tasty Spanish import and grew in popularity as more and more tasty uses were discovered for them.

In 1908 Good Housekeeping magazine recommended sandwiches made with a spread that blended cream cheese, mustard, chives and pimentos. Pimento cheese had gone mainstream. But it contained NO Cheddar!

The combination became so popular that cheese manufacturers created their own Pimento Cheese and sold it to the masses.

Let’s Just Make Our Own

The difficulty was that Spanish pimentos were expensive. So, with typical American ingenuity, the South began growing pimento peppers.

Georgia pimentos became commonly available across the country, and pimento cheese took off in popularity until World War II. It just sort of faded away after that and wasn’t often found on grocery store shelves after the war.

And as with every great recipe tradition, home cooks ventured forth and began developing their own recipes, creating their own personal versions of pimento cheese.

These old-fashioned pimento cheese recipes varied according to available and affordable ingredients. That’s when hard cheeses, which cost much less than cream cheese, came into the picture.

Home cooks used mayonnaise to bind the grated hard cheese and pimentos. From what I’ve read, this reawakening of the love for pimento cheese and new recipe variants probably DID start in the South.

As the recipes spread from region to region, they have been altered and varied to include available ingredients and favorite seasonings. As it has been with all great recipes throughout history.

So, the “old-fashioned” pimento cheese recipes we all know and love turn out to be not so old-fashioned after all. They’re actually the new-fangled variations of an earlier version.

The Ingredients

• Cheddar Cheese, extra sharp and hand-grated
• Mayonnaise
• Cream Cheese
• Pimentos, chopped and drained
• Yellow Mustard
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Celery Seed
• optional, Ground Sumac and Chipotle Chili Powder (You can leave both these out and make a deliciously vintage and classic old-fashioned pimento cheese recipe. But I believe these two tiny ingredients are what make this pimento cheese recipe so special.)

What Are Pimentos?

Pimentos (sometimes spelled pimientos) are a variety of sweet red bell pepper. They are typically sold jarred and already chopped. You’ll find them in the aisle with olives and pickles.

Roasted red peppers and pimentos are very similar and could technically be used interchangeably. However, pimentos are slightly sweeter. Depending on the recipe, that could impact the taste of the final dish.

Use pimentos in salads, sauces, pickles, sausage making and even pasta dishes. And, of course, use them in a good old-fashioned pimento cheese recipe.

FAQs

How to Make Pimento Cheese

1. Grate the extra-sharp Cheddar cheese.
2. Drain and discard the liquid off the pimentos.
3. Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon to distribute and incorporate all the ingredients evenly.
4. Serve.