What Is Fontina cheese and How Can I Use It?

If fontina cheese has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 62 recipes to try it in.

What is fontina cheese?

Fontina is an Italian cow's-milk cheese from the Aosta Valley in the Alps, where it has been made for centuries.

The real thing, Fontina Val d'Aosta, comes with a brown rind and a pale straw-colored interior dotted with a few small holes.

It is a semi-soft cheese with a supple, almost springy texture and a flavor that runs nutty and earthy, sometimes a touch mushroomy or grassy depending on how long it has aged.

What home cooks prize most is how it behaves in heat. Fontina is one of the great melters, going smooth and silky without breaking.

Cooking with fontina

Fontina melts into a glossy, even sauce with almost no fuss.

That easy melt anchors the Piedmontese fonduta, a warm dip of fontina, milk, butter, and egg yolks that is Italy's answer to fondue.

It is a baking star too. Layered into a Absolutely Fab Mushroom Lasagna, it pulls into soft strands and binds the dish without the rubbery chew a cheaper cheese gives.

It also melts cleanly inside meat and pastry. It oozes out of a crisp Fontina, Prosciutto & Sun-dried Tomato Tart, and it is the cheese that defines Veal Valdostana, the Aosta Valley dish that layers fontina and prosciutto over veal.

As with any cheese, grate it and melt it low and slow. Fontina forgives more than most, but high heat will still tighten it and squeeze out fat.

Pairing and common mistakes

Fontina loves earthy, savory company. Mushrooms, prosciutto, eggs, potatoes, and dark greens all bring out its nutty side, which is why it turns up in quiches and gratins built around those flavors.

The common mistake is buying the wrong fontina and expecting the same result. Italian Fontina Val d'Aosta is bold and earthy, while the Danish and American versions are softer, milder, and waxier. They all melt, but the cheap ones taste much plainer.

The other slip is leaving the rind on when you melt it. The natural rind on real fontina stays tough and waxy and will not break down, so trim it off before the cheese goes into a sauce or filling.

Substitutes

For melting, gruyere is the best stand-in, since it brings the same nutty depth and silky melt, just drier and slightly sharper. Use it anywhere fontina goes molten.

Young Italian provolone or a good melting Swiss like emmentaler also covers the role, milder than gruyere but smooth and forgiving in a sauce or panino.

For the fonduta itself, a mild gouda works in a pinch, giving the right creamy body if not the exact alpine nuttiness. Mozzarella melts well but is far too bland to carry a dish that leans on fontina's flavor.

Buying and storing fontina

If flavor matters, look for Fontina Val d'Aosta with its brown rind and the official mountain stamp, sold in wedges at a cheese counter. The everyday red-waxed fontinas are cheaper and fine for a quick melt, just gentler in taste.

The paste should look pale and supple, faintly holey, never dried or cracked. A whiff of mushroom and hay is a good sign; a sour or ammonia smell is not.

Wrap a wedge in wax paper or parchment, then loosely in foil. Store it in the warmest part of the fridge.

Because fontina is semi-soft and higher in moisture, it keeps about two weeks, less than a hard grating cheese. It freezes for cooking but comes back crumblier, so plan to melt it rather than slice it after thawing.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find fontina cheese: Fontina cheese is usually found in the cheeses section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Fontina cheese is a member of the Dairy and Egg Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

芳提娜干酪奶酪

British (UK) term

Fontina cheese

en français

fontina

en español

queso fontina

How much does fontina cheese weigh?

Related

Dairy and Egg Products

Recipes using fontina cheese

There are 62 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Muffelatta Sandwich

This sandwich absolutely deserves 5 star! It was so quick and easy to put together, and it was packed with flavour. We omitted the anchovies, used Swiss cheese, otherwise followed the recipe. If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing sandwich, this is the one!

Mini Spinach, Mushroom & Fontina Quiche

A delicious way to make your breakfast shine, and it's also packed with goodness.

Cheesy Baked Whole Wheat Penne with Roasted Fresh Vegetables

Tons of refreshing flavour is all in this delicious dish.

Cheesy Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna

Cheesy and delicious! This lasagna will satisfy both of your palate and tummy. For a healthier result, use whole wheat lasagna instead.

Baked Eggs & Sausage with Cheesy Polenta Casserole

Cheesy polenta topped with eggs and a bit of Italian or Turkey sausage, perfect for a Sunday brunch. Any cheese could be used but my favorite is Fontina or an old flavor filled cheddar. Similar to sausage, eggs and potato but much healthier with perfect matching of flavors. Very easy to halve the recipe along with pictures.

