The Ultimate Raclette Dinner Guide

Raclette is one of my favorite meals when the cold sets in. It’s a dinner that takes its time: you sit down, you chat, you grill, you melt cheese on just about everything, and three hours later nobody wants to leave the table. Everyone does it their own way, and that’s exactly what makes it so much fun. There’s no single raclette recipe: there’s yours.

At our house, it started out as cheese, potatoes and bread. From one raclette to the next, I began adding things to the grill top: scallops, marinated chicken, thinly sliced beef, broccoli rabe. The whole meal changed. These days we do it with the kids, or with friends, six, eight or ten of us. We prep everything ahead, then everyone helps themselves.

This guide pulls together everything I’ve learned along the way: how much to plan per person, the best local cheeses, what to cook on the grill top, my marinades, the sauces, breakfast raclette and even a dessert. Keep it handy, you’ll be coming back to it.

What Is Raclette?

Raclette is a Swiss dish, and also the name of the cheese it’s made with. The cheese is melted, then scraped or poured over potatoes, with pickles, pickled onions and cured meats on the side. A raclette grill brings it all to the table: everyone melts their own cheese in a little pan while the meat and vegetables cook on top. That’s traditional Swiss raclette, turned into a full raclette dinner.

The whole table from above: the loaded grill top in the middle, with the cured meats, vegetables and sauces all around it. When it looks like this, nobody’s checking the clock!

🧀 In This Guide

• 🧀 How Much Raclette Cheese Per Person (and Everything Else)
• 🍳 Choosing Your Raclette Grill (and My Golden Rule)
• 🧀 Which Raclette Cheese to Choose
• 🥓 The Cured Meats (and the Famous Bündnerfleisch)
• 🔥 Raclette Grill Ideas: What to Cook on the Grill Top
• 🥦 The Vegetables
• 🤤 My Perfect Bite
• 🌶️ Marinades to Take It Further
• 🥔 What to Serve with Raclette: Potatoes, Pickles and Sauces
• 📅 Prep Everything Ahead
• 🍳 Breakfast Raclette
• 🧒 Raclette for Kids
• 🍫 Dessert: Chocolate Raclette
• 🍷 What to Drink with Raclette
• ♻️ Leftovers: Nothing Goes to Waste
• ❓ Frequently Asked Questions About Raclette

🧀 How Much Raclette Cheese Per Person (and Everything Else)

It’s the question everybody asks before heading to the grocery store. Here are my benchmarks, for a dinner where raclette is the whole meal.

My advice: buy the cheese first, and plan everything else around it. There’s almost always a little left over, and you’ll see further down that there’s plenty you can do with leftovers.

🍳 Choosing Your Raclette Grill (and My Golden Rule)

You’ll see it called a raclette grill, a raclette machine or a raclette maker: same idea. Small pans slide under a heating element, and a grill plate sits on top.

Someone gave me a gift card to buy myself a raclette grill, and I went with the classic Swissmar. The little pans are nonstick aluminum, but the grill top is cast iron, and that’s exactly what you want: cast iron holds its heat, sears meat well and doesn’t wear out the way a nonstick coating does.

It costs about $200 CAD. But it’s a grill you keep for life, as long as you take care of it. If you’re going to buy a raclette grill, you might as well get one that lasts.

👉 See the raclette grill I use

My golden rule: never a fork in the little pans. A wooden or silicone spatula, nothing else. A fork scratches the coating, and a scratched pan sticks for good.

Another habit: I always oil the grill top before I start. Sometimes I add a drizzle of chili oil for the people who like a little kick.

The raclette grill and its cast iron top: it holds its heat and sears meat like a real little plancha.

A pan of cheese being slid under the grill top. Everyone gets their own pan and sets their own pace!

🧀 Which Raclette Cheese to Choose

A raclette cheese is a firm or semi-firm cheese with an ochre-yellow or orange rind. Once it’s melted, it gives off aromas that remind you of home cooking and comfort. And here in Québec we have plenty to choose from: there are about twenty local raclettes.

My formula: three cheeses on the table.

• A classic, mild and creamy, that pleases everyone, kids included.
• A bolder one, like a smoked or peppered raclette. It’s often the one people are still talking about the next day.
• An easy-to-find cheese, so you never run out.

