Sriracha Pimento Cheese Recipe

Many people from the American South are familiar with pimento cheese but I didn’t try it until 2013. It was so fun and addictively good to eat that I been making it ever since. I’ve made it from a recipe in the wonderful Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook and come up with my own recipe too, roasting up my own sweet red peppers and hand-chopping the cheese.

The South is home for people from all over the globe, including many from Asia. For instance, Viet people own nail salons, work as fisher folk and own many other small businesses. They contribute to the modern southern table. Some of the best banh mi are in New Orleans, and Houston has some of the country’s best beef pho. Given that, I add Southeast Asian elements to my pimento cheese in the form of Sriracha (heat and vibrant color) and fish sauce (umami). It's ngon (tasty in Vietnamese).

Ingredient pointers

When choosing the main ingredients -- cheese and pimento, choose wisely. I felt snacky yesterday while at Whole Foods, where I spied an 8-ounce package of organic sharp cheddar for $3.99. I usually use something like Kerrygold cheddar but thought I'd try this out; it's on the waxy side so it's not a dry cheddar. In the main, you want something salty sharp-ish.

I also had a jar of WF fire roasted red peppers –- which turned out to not be made from regular red bell peppers but rather from slender Hatch or Anaheim-style peppers. The peppers’ thin, sweet flesh was super easy to finely chop. Regular red bells are fine but they don’t have as intense of a pimento flavor and color as these. Of course, you can use the regular jarred pimento but they don’t seem to have much flavor to me. Your choice. You could char and peel the peppers for the most excellent sweet, gently smoky results.

Cheesy texture choices

Pimento cheese is traditionally made by hand chopping the cheese and sweet pepper. But after a long day of recipe development, I was a bit lazy. I decided to dice about a third of the cheese and then grate the rest and rough chop it with a knife. The result was a charming, uneven texture. You wouldn't know that it wasn't hand-chopped!

You can put the peppers and seasonings into a processor to blend them into a creamy orange mixture. However, if you just stir things together, you'll have a coarser, more rustic texture and you won't have to wash a processor! Most importantly, the pimento cheese had terrific little pops of pimento and cheesy flavor. By not blending things together too finely, I got better flavor and texture, too.

Make it dairy-free or vegan

Use the pimento cheese recipe below, but make these tweaks:

• Feature plant-based cheddar, chopping it into small pieces if it comes as stiff sticks.
• Mix in 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons of white (shiro) miso (plant-based cheese often tastes mild)
• Add more onion to impart a strong flavor edge.
• Bind the mixture with vegan mayo or a plant-based cream cheese, if you prefer.
• Let it sit for an hour or so to develop flavor.

Print Recipe

Sriracha Pimento Cheese

One batch yields about 1 ⅓ cups. See the main post for riffs and variations. You can take Pimento Cheese in many directions.

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheese spread, sriracha

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
• 3 to 4 tablespoons (1 ½ to 2 ounces) finely chopped peeled, roasted sweet red peppers
• 3 tablespoons regular mayonnaise or Sriracha mayonnaise/aioli
• 2 to 3 teaspoons Sriracha, Chili Garlic Sauce, or Sambal Oelek
• ½ to 1 teaspoon finely grated yellow onion
• ⅛ to ¼ teaspoons fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce
• 2 pinches sugar

Instructions

• Cut the cheddar cheese into small dice, or grate it on the largest hole of a box grater then roughly chopped into a coarse texture. You can do some of both, if you want a nice varied texture. Set aside.
• In a bowl, stir together the red pepper, mayonnaise, sriracha, onion, fish sauce (or Worcestershire) and sugar. Dump in the cheese and stir to combine.
• Let sit for 10 minutes to develop flavor, then revisit to taste. Add fish sauce (or Worcestershire) for umami depth. Sriracha for a slight edge of heat. Pimento cheese it not overly hot. It’s a thick, chunky spread, not a dip.
• If you can wait, cover and set aside for 1 hour at room temperature or refrigerate for up to several days. Enjoy at room temperature and stir things up before using. Use a spreader or something sturdy to scoop the stuff up with. I like all kinds of crackers, potato chips, and celery sticks.

Notes

A recipe for homemade chili garlic sauce is here