This $4.29 Trader Joe’s Fan Favorite Is Back and I’m Stocking Up
This limited-run Finnish-style cheese has a chewy yet oozy texture and makes a great stand-in for mozzarella in pasta salads and appetizers. No wonder it's a Trader Joe's fan favorite.
Trader Joe’s Garlic Bread Cheese sounds like a type of garlic bread or a breaded cheese concoction, but it’s neither. It’s a delicious, garlicky cheese that looks like bread because it’s browned on both sides. Besides its appearance, there’s nothing bready about it.
I was quite excited to learn that this cheekily named cheese is now back on Trader Joe’s shelves for the season.
What Is Bread Cheese?
I learned about bread cheese when I was working on my first book, The Cheeses of Wisconsin.
In the early 2000s, a group of Wisconsin cheesemakers went to Finland to learn how to make this intriguing cheese, which is called juustoleipa or juusto for short. My trip to Finland taught me that Finns sometimes serve it with cloudberry jam or dip it in their coffee, and some rare versions are made with reindeer milk.
Wisconsin cheesemakers don’t make it with reindeer milk—they stick to cow’s milk—and they riff on the basic cheese by adding flavors. TJ’s Garlic Bread Cheese is one of their modern riffs on this historic cheese, and it’s so, so good.
I’m pretty sure that it’s made by one of my absolute favorite Wisconsin cheesemakers because I know he makes some other specialty cheese for Trader Joe’s, but the store doesn’t identify him. (If I’m right, it’s made by one of the most award-winning cheesemakers in the world.)
What I Love About TJ’s Garlic Bread Cheese
Bread cheese is one of the few cheeses that doesn’t melt into a puddle when you heat it up, similar to halloumi and paneer.
It tastes delicious and milky and has a chewy yet oozy texture, as it softens slightly when warmed up but never quite melts. It also has a rich garlic flavor, as it’s dosed with quite a bit of garlic powder.
How I Use TJ's Garlic Bread Cheese
Bread cheese's ability to resist melting when heated up means that you can do so many cool things with it.
You can sauté it in a pan, nuke it in the microwave, or even broil or bake it in the oven. It's amazing skewered between veggies like tomatoes and onions and then grilled, especially if you serve the skewers alongside marinara sauce.
It can easily be substituted for fresh mozzarella in salads or skewers. In fact, alongside a leaf of basil and a cherry tomato on a toothpick, it makes a perfect summer appetizer. It's also great tossed into salads, especially Italian pasta salads.
Another fun way I like to serve this cheese is brushed with pepper jelly, then broiled for a minute or two on high for a craveable sweet and savory flavor combination.
Any way you try this lesser-known cheese, it’s fun and delicious.
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