I have a soft spot for Fromagerie Alexis de Portneuf: most of the time, their cheeses are what ends up on my table. Plenty of others are worth the detour. A few local raclettes to discover:

• Cantonnier St-Raymond, Cantonnier Fumé and Cantonnier au Poivre Noir (Fromagerie Alexis de Portneuf)
• Raclette Fritz, Raclette Fritz Fumée and Raclette St-Bernard (Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser)
• Le Cru du Canton (Fromagerie l’Autre Versant)
• Raclette de Compton, plain or peppered (Fromagerie La Station)
• La Religieuse (Fromagerie du Presbytère)
• La Raclette Champêtre (Fromagerie Champêtre)
• Le Joliette (Fromagerie du Champ à la Meule)
• Raclette des Colombettes (Fromagerie Missiska)
• L’Ancêtre Raclette (Fromagerie L’Ancêtre)

Prefer European cheeses? A raclette from Valais or Savoie is the original version, and it’s always a safe bet.

My Tips for the Cheese

• Take it out of the refrigerator 20 to 40 minutes before slicing. It cuts better and melts more evenly.
• Cut even slices. They melt at the same time, and nobody’s stuck waiting on their pan.
• Keep the rind. I always leave it on: it’s edible and it adds a lot of flavor.

Raclette cheeses, sliced and ready to melt. The hardest part is choosing which one to start with!

🥓 The Cured Meats (and the Famous Bündnerfleisch)

In my opinion, Italian and French cured meats are raclette’s best allies. On my table you’ll find Genoa salami, prosciutto and bresaola, sliced paper-thin. Dry-cured ham, coppa and speck are also excellent choices.

Bündnerfleisch (Swiss air-dried beef, called viande des Grisons in French) is the traditional Swiss cured meat for raclette. You won’t find it everywhere: look for it at the fine charcuterie counter of your grocery store, or at a cheese shop or specialty deli. Can’t find it? Get bresaola. It’s air-dried beef too, and at the table very few people can tell the difference.

The cured meat platter, and a few slices crisping on the grill top. They vanish fast!

🔥 Raclette Grill Ideas: What to Cook on the Grill Top

A lot of people leave the grill top half empty. What a shame: it’s a real little plancha. At our house, we cook beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, scallops, halloumi and vegetables on it. Everyone cooks what they want, when they want.

Beef and Pork

For beef, I use strip loin. I trim off the fat, cut it into thin strips, then add a drizzle of olive oil and 1 to 2 tsp of my homemade BBQ spice blend. A top sirloin medallion works great too. Or filet mignon, if you’re feeling fancy.

For pork, it’s pork tenderloin sliced thin, with 2 to 3 tbsp of soy sauce. I toss it together, and that’s the whole marinade.

The trick to remember: slice the meat while it’s still half frozen. It cuts a lot more easily, and thin strips cook in no time on the grill top.

Chicken

Any cut will do, but I have a soft spot for chicken thighs: fattier, juicier, and more forgiving if they stay on a minute too long. Cut them into small strips.

⚠️ Be careful with raw chicken. It gets its own plate and its own tongs, which never touch anything else. And it has to be cooked through, to 165°F (74°C). You’ll find all the temperatures in my guide to meat and fish cooking temperatures.

Shrimp and Scallops

I peel the shrimp and pat them dry really well. Then a drizzle of olive oil and about 1 tsp of store-bought lemon and herb seasoning, my go-to blend. Scallops get the same treatment. It’s simple, and it’s packed with flavor. Want something sweet and smoky? A little paprika and brown sugar, or my homemade BBQ spice blend. Shrimp and scallops cook fast: as soon as they turn opaque, they’re ready.

Halloumi

Halloumi has the special talent of grilling without melting. Slice it, then put it on the grill top or in a pan, whichever you prefer. And the vegetables? They have their own section, right below.

The grill top in action: beef, pork, shrimp, asparagus, bell peppers and potatoes. This is when the whole house starts to smell amazing!

The beef, pork and shrimp in their marinade, then on the grill top. A few minutes, and they’re ready to go under the cheese!

🥦 The Vegetables

Between the cheese, the cured meats and the meat, raclette is a rich meal. The vegetables balance it all out: crunch, color, and a nice little grilled flavor when they go on the grill top.

The idea is the same for all of them: cut them into pieces small enough to cook quickly, toss them with a drizzle of olive oil, then add salt and pepper. Firmer vegetables are better blanched before the meal, otherwise they’re still raw when everything else is ready.

Once they’re grilled, the vegetables go in the pan too: a few mushrooms or a little broccoli rabe, a slice of cheese on top, and you let it melt.

Have a guest who doesn’t eat meat? With the halloumi, the vegetables and the potatoes, the grill top has plenty to keep them busy all evening.

Asparagus, mushrooms, onions and bell peppers, cut ahead of time. Color and crunch between bites of cheese!

🤤 My Perfect Bite

I cook my meat on the grill top and season it. Then I put it in my pan with a few pieces of bread, cover it with cheese, and let it bubble up under the heating element. Then I dip the whole thing in a fondue sauce. It’s my favorite bite of the whole night.

