Grandma Lucy’s Pimento Cheese – It’s a Southern Thang
Today I’m bringing you a much beloved recipe from the South. From what I read and hear, it isn’t nearly as popular outside of our little geographic region as it is here, but folks in these parts consider it a staple in every home!
Long before the days of snack cakes and convenience foods, Pimento Cheese sandwiches dominated minds when it came to a “quick bite to eat” or a “little lunch”. They were cheap and delicious on plain old white bread, although I serve mine on wheat these days.
I remember going to Grandmama and Grandaddy’s house and finding one or both sitting at their kitchen table having a pimento cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. They’d always ask “Ya want some puh-men-ah cheese, baby?”. I never refused.
I’ve wanted to get this recipe up on here for a while and asked Grandmama how she made her pimento cheese so I could bring you the taste I remember so well. She immediately said “Oh, now if you want the best pimento cheese, you gotta use Velveeta.”
What better time to bring you this than during my time serving as a Velveeta Kitchenista? I hope you’ve been visiting Velveeta It!’s facebook page this month as myself and four other Mom bloggers present a new Velveeta recipe each day but if you haven’t you can still breeze on over there and catch up on all of the wonderful tips and recipes that have been shared so far! Just visit www.facebook.com/velveeta and be sure to drop a howdy to me there this Thursday when I’ll be hosting Tasty Traditions Thursdays!
You’ll need: 16 ounce block of Velveeta, Pimentos, and a little Mayo.
Grate your Velveeta. Now Velveeta is a little on the soft side so I found an easy way of doing this. You remember play-doh? Just get your grater out and place the block of Velveeta against it and press into the grater. It comes out the other side quick and easy as can be and ends up being a lot less work than grating a block of cheddar.
Dump in a jar of drained pimentos. I used the small jar which is about 2 ounces.
Add about 1/2 cup of Mayonnaise. You can add more to taste if you like.
Stir that up well.
Grandmama doesn’t salt and pepper hers so I didn’t either. I found it to be utterly sublime as is but feel free to salt and pepper (and even garlic!) yours if you got a hankerin’ to.
Serve on a sandwich or crackers.
These are a standard at every party, too. There is nothing like little finger pimento cheese sandwiches with the crusts trimmed off to add an air of tradition to a gathering!
Did you eat pimento cheese growing up? Do you have a different recipe or a special Pimento Cheese memory?
Tell me about it in the comments!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grandma Lucy’s Pimento Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 ounce block Velveeta
- 2 ounce jar Pimentos, drained
- 1/2 C Mayonnaise
Instructions
- Push Velveeta through a grater until all is grated in a bowl. Add Pimentos and Mayo. Stir well. Salt and pepper if desired. Serve on loaf bread.
Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin
Ingredients
- 16 ounce block Velveeta
- 2 ounce jar Pimentos, drained
- 1/2 C Mayonnaise
Instructions
- Push Velveeta through a grater until all is grated in a bowl. Add Pimentos and Mayo. Stir well. Salt and pepper if desired. Serve on loaf bread.
Today’s quote is one of those that kinda hits you in layers. Hope you enjoy it!
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi
Submitted by Angela. To submit your quote, click here.
I really enjoyed Maralee Mckee’s post this morning on Trick or Treat Manners.
Click here if you’d like to read it, too!
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 28 2009. Filed under Main Course, Quick&Easy.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Christy,
I LOVE homemade pimento cheese! Can’t eat store bought. My grandmother and grandfather have always made it as an appetizer for holiday meals with celery. Papaw always uses sharp cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, pimentos and mayo. I add a little worchestershire sauce to my recipe. I will have to try making it with Velveeta next. Thanks for sharing! Happy Wednesday!
Lesley from Alabama
Velveeta cheese—please!
When I make pimento cheese, I add just a sprinkle of hot sauce! Makes a great difference, without being too spicy.
I love it! My dad always ate pimento cheese on his burgers. Of course it is best on a piece of white bread.
