The perfect, creamy, and cheesy spread. This cheese paste sandwich spread is a party favorite in the Caribbean. A seasoned cheese spread that makes great sandwiches for parties.

Layered cheese paste sandwich with fruits and tea cup.

Cheese paste is one of those things that kids looked forward to every time they were invited to a party.

These sandwiches were expected at every party along with chicken puffs, meat pies, and stuffed prunes.

In fact, if you happened to go to a kid’s party and there was no cheese paste then it wasn’t really a party.

These sandwiches are not just some cheese on bread. It’s way more than that.

This is a spreadable cheese mix that has been fancied up, made full of flavor almost made into a gourmet spread.

This is one of those recipes that is made freeform. There is really no wrong or right way to create this spread.

Table of Contents

How to make cheese paste sandwiches

Ingredients

The base of this spread uses common ingredients, with some optional additions to enhance flavor

Cheese – preferably a solid block of sharp cheddar or any other strong cheddar cheese type.
Butter – unsalted butter is great but you can easily use regular butter.
Mustard – plain mustard for a tart spread but a Dijon mustard is also a great alternative.
Mayonnaise
Onion
Carrot
Pepper sauce/Hot sauce
Food coloring (optional) – Adding food coloring can give you a colorful twist. Red and green coloring works well, or you can leave the paste plain for a classic look..

The best type of cheese to use for cheese paste

A heavily flavored, creamy cheese is needed to make this. In Trinidad and Tobago, we have this vegetarian cheese that is oh so creamy and strong.

It’s sold in huge blocks to the grocery store, which then cuts it up into smaller blocks and then sells it to us.

This cheese is so fresh that it usually has to be eaten quickly as it starts to spoil after about a week. Which is no problem for me.

It’s a creamy and flavorful cheese, similar to New Zealand cheese, which is often sold in large blocks at grocery stores.. Trader’s Joe’s has a really good one too.

Instructions

The main thing about this spread is making sure all your ingredients combine well so that it is spreadable.

Grate your cheese: Since we are using a block of cheddar cheese, if you only have a cheese grater, you should use the side with the finest sieve.
Combine your ingredients. You can just continue to combine things in a bowl, or you can add the chesse to the food processor along with the remaining ingredients. Then go ahead and combine.

Step by step pictures showing the ingredients adding to cheese.

Adjust the butter. The butter is what is going to be the aide to make this a smooth paste. Continue adding butter until you get a smooth consistency.
Spread the paste: Once fully combined and smooth, this delicious spread is completed.

Additions

As I mentioned this is just a base. Some people prefer to keep it simple, using just cheese and butter for a quicker version. But there are other additions.

I’ve seen the likes of:

Celery
Pimento peppers
Chives
Garlic powder
Boiled egg
Parsley

How to use cheese paste

After making the paste, how can it be used?

My favorite way is to make cheese paste sandwiches. To make the sandwiches:

If you are going to do multi colors, separate the spread into sections and add the different colors to each batch.
Next, spread the cheese paste on slices of bread in layers. For a neat finish, cut off the sandwich edges.

You can also use the spread for filling for puffs and have cheese puffs instead of chicken.

Cheese paste sandwiches stacked ready for eating.

How long can cheese paste last in the fridge

Once your cheese paste is ready it’s best to save it in an air-tight container and kept in the fridge immediately after preparation to maintain freshness.

The spread itself can stay for up to five days once you continue to seal the container tightly.

Sandwiches can be pre-made before an event up to the night before. Then kept in the fridge until use.

Please note if you do add things like eggs to your spread, the keep time will be shorter.

Excess cheese paste mix can be frozen and kept for up to six months. Just remove it from the freezer and leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost.

Tips

If you can’t find the creamy New Zealand cheese, then a sharp to extra sharp cheddar cheese can work. Trader Joes’ unexpected cheddar cheese is also a great alternative.
DO NOT USE PRE-SHREDDED CHEESE. I know it’s extra work but it’s always best to use a block of cheese rather than using pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents, which can affect the smoothness and texture of the paste
Using the butter at room temperature is best to get it to blend in and allow the paste to be a smoother paste that is spreadable. You can add more butter to make sure you get it to spread as you want.
When making your sandwiches, use a sandwich loaf that can take a little weight. A hard dough bread or a buttered loaf is fine. Or even a potato bread.
Make sure you spread a generous amount of spread on the sandwich, the worse thing is a sandwich with not enough cheese paste.

Close up cheese paste sandwich showing the layering.

Other Caribbean snacks

I don’t know what it was about eating a blue or green cheese sandwich that sent kids into a frenzy.

And these were three-layer sandwiches with varying colors, and the bread edges were neatly cleaned up.

OMG, I ate my way through so many of these