The secret is when you pull the pan out. There’s a sweet spot: the cheese melts, the fat rises and the top turns golden. Pull it too early, and the flavor hasn’t developed and the cheese doesn’t coat anything. Too late, and it burns and dries out. And it always happens to whoever is chatting a little too much!

Melted cheese in its pan, then poured over the potatoes. The moment everybody’s waiting for!

🌶️ Marinades to Take It Further

Meat that’s already marinated is even better on the grill top. Here are some ideas that work every time:

• For chicken: my best chicken marinade, the Greek yogurt marinade or the homemade fajita marinade.
• For beef: the chive and garlic marinade, the balsamic marinade or the one with maple, Dijon, soy sauce and lime.
• For pork: the Asian orange marinade or one of my 7 homemade marinades for chicken, beef and pork.
• For shrimp: lime and garlic, garlic and smoked paprika or honey, garlic and beer.

🥔 What to Serve with Raclette: Potatoes, Pickles and Sauces

The potatoes. Boiled baby potatoes are the tradition. My shortcut: plain parisienne potatoes, precooked with steam, sold vacuum-sealed in the produce section. I cut them in half, and they’re ready in a few minutes. The texture is excellent, and it’s one less thing to keep an eye on.

Parisienne potatoes, precooked and cut in half. Ready to disappear under the cheese!

Want them crispy? My perfectly crispy baby potatoes are just the thing.

Pickles or pickled pearl onions? Both are just as traditional: pick whichever you like. Their acidity cuts through the richness of the cheese between bites. For zestier onions, my quick pickled onions can be made the day before.

The bread. A baguette, cubed for dipping or sliced for browning in the pans. My tip: don’t cut your slices too thick. I cut them about ⅜ inch (1 cm), never more. With the toppings and the cheese on top, a slice that’s too tall ends up touching the heating element: it sticks, it smokes and it burns. The goal is golden, not burnt.

Thinly sliced bread. At this thickness, it browns without burning.

The sauces. My personal touch: I serve my fondue sauces with the raclette. A piece of grilled meat dipped in a sauce, then covered with melted cheese: it’s pure heaven.

Pickles and sauce, right next to the cured meats. A bite of cheese, a pickle, and you start all over again!

📅 Prep Everything Ahead

The great thing about raclette is that everything can be prepped ahead. The morning of:

• a big platter for the cured meats and the sliced cheeses;
• a plate for the thinly sliced beef and pork;
• a separate plate for the chicken, with its own tongs;
• the shrimp and scallops in their marinade, in the refrigerator;
• the vegetables cut, the broccoli rabe blanched and the bread cubed;
• the sauces, already made and set out in little bowls.

Cover each plate with plastic wrap and put everything in the refrigerator. When evening comes, all you have to do is take out the plates, and you get to enjoy your guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

One tip from experience: open a window, run a fan, put on some music, and close the bedroom doors. Otherwise the bedding and clothes will smell like raclette for days!

The plates of meat and vegetables, wrapped and waiting in the fridge. When your guests arrive, you pull them out and sit down with your crowd!

🍳 Breakfast Raclette

The next morning, we pull the grill out again: ham, bacon, bread, potatoes… and eggs.

A lot of people find that eggs take forever to cook in the little pans. That’s normal: the pans are designed to melt a thin slice of cheese under the heating element, not to cook an egg. My trick: I crack the eggs right onto the grill top. They cook just like in a skillet.

To pull that off, the grill top needs to be well seasoned, like a cast iron skillet: coat it with a thin layer of oil, then leave it in the oven for about an hour to build a surface that doesn’t stick. Once that’s done, the eggs just slide around.

Eggs and bacon cooking right on the grill top. Breakfast gets cooked at the table!

🧒 Raclette for Kids

This idea isn’t mine. It comes from a reader, and I think it’s brilliant!

For a Christmas dinner, she set up four raclette grills around the house, including one just for the kids’ table: six kids between 3 and 12 years old. The result? The kids ate for three hours. They finished after the adults! And the parents had peace all evening. Years later, it’s still their favorite Christmas dinner memory.

Her secret: a table designed for them, with foods they love, all already cooked. The kids only have to heat, assemble and melt.

What to Put on the Kids’ Table

• Pasta, already cooked, with rosé sauce or spaghetti sauce to warm up in the pan.
• Mini naans and pizza toppings: everyone builds their own mini pizza and slides it under the heating element.
• Shredded cheese, to sprinkle on everything.
• Sausages and little bites of meat, already cooked and cut into bite-size pieces.

My Tips to Keep Things Running Smoothly

• No raw meat at the kids’ table. Everything arrives cooked, so all that’s left is to warm it up.
• An adult stays close by. The grill top and the heating element are scorching hot. For the youngest ones, an adult handles the pan.
• Small portions in small bowls, so everyone can help themselves without spilling it all.
• For the cheese, figure 80 to 120 g (3 to 4 oz) per child.