Have you ever tried the Kraft Pimento spead in a little jar? I LOVE it! Does this taste anything like it? I think the Kraft one is made with cream cheese and yellow cheese. I tried Cooper brand pimento cheese spread and it was GROSS!!! I was very disappointed. Guess I’ll have to try your recipe. =)
This recipe really brings back memories. We used to eat homemade pimento cheese between two saltine crackers with several drops of worchestershire sauce dropped onto the top cracker. I know it sound strange, but it is absolutely delicious… We added chopped up pickled jalepenos sometimes for a little extra spice. Thanks for the great recipe!
I don’t think many people other than Southerners call bread loaf bread either! We always ate Mrs. Stratton’s pimento cheese growing up but it’s not as good as homemade. No matter how much fancy food is available at a social, (and Southern Baptists have a LOT of socials), I always pick up a ‘menter cheese sandwich!
Christy,
I use half Velveta and one fourth American cheese and one fourth sharp cheddar cheese. This is the way my son likes it. It does take a tad getting used to but it is good. Clay always wanted it on toasted wheat bread for breakfast. Keep all the goodies coming. I have got a zillion of your things stored in my computer Hal.
Thanks! I appreciate this idea of having it for breakfast!
I love “menter cheese”. I would add just a pinch of sugar to this recipe. The reason…My mother in law did so I do it also
My mom adds a pinch of sugar to hers as well!
mama made her pimiento cheese the same way except she used miracle whip instead of mayo. that was one of few things that i actually liked miracle whip in. i haven’t made it in years, this may inspire me to use the block of velveeta in the fridge for something other than ro-tel dip!
Me, too, mama jane!!! I’ve got a little block in my fridge right now. Just need the pimento to go in it (with a smidge of sugar) and I’ll have a great lunch tomorrow!
Oh I soooo want a pimento cheese sandwich right now!
I like cream cheese and pimento, yummy. I will have to give this a try, I think Stephen would love it with a bowl of hot tomato soup. I bet I can put it in the george foreman grill and get it all melty too.
ok, now I’m hungry. thanks again for yet another great recipe. Love you bunches.
I’m 69 yrs. young and when growing up it was bought in our household in reusable little juice glasses. We ate it on crackers but it was still a special treat.
I love Pimento Cheese and this is such an easier recipe than I have seen! I will have to make this one up! Thanks for sharing!
I never buy pimento cheese when it’s so easy to make. I always use sharp or even extra sharp cheddar, minced onion, a little garlic powder, and mayo–Miracle Whip makes it too sweet. If you don’t want to bother with shredding cheese, buy the finely shredded and your pimento cheese is ready to eat in minutes. Try it on baked potatoes. Yum!
I love your idea of trying this on potatoes too! I got a huge bag of potatoes from Walmart (for 2 bucks, ka-ching!) and I was wondering how I`m gonna use it all up. Baked and mashed potatoes get old after a while … Thanks for the great idea!
A drop or two of Tabasco will give it a little zing, also.
You never know what you got til its gone! Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine pimento cheese was mainly a regional thing! When I moved up north you could not buy pimento cheese…shoot, the only way to buy cornmeal was in a 1 lb box from the cereal aisle. However this caused me to learn to make my own because my husband will eat this 3 meals a day plus snacks. The only problem is I never could quite get it right. I experimented with all different things and added spices but I never tried making it with Velveeta. Maybe that is what I was doing wrong.
Okay, you`re scaring me. I`m not sure how far up north you are, but since I`m in Canada, I`m definitely crossing my fingers that I`ll be able to find pimentos at the supermarket.
OOOh, I so want to try this recipe. I like `savoury` treats — I don`t have much of a sweet tooth so this is right up my alley!
