Easy Veggie Panini

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When I’m looking for an easy lunch or quick dinner, I always turn to these comforting Veggie Paninis. Packed with gooey fontina cheese, hearty kale, and sweet caramelized onions, they’re the perfect balance of savory and delicious. Ready in just 20 minutes, this vegetarian panini comes out perfectly every single time.

Have you ever made a veggie panini? If not, let’s fix that ASAP! I promise, one bite and you’ll be hooked – crispy, melty, and downright delicious. It gives me the same kind of love I have for my goat cheese grilled cheese, and trust me, that’s saying something.

My vegetarian panini is everything I crave in a sandwich – crispy on the outside, melty on the inside, and totally satisfying (without missing the meat one bit!). It’s my go-to quick meal, and the best part? It sneaks in some extra greens while giving off all the comfort food vibes of a fancy grilled cheese.

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🥘 Ingredients

I use a handful of simple, fresh ingredients to make this veggie panini recipe. Here’s what you’ll need:

Olive Oil & Olive Oil Spray: I use this to sauté the veggies, but also to grease the pan when grilling the paninis. Using olive oil spray instead of butter allows you to reduce the fat and calories without sacrificing any of that crispy exterior paninis have when they’re cooked up!

Baby Kale: I like baby kale because it’s more tender than regular kale, but curly kale or dinosaur kale will both work. My main tip if you’re using regular kale is to chop it very thinly, so it cooks up nice and tender.

Red Onion: I slice this thinly, and then allow it to caramelize in a little bit of olive oil. I like red onions better than yellow or white for this because I think they have a little bit of sweetness that I enjoy.

Seasonings: All I use is garlic, crushed red pepper and salt to season the kale and onions for this sandwich! You can add other seasonings if you like – dried oregano or basil would both taste great too.

Fontina Cheese: I love how well fontina cheese melts in this sandwich! But really any type of cheese that melts will will work.

Whole Grain Bread: I like choosing a thick-cut whole grain bread for these paninis so that the bread holds up well when stuffed with all the filling.

🔪 How To Make

Now for the fun part, let’s make this delicious veggie panini! You’ll be surprised at how easy it comes together, and with my step-by-step photos, you’ll have a perfectly crispy, melty sandwich in no time.

Cook Kale: First I sauté the kale with the garlic, crushed red pepper, olive oil, and a dash of salt until it’s wilted.

Caramelize Onions: Then, I add in one teaspoon of olive oil, I sauté the onions until they are caramelized and golden brown.

Assemble: To start assembling, I spread 1 clove of roasted garlic on one side of the sandwich. Then I top with 1 ounce of fontina cheese per sandwich, 1/4 of the caramelized onion mixture, 1/4 of the kale, and a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

Cook: Finally, I grill the sandwiches in a panini press or a skillet until the cheese is melted and the bread is crispy on the outside and still soft on the inside.

📖 Variations

Paninis are the perfect way to use up whatever leftovers I have in the fridge, which is why I love experimenting with different variations of this recipe. Here are some of my favorites:

Change Up The Filling: I used kale and caramelized onions, but you can use any combination of veggies or even fruits you like! Spinach, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and olives; spinach, pears and walnuts; kale, artichoke hearts, mushrooms – the combinations are endless!

Add A Spread: I used roasted garlic, but I think a really good pesto without pine nuts would also taste amazing in this recipe. Feel free to play around with other spreads too like my butter bean hummus.

Make It Vegan: I’ve found that tofu cream cheese works really well instead of the fontina, when making this sandwich vegan friendly.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

My healthy veggie panini is delicious on its own, but for a bigger meal I love pairing it with these side dishes:

Soup: Sandwiches and soup paired together is total comfort food for me. I like to choose a more broth-based soup because it’s great for dipping your sandwich too! I’ll typically serve this panini with either my vegan minestrone or my easy tomato soup.

Side Salad: For more veggies, a simple side salad tastes delicious with this recipe! My go-to is this tomato avocado cucumber salad, but in keeping with the kale theme of this panini, I’ll also serve it with my copycat Chick-Fil-A kale salad.

🧊 Storing And ♨️ Reheating

Refrigeration: This veggie panini really is best eaten fresh, but if you happen to have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours.

Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this sandwich, the bread and filling will get soggy and will change texture when reheated.

Reheating: I like to reheat leftovers in the toaster oven (or regular oven) at 350 degrees until warmed through and the bread is crispy again.

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