Go Dutch with the Best Smoked Gouda Cheese

The best smoked gouda is an essential part of any meat-and-cheese spread. Seriously, everyone is always so focused on making sure there’s a hard cow’s milk cheese, a soft goat’s milk cheese, and something moldy—but don’t snooze on the smoky cheese, dudes. Nothing tastes better on a cracker with a slice of summer sausage, and that’s facts. 

But smoked gouda isn’t just for the cheese board. If you’re making smoked gouda mac and cheese from scratch, you need the best smoked gouda cheese to grate into your roux (oh, and we can help you out with the best butter, too). And have you ever used deli-sliced smoked gouda to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Welp, your life is about to change. 

We rounded up all the brands of smoked gouda we could find at the grocery store and tasted them head to head. We wanted a smoky flavor that doesn’t taste bitter or acrid, and a creamy, nutty body. Some smoked gouda is much more processed than other smoked gouda (almost like a Dutch version of American cheese), and that’s fine—all varieties are valid. Whether you pronounce it GOO-duh or HOW-duh, here’s the best smoked gouda at the grocery store.

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best smoked gouda

Best Sliced (Runner Up)

Lucerne Smoked Gouda

This isn’t the best smoked gouda for sandwiches (you’ll find that at #2), but it’s really good, especially if you like that slick sort of gouda that’s almost like American cheese. What this has that our other pick for the best deli sliced gouda doesn’t: An irresistibly snappy rind. It’s addictive. This is the best smoked gouda for a straight-forward turkey sandwich with lots of mayo.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

best smoked gouda cheese

Best Very Smoky

Cady Creek Farms Hickory Smoked Gouda Cheese

This smoked gouda is wild, man. If you love smoke, you will like this. A lot of smoke. Deep, deep smoky flavor. The smoke ring is so determined, you can see how it starts to seep into the body of the cheese. This is, like, trapped-in-a-burning-building smoky, but it doesn’t taste bitter or acrid. If you came here looking for the smokiest smoked gouda imaginable, this is the stuff.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

best smoked gouda cheddar blend

Best Smoked Gouda-Cheddar Blend

Boar’s Head Smoked Gouda

This is a blend of gouda and cheddar and it has a nice amount of salt and some deeper flavor in there as a result. It’s a delicious cheese, but it might not be smoky enough for some people. Still, it’s very delicious. If you buy this, don’t expect to get that deep applewood smoked flavor. Just expect a pleasant cheese with good chew, a little bit of depth, and a touch of smoky goodness. It’s still some of the best smoked gouda—and we like that it’s available pretty much everywhere because it’s Boar’s Head.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

best sliced smoked gouda

Best Deli Sliced Smoked Gouda

Dietz & Watson Aalsbruk Smoked Gouda Cheese

This smoked gouda—which we had sliced thin at our local grocery store deli—is robustly smoky. It has a fantastic texture that’s like gouda, not like American cheese or pasteurized cheese food product, like some of the other options. That hickory smoke is going to make a big impression in a sandwich. This is the best smoked gouda to melt in a grilled cheese with some caramelized onions and a smear of fig jam. Yum.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

best smoked gouda cheese

Best of the Best

Red Apple Smoked Gouda

In our opinion, this is the best smoked gouda because it strikes the perfect balance of being super smoky and also tasting like actual cheese made on a farm or in a creamery. It isn’t that slick homogenous consistency—there is certainly room for smoked gouda that is like American cheese, but this actually has some crumble and cheese flavor. This belongs on a very nice cheese board. It’s naturally cold smoked with apples and hardwood. Do I know what that means? Nope, but it’s working. Keep it up, Red Apple.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks


About the Author

Gwynedd Stuart

Gwynedd Stuart, Sporked’s managing editor, is an L.A.-based writer and editor who spends way, way too much time at the grocery store. She’s never met an Old El Paso taco or mozzarella stick she didn’t like.

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