I really like pimento cheese spread but I don’t remember eating it as a child. My earliest memories of it were after I started going to teas, baby and wedding showers and they would serve little fancy sandwiches of ham salad, chicken salad, and pimento cheese spread. They were good but so tiny. I wanted a dozen , but had to be polite and select only one of each. Does anyone remember the pastel tinted bread? Pink and blue for baby showers-yellow and green for springtime teas. Maybe I will just make a batch of pimento cheese spread and eat as much as I want now and I want it on man sized slices of rye bread. LOL
I enjoyed the treat or treat primer. She writes in a very common sense manner with a sense of humor tossed in. Very reminiscent of you Christy.
When we were growing up we always took a huge container of Nana’s pimento cheese to the beach. We also had a spread that my Nana called lemon nut. Anybody familiar with that? I’m not sure if it’s a southern thing or just a family thing. : )
You know what makes this recipe even better is that Velveeta is on sale B1G1 free at Publix this week! Happy eating!
I love pimento cheese! I used to keep it the house all the time, but I had to quit because I kept eating it. I’m going to try making this with Velveeta, and see if it’s as good as I remember my mom’s being-always on white bread of course!
When Mama was telling me how to make it, she said to add a spoonful of vinegar because that’s what made it Pimento Cheese as opposed to a cheese sandwich. Of course, I asked her “What’s the difference?” and she practically just repeated what she’d just told me. LOL.
Neither she nor my dad could explain the taste difference. Just that one was pimento cheese and the other wasn’t. I did it like she told me though and it was pretty good. I used cheddar though instead of Velveeta. I will try Velveeta next time.
I also tried to grill it because that’s what I wanted to do with it in the first place and when it started to get toasty, the insides just pooled out all oily-like. Does anyone know the secret to toasting them?
My mother adds sugar and a little vinegar too!
What you might do is just toast the bread and then spread on the cheese.
Christy you got to know this is a favorite of mine. I first had a pimento cheese sandwich with my Bestfriends grandparents. It was made with sharp cheddar finely shredded and a jar of pimentos with some mayo. Pimento cheese with peanut butter on rye, oh my!
I have never seen velveeta used and I certainly haven’t ever heard of such a smart suggestion for grating Velveeta! My momma always added just a teaspoon of sugar to balance out the tang of the pimentos. It let the punch of the pimento through, but just a tiny bit softer. Thanks, Christy!
Oh gosh! I haven’t had pimento cheese in, like, forever! My mother used to love it when I was a kid! I can remember the tangy, cheesy taste of it!
I live in NY (an hour north of NYC), yes very far from the Mason Dixie line, but I love your blog Christy! In my defense we do have a summer home in Longs SC (near N. Myrtle Beach). I love the homey comfortable feel of all your recipes and ramblings. I have eaten Velveeta maybe once in my life (honestly)but this just sounds plain yummy! I have tried many of your recipes; matter of fact tonight is your meatloaf casserole…lol. Thanks for doing such a great job here and allowing us all to enter a bit into your life. I have a great love of the southland and to be able to have someone share it with me on a day to day basis, is a blessing!! Thank you again Christy!
OOOPS, I mean to say Mason Dixon line. I just have Dixie on my mind I guess…lol~
My mom made pimento cheese with grated sharp cheese, an 8oz. block of cream cheese, softened and a jar of pimentos, not drained and a pinch of salt. I make mine today in the food processor-so easy and quick and yummy. I have had it at a party made with cottage cheese in place of part of the cream cheese.
Pimento cheese sandwitches are the best. Paula Deans sons have a great recipe for pimento cheese they also use cream cheese in it. It’s to bad the rest of the country doesn’t know about this great sandwich.
That’s the recipe I use. I don’t care for it, but my hubby loves the stuff, so I make it for him.
I was reading this recipe off to him and he says, “well, let’s give it a shot, everything you have tried so far has been good”
so, we will be trying this recipe too.
My family is a sharp cheddar sort of family with our pimento cheese. But, I do have a friend from west Tennessee that uses Velveeta. I’ll have to quit making fun of her now for her Velveeta problem.