It also works great for a kids’ party at home. They do the cooking themselves, they’re proud of it, and dinner becomes the activity!

🍫 Dessert: Chocolate Raclette

I’d never tried it before writing this guide, and it’s a fantastic way to end the evening. Wash the pans. In a saucepan, melt chocolate with cream, like a ganache. Everyone pours some into their own pan and dips whatever they like: marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, candy.

It’s chocolate fondue in raclette form. The kids will very likely ask for another raclette just for dessert.

Chocolate and marshmallows melting in the pans, fruit grilling on the grill top. Little hands help themselves!

🍷 What to Drink with Raclette

For wine, go with a dry, crisp white that cuts through the richness of the cheese. The classic is a white from Savoie, the region next to Switzerland. The Château de Ripaille, vin de Savoie, is a light, mineral Chasselas, just right.

For beer, a saison: dry and slightly peppery, it refreshes your mouth between bites of cheese. Try the Saison du Tracteur from Trou du Diable.

Without alcohol, hot tea, like in Switzerland, or sparkling water with a twist of lemon.

♻️ Leftovers: Nothing Goes to Waste

• Got leftover cheese and bread? A grilled cheese is a must. Try my flank steak and raclette cheese grilled cheese.
• Got leftover vegetables? Stir-fry them in a skillet with a little oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame seeds and cooked ramen noodles. Add any leftover shrimp or meat: a 10-minute Asian stir-fry, in the same spirit as my express chicken stir-fry with Asian vegetables.
• Got a lot of cheese left? It’s delicious in a gratin, like in my cauliflower, bacon and raclette gratin.

My cauliflower, bacon and raclette gratin, nice and golden. If you have cheese left over, this is where it goes out in style!

❓ Frequently Asked Questions About Raclette

How much raclette cheese per person? 🧀

About 250 g (9 oz) per adult when raclette is the whole meal, and 80 to 120 g (3 to 4 oz) for a child.

How many potatoes per person for raclette? 🥔

½ to ¾ cup (125 to 180 ml) per person, depending on appetite and how much meat is on the grill top.

Where can I buy Bündnerfleisch? 🥩

At the fine charcuterie counter of a grocery store, or at a cheese shop or specialty deli. If you can’t find it, bresaola works very well as a substitute.

Why do my eggs take forever to cook on a raclette grill? 🍳

The pans heat from above and are designed for a thin slice of cheese. Crack your eggs onto a well-seasoned grill top instead.

Should you cut the rind off raclette cheese? 🤔

I never do: it’s edible and it adds flavor. Just remove the label, if there is one.

Pickles or pickled onions with raclette? 🥒

Both are traditional. Pick whichever you like, or serve both.

Can you make raclette without a raclette grill? 🔥

Yes. Sauté your vegetables and meat, spread them on a baking sheet, cover with raclette cheese and slide it under the oven broiler. You can even divide the baking sheet into sections, with different cheeses or toppings.

How do you clean a raclette grill? 🧽

Unplug it and let it cool. Wash the grill top and the pans in hot soapy water with a soft sponge, and a little baking soda on any stubborn residue. Never steel wool, and never put the electric base in water.

Can you freeze raclette cheese? ❄️

Yes: well wrapped in wax paper, in a sealed container, for about a month. Let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator. In the fridge, in its original packaging, it keeps for about a month.

What is traditionally served with raclette? 🥔

Boiled potatoes, pickles, pickled onions and cured meats: that’s the traditional Swiss raclette. At our house, we add meat, shrimp and vegetables on the grill top, plus bread and dipping sauces.

What’s the difference between fondue and raclette? 🫕

Both are Swiss melted-cheese meals. With fondue, everyone dips bread into one shared pot of melted cheese. With raclette, each person melts slices of cheese in a small pan under the grill, then pours it over potatoes, meat or vegetables.

What do you need for a raclette dinner? 🛒

The grocery list for a raclette meal is short: raclette cheese, potatoes, cured meats, meat for the grill top (beef, pork, chicken), shrimp, vegetables, a baguette, pickles, pickled onions and sauces. For the grill itself, plan on one wooden or silicone spatula per person and a little oil for the grill top.

How can I keep this guide handy? 📌

Pin it on Pinterest or bookmark the page: it’ll be ready for your next raclette.

You now have everything you need. Three cheeses, a well-loaded grill top, great sauces, your favorite people around the table and a window cracked open. The rest is yours to invent. And the next time you see someone stab a fork into their pan, send them this guide!

Hands on the pans, all around a loaded grill top. Everybody cooks, everybody eats!

The raclette table from above. Pin it for your next get-together! 📌