Pimento Cheese
I fell in love with this Southern staple earlier this month when my girlfriends and I spent a long weekend in Charleston, SC celebrating my bachelorette party. Pretty much all I want to eat now is chicken & biscuits and pimento cheese. I don’t know why these things haven’t traveled up North yet.
For those like me who weren’t previously acquainted with pimento cheese, it’s basically shredded sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and pimentos (those red peppers that you usually see stuffed into green olives) with other ingredients mixed in according to taste. Sometimes people (like me) use cream cheese in addition to mayo, which I prefer for texture. While it may not sound complicated or exciting, it’s delicious with a kick and there are a thousand things you can do with it. It’s most often used as a spread on veggies or crackers, but you can also melt it on chicken, use it for a grilled cheese sandwich, broil it on bread, bake it up as a hot dip…the possibilities are endless! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
*Note: I tagged this as vegetarian because it’s easy to just omit the Worcestershire sauce, but make sure not to add it if you are serving this to vegetarians.
Pimento Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup low fat mayonnaise, I used Hellmann’s Low Fat
- 4 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot Seriously Sharp)
- 4 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot brand)
- 4 oz jar diced pimentos, drained
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce *omit if making vegetarian*
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried chopped onions
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, start here and add more to taste if you like a kick
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on medium speed until ingredients are well combined.
Notes
3 per (1/4 cup) serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Adapted from allrecipes
So glad you love this southern classic. Try using the entire jar of pimento including liquid. That’s how my mother made it . It is the best. The juice gives it a zesty taste.
Add chopped jalapeños if you like it spicy. The only way to go, if you ask me!
Try it as a spread on hamburgers! One of life’s greatest treats.
So good. I made it w/out the Worcestershire sauce, only because I didn’t have any. It was so delicious! I love pimiento cheese but stayed away b/c it was so high in points. Now I can enjoy it! One serving was a great amount for a sandwich on low point bread. My husband is eating it on a sandwich with ham!!! Thanks for a great recipe.
Definitely try the pimento cheese on a burger. It’s one of my favorite things to get in Charleston!
This was VERY GOOD! I have made other versions that were so so, but this was great. Love it on top of toast.
I had despaired of ever again enjoying my beloved pimento cheese — I’m a Southern girl, and I really missed it. Thanks for this GREAT recipe. A generous serving size, all the flavor of “regular” pimento cheese, AND WW friendly! I do add the pimento juice, too — like my Mama did!
Just chiming in to agree with the posts about smearing on a burger. DELISH!!
Thank you for this recipe! It’s delicious!
Loved this as a child. Don’t see it readily available in stores any longer. Now I can make it myself. Thanks, Emily!!
This is similar to my family’s recipe, except we add diced jalapeños. I’ve made it omitting the mayonnaise and used it as a condiment on burgers. Use texas toast and bacon for an AWESOME grilled cheese sandwich.
Variation: used Cabot Jalapeno Light (also 50% reduced fat). Tasty!
This is a really good recipe. After mixing all the ingredients I refrigerate it for 24 hours before eating. It gives the flavors a chance to come together.