When you’re ready to venture into the cheese counter, one cheese I’d direct you to is Gruyère. People associate it with fancy food. It’s the crust on your French onion soup, sliced into sandwiches in bistros, and melted into fondue. It might feel intimidating and expensive, but it melts beautifully into a silky mac and cheese sauce to add depth and a restaurant-like feel.
Note: Murray’s provided the gruyere pictured here and in this week’s recipes. This article contained affiliate links to their products and I will receive a commission for any purchases you make through links here. For more information, see my Affiliate Link Policy.
What is Gruyère
Gruyère (pronounced groo-yair) is a Swiss cow’s milk cheese notable for its smooth melt and nutty flavor. It’s widely used in French cooking and appears in many classic French dishes including the famous French onion soup and croque monsieur.
Gruyère in Mac and Cheese Theory
When I talk about cheese, I pay attention to where the flavor shines. Sometimes it hits immediately, and this is an opener cheese. You want to use opener flavors to welcome people to the bowl. This is the first thing people will taste when they eat your dish. Other cheeses take a few seconds to develop. These are closer cheeses and help carry flavor through to the next bite.
Gruyère is a closer cheese. There are some components that pop immediately, but most of the flavor comes after a few moments, making it great to pair at the end of a dish.
How Gruyère works in Mac and Cheese
Gruyère works best as a closer cheese in mac and cheese. Its flavor builds gradually and carries through the finish of the bite, balancing sharper opener cheeses. It adds depth and structure to a blend, helping bold flavors feel smoother and more cohesive. Gruyère rarely works as a solo cheese, but it pairs beautifully with strong opener cheeses to create a balanced, layered mac and cheese.
Cheeses to Pair with Gruyère
Because Gruyère is a closer cheese, you’ll want to pair it with a cheese that opens the flavor of the dish. Opener cheeses draw you in at the first bite, while Gruyère develops more slowly and delivers the finish.
Extra Sharp Cheddar
Extra sharp cheddar is so easy to get your hands on and a great option to keep in the fridge for any cheese pairing needs. I buy mine in the dairy section of my local grocery store and it provides consistent opener flavors that balance beautifully with a ton of other cheeses.
Havarti
Havarti is a ultra creamy cheese that showcases Gruyère’s flavors beautifully. Because its flavor profile is more muted, it gives Gruyere a better chance to shine.
How to use Gruyère
Gruyère pairs best with a sharp opener cheese and tends to sit comfortably in the background. It’s a great choice when you want a smooth, creamy sauce with plenty of depth, but it’s not the best option if you’re aiming for a sharper, punchier dish. Gruyère does come with a premium price tag, so it isn’t the most budget-friendly cheese, but the payoff in flavor and texture is usually worth it.
Alternatives to Gruyère
Because Gruyère is a closer cheese, you’ll have lots of options for alternatives. Just a reminder, closer cheeses have flavor that predominantly sits at the end of the bite, so aim for cheeses that have flavors with staying power.
Asiago
Asiago is a closer cheese that offers a savory, nutty, salty flavor to a dish. It packs a ton of flavor in a small package that almost always shows up at the end and carries through the next bite. As it is a strongly flavored cheese, you’ll want to pair it with an opener cheese that also has a strong flavor to avoid your pairing cheese becoming overpowered. In a prepared cheese sauce, you’ll want to reach for an aged asiago to help those strong savory flavors shine through.
Learn more about How to use Asiago in Mac and Cheese.
Aged Gouda
Gouda is the first cheese I mention when people are looking to step up their mac and cheese game. It’s is an approachable cheese that is easy to get your hands on, and there’s plenty of variety that you could easily create multiple different mac and cheeses without leaving the Gouda section.
Learn more about How to use Gouda in Mac and Cheese.
Where to Buy Gruyère
This is a cheese that you’ll likely have to go to a cheese counter for. Gruyère isn’t typically found in the dairy case, and you’ll probably have to talk to someone. To avoid socializing, Murray’s will ship it directly to you.