There’s nothing better than a pimento cheese sandwich, served with a Coke in a little glass bottle. And, I’ve never even been to the Masters! I just know good eats when I see ‘em!
I agree with Emmy. Thank you Christy for being you! You are such a tremendous lady. I don’t recall ever having pimento cheese, but love pimentos, so I’ll have to try this too. And like Hal, I am starting to acquire quite a collection of your recipes & ideas on my pc as well. Keep them coming! ~Claudia
Perfect! One week out from a my most recent surgery and having a hard time with eating and having no appetite. I got hungry as soon as I saw the photo of the pimento cheese sammich. I had everything on hand to make a batch. Used my last 10 oz of sharp cheddar and 6 oz of cream cheese to make up the lb of cheese. I always like a tiny dash of worchestshire and a couple drops of tabasco. Then I remembered that I didn’t have any bread in the house…had my pimento cheese spread wrapped up in a lettuce leaf. It was delicious! Pimento cheese has curative powers! If mama were still alive she would have made some for me and some chicken soup too.
Thanks Christy for having just the right recipe at just the right time.
White bread, no crust, little triangles and rectangles. Pimento cheese sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches are a finger-food standard where I live. I also wow people with my PBJ finger sandwiches. I stir the peanut butter and the jelly together. Cut them up with an electric knife and they are a big hit at parties. From the simplest kids birthday party to the most elegant wedding. These are always on the menu.
My younger brothers always made pbj sandwiches by mixing the peanut butter and the jelly when we were growing up. I thought they were so weird, until I tasted it one time! It’s so delicious! I never thought of serving them to others like that though, what a great idea. I also like putting the pbj stuff on graham crackers for a yummy snack.
We do this with pb and honey. It’s so good!
Do any of y’all remember “commodity” peanut butter? It was a peanut butter given in the Government Commodity program. They’d give PB and cheese and such to seniors and folks with an income below a certain level. My grandparents always got it and I just loved it. The Peanut butter was a little grainy, they also used it in the school lunchrooms.
I’d DEARLY love to find a peanut butter today that tastes like that!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Oh yes, my grandmother used to get the government peanut butter and cheese, too! I think the natural peanut butter like they sell at health food stores is similar. It’s grainy and the oils separate when it sits because it’s mostly just ground nuts with no preservatives and stabilizers and such. I got some on sale yesterday for $3.99 a jar.
My grandma got that PB and cheese too! I remember it made the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches!!
I love Pimento Cheese. I make it for my family for an appetizer treat and often bring in to my office for birthday parties etc. Usually made into sandwiches on wheat bread. I use Extra Sharp cheese, jar of pimento w/the liquid, good mayo, a few chopped scallions, some dried dill weed, black pepper and bingo…Pimento Cheese.
Ooh! Pimento cheese! I’m not sure how my parents made it but they’d make batches of it all the time and have it in the fridge. We’d just grab it and slap that on some bread for a quick snack, lunch, pick-me-up, any-excuse-to-eat-a-pimento-cheese-sandwich excuse…
Christy,
Have you ever had Pineapple Cheese? My husband’s elderly aunt introduced me to this! One can of crushed pineapple drained. About an equal amount of shredded velveeta cheese. And enough mayo to hold it all together. It is also DELICIOUS!! : )
Thanks for the great website!
Angie
I make pimento cheese all the time. I will have to try the
velveta. I use fancy shredded mild chedder cheese (walmart
brand) 1/2 of the big jar of pimento , Mayo, and I put
in a teaspoon of sugar in it. So good.
Loved the recipe but to the same ingredients, add chopped sweet pickles, sweet relish, chopped olives and jalapenos!!!! Just gives it a different taste.
