Making air fryer grilled ham and cheese is a quick and easy way to get lunch on the table and have it turn out perfectly every time. Golden crispy bread, gooey melty cheese, and warm slices of ham meat in every bite.

We've been absolutely hooked on our air fryer lately, and it's not an exaggeration. It has become our go-to for cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, and snacks, and the results are consistently fantastic.
Our love for the air fryer extends to sandwiches like this ham and cheese creation, as well as our Air Fryer Club Sandwich and Air Fryer Turkey Sandwich. Once you experience the golden, toasty bread and perfectly cooked insides, you'll be hooked – there's no turning back.
When you're in the mood for a quick, easy lunch or a cozy, satisfying dinner, this air fryer recipe is a reliable favorite that always hits the spot. So, let's fire up the air fryer and dive into the ultimate grilled ham and cheese experience!
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- This recipe is very fast. Making grilled ham and cheese in the air fryer is pretty quick. Within 10 minutes, you could have 2 sandwiches cooked to perfection.
- It's beginner friendly. This recipe involves just a few simple steps, and they're all quite straightforward. It's as easy as assembling a sandwich and flipping it over – these are the basic moves you'll need to master.
- Minimal ingredients. As you can imagine, you only need a couple of ingredients to make these sandwiches. In fact, we only need 4 things, so any grocery shopping will be minimal.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Sandwich bread- You will need some sliced sandwich bread. You can use any type of sliced bread desired, like wheat, white, sourdough, or even low carb.
Cheese slices- Use your favorite type of sliced cheese and you're going to love the end results. We like to use Muenster, American, or Cheddar.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
📖 Variations
Cheeses. You can you any cheese slices that you want for this sandwich. Whatever you prefer or usually use on grilled cheese is usually a safe bet. I have tried American Kraft singles and sliced Muenster cheese (as pictured), and both turned out melty, gooey, and delicious.
Ham. While ham deli meat is easy to come by, don't be afraid to use leftover holiday ham in these sandwiches too! Just make sure to slice it thin (about ¼ inch). Thicker slices may require a longer cooking time or need to be preheated before assembling the sandwich.
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Lay out 2 slices of bread and then spread butter over one side of each.
Step 2: Place the bread into the basket of the air fryer, butter side down. Try not to get them to overlap.
Step 3: Place one slice of cheese on top of the bread.
Step 4: Place 3 or 4 slices of ham on top of the cheese for both sandwiches.
Step 5: Place a slice of cheese on top of the ham.
Step 6: Now butter one side of each of the two remaining slices of sandwich bread and place them on top of the cheese, the butter side facing up.
Step 7: Place the basket back into the air fryer and set it to 360 degrees F for 8 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over after 4 minutes.
Step 8: Remove sandwiches from the air fryer and serve immediately.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Making this grilled ham and cheese air fryer recipe is pretty easy, but you should note a few things before starting:
The bread can fly
The top piece of bread can "fly off" the sandwich during the first half of the cooking process. I've only experienced this once out of all the times I've made this sandwich, but it is still worth noting as a possibility.
You can secure the bread with toothpicks or by placing a small trivet over the top to hold the bread down if desired. Check on the sandwich after 3 minutes to make sure the bread hasn't flipped upwards. If it has, you may want to cook for an additional 2 minutes because the bread will not be toasted as a result of the flipping.
Flip after toasted
When you flip your sandwich at the halfway point, make sure that the bread on top is the shade of color that you want because once flipped it will not darken anymore.
When I make this air fryer grilled ham and cheese sandwich, I like two use two slices of cheese on either side of the ham so that it can hold the bread to the meat and not cause the sandwich contents to slide around when being handled.
💭 FAQs
Any number of cheese would be a wonderful pairing including Swiss cheese, provolone, muenster, and cheddar cheese.
You can use either one that you may prefer. I like butter on my bread but I know many people choose to use mayo. Go ahead and use whichever one you want.
You can serve grilled cheese sandwiches on their own or with side dishes like french fries, soups, salads, and potato chips.
❤️ More Delicious Air Fryer Recipes
If you tried this Air Fryer Grilled Ham and Cheese, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Grilled Ham and Cheese
Equipment
- Air Fryer 6qt or 8qt
Ingredients
- 4 slices Sandwich bread ($0.16)
- 4 slices Cheese ($1.23)
- 6 pieces Ham lunch meat ($1.22)
- 2 Tablespoons Butter, softened ($0.18)
Instructions
- Lay out 2 slices of bread and then spread butter over one side of each.
- Place the bread into the basket of the air fryer, butter side down. Try not to get them to overlap.
- Place one slice of cheese on top of the bread.
- Place 3 or 4 slices of ham on top of the cheese for both sandwiches.
- Plae a slice of cheese on top of the ham.
- Now butter one side of each of the two remaining slices of sandwich bread and place them on top of the cheese, butter side facing up.
- Place the basket back into the air fryer and set it to 360 degrees F for 8 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over after 4 minutes.
- Remove sandwiches from air fryer and serve immediately.
Notes
- Two sandwiches can fit into an 8quart air fryer comfortably.
- You can use any cheese slice options including cheddar, swiss, provolone, or Muenster (as examples).
- You do not have to preheat your air fryer before use.
- You can swap out the butter for mayo if you like your grilled cheeses with mayo on the bread.
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