Thanks for all you do, marinan of Dothan
CHRISTY, OH HOW DO I REMEMBER PIMENTO AND CHEESE SANDWICHES. WE STILL EAT THEM TODAY. WE NEVER USED VELVEETA THOUGH. WE USE RED RIND CHESSE OR WHAT THEY CALL IT HERE IS MISSISSIPPI IS HOOP CHEESE. WE JUST LOVE IT. WE ARE A FAN OF BLUE PLATE MAYO HERE. WE REALLY DON’T HAVE A BIG SELECTION OF MAYO AT OUR WALLY WORLD. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR POST. JUST LOVE SOUTHERN PLATE.
GOD BLESS
THERESA
I absolutely love “puh-men-ah” cheese!!! My Mom, (pronouncing it that exact same way!), would make it with sharp cheddar so that is how I have always made it! I love it on soft white bread. Not the healthiest bread but sometimes you just have to do what you got to do!!! Sounds good with the Velveeta…I will try it!
Bountiful Blessings!
My mom makes THE best pimento cheese and I sure do miss it. My husband won’t touch the stuff so I’ve never made it myself. Next time we’re in GA for a visit I’ll have to get mom to make me some!
Christy, I see my beloved Duke’s mayo in that second picture!!
Hi April…saw the International Delight Caramel Macchiato at Big Y today!! Hope this helps!
A big gold star today to Tina for helping April with her treasure hunt in grocery stores.
My mother use to serve pimento cheese on crackers, but I don’t know her recipe. I sure miss those crackers!
MY MOM MADE THIS AND MY GRANNY. SHE ADDED GRATED SWEET PICKLES AND A LITTLE SUGAR. BRINGS BACK WARM CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!
make it all the time and last week tried it with the 4 cheese Mexican pre grated cheese…devine……
I love, love good homemade pimiento cheese. My aunt made some of the best – cheddar, mayo, a pinch of sugar and a little cayenne pepper for a touch of zing. When I was a child, the Varsity in Atlanta made their cheese dogs with pimiento cheese. I still love pimiento cheese on my hot dogs. For awhile I used a recipe I’d found in a Southern Living book, a small can of evaporated milk & cheddar cheese, heated until melted, plus of course the pimientos and I added the sugar & cayenne. Made a wonderfully smooth pimiento cheese.
When I was growing up (I’m 69), my mother always made pimento cheese sandwiches for picnics, and traveling. Anytime we went anywhere, she would make up about a dozen sandwiches and put them in the “ice chest” with our cokes. She grated sharp cheddar and mixed it with Miracle Whip and pimentos. Ummmmm, good!
You’ve got to be kidding! This is my recipe also. It is so delicious. How can I get a copy of your cookbook?
Until a little while ago, I’d never even heard of pimento cheese (Tina at Mommy’s Kitchen posted it a little while back). Now reading all these comments of people who grew up loving it, I might have to give it a try. Southern Plate has never failed me before – we might find a new favorite!
wow, this is almost just like my recipe… only I add a touch of sugar and vinegar. My fiancé loves it!
So glad to see you use Duke’s mayo. We discovered it several years ago when a Southern Living article on potato salad commented that Duke’s made the best potato salad. My husband is diabetic, so Duke’s is great for him because the “original” has no sugar. I love the ZING it gives everything.
Love the Duke’s Mayo! Now I buy the light version, though. I use the sharpest cheddar I can find then grate it by hand. I add juice from the pimento jar, pimentos, mayo and mix it by hand. We like to “grill” the sandwich in a hot skillet with butter. Best served with Brunswick stew or tomato soup. Can’t wait to try your Velveeta version.
Oh my, this is the only kind of pimento cheese my family loves. Sometimes someone will bring in another kind and we never finish it. Many of my friends at work have enjoyed this and think it is something else! They often ask for the recipe and when I tell them, they act like they don’t believe me. But, like I said before, this is the ONLY pimento cheese we eat at my house.
This brings back memories of my Daddy. He made his pimento cheese the same way except with Miracle Whip. It was his idea of “cooking” dinner after church on Sundays. Pimento cheese and bologna sandwiches. Or if it was cold out, it would be pimento cheese sandwiches and a bowl of chili.