Alpine Baked Pasta

Try something different when it comes to pasta with this delicious dish made with spinach and Fortina cheese.

Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto & Cheese

Turned out well, quick and easy to make. I used pepper jack cheese instead of fontina. Try adding some white wine to the skillet you used to brown the chicken breasts to deglaze the pan to gather up those tasty brown bits and serve with the resulting jus.

Fontina, Prosciutto & Sun-dried Tomato Tart

This prosciutto, fontina and sun-dried tomato tart was brilliant. The combination of these three ingredients and the buttery-crispy puff pastry was absolutely delicious!

Cheesy Broccoli Mashed Potatoes

Adding broccoli and cheese to mashed potatoes is a neat twist. Plus it seriously reduces the calories when compared to traditional mashed potatoes. It's a great way to add some extra veggies for those extra picky kids.

Absolutely Fab Mushroom Lasagna

Instead of tomato sauce, we use milk to make a creamy sauce, and with layers of mushrooms and cheese. It's just so easy for you to fall in love with this succulent lasagna.

Crostini Di Lenticchie

Italian lentil crostini topped with a velvety lentil puree and bubbly melted Fontina cheese. Earthy, rich, and ready for your next antipasto spread.

Wild Mushroom Lasagna

Earthy wild mushroom lasagna layered with Marsala-sauteed fungi, creamy Fontina bechamel, and a golden mozzarella-Parmesan crust. Vegetarian comfort food at its most elegant.

Grilled Pizza

Grilled pizza cooked right on the charcoal grates for a smoky, blistered, chewy-crisp crust, topped lightly with fontina, romano, fresh tomato, and basil. The bold technique that beats any oven pie.

New Year's Four Cheese Margherita Pizza

Really wonderful flavor on this pizza. Light and fresh tasting. I had never used Fontina cheese before, and it was excellent. This pizza was incredible, and I didn't change a thing.

Fontina, Caramelized-Onion, & Pancetta Pizza

This is really a so great pizza, I do love the onions and cheese's flavor, especially in this recipe, they are a perfect combination, worth to try.

Cheesy Pizza Primavera

A delicious pizza is full of delicious goodness. It's cheesy, warm and tasty.

Cheese & Tomato Pizza

Cheese and tomato pizza layered with fresh basil, mozzarella, fontina, smoked gouda, and romano on a homemade crust. A four-cheese weeknight classic ready in 30 minutes.

Brunch Pizza with Scrambled Eggs & Smoked Salmon

Brunch pizza topped with soft scrambled eggs, melted mozzarella and fontina, and cold smoked salmon with chives. An elegant weekend project that marries pizza technique with lox-and-bagel flavors.

Pizza Carcoifi

Pizza Carciofi with marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and fontina cheese over a homemade tomato sauce on crispy pizza dough.

Awesome Spinach Pasta Frittata

Spinach pasta frittata made with leftover spaghetti, blanched spinach, fontina, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. A skillet-cooked Italian frittata di pasta with golden crusts on both sides.

Spiral-Wrapped Grilled Vegetable Tortilla Sandwiches

Grilled vegetable tortilla wraps with basil-garlic mayonnaise and fontina cheese, rolled tight and sliced into spiral pinwheels. A colorful make-ahead lunch or party appetizer.

Pete's White Pizza

Pete's white pizza skips the red sauce for a basil-pine nut pesto base topped with wine-balsamic sun-dried tomatoes, sweet roasted garlic, pine nuts, and melty Fontina, on a homemade cornmeal crust.

Rolled Veal Scallops with Proscuitto

Rolled veal scallops with prosciutto: pounded veal cutlets spread with sage-garlic butter, layered with prosciutto and fontina, rolled, skewered, and broiled. Italian saltimbocca on a stick.

Triple Cheese Pasta with Green Peas

Triple cheese pasta with green peas tosses hot rotelle with gorgonzola-butter, plus mozzarella and Fontina that melt into creamy ribbons from the residual heat. Sweet green peas and fresh chives cut through the richness.

Pasta & Peas

Pasta and peas tosses ditalini macaroni with sweet peas, sauteed mushrooms, and a quick tomato juice sauce. Melted fontina cheese pulls it all together for a 30-minute Italian weeknight dinner for two.

Cheesy Onion & Tomato Pie

Ripe tomatoes and sweet onions layered with fontina, mozzarella, and Parmesan in a spiced homemade crust, baked until bubbly and golden. This Southern-style tomato pie is summer in every single bite.

Mushroom, Tomato, & Prosciutto Frittata with Fontina

An Italian omelet. Unlike a French omelet where the egg is folded over the ingredients, the ingredients are actually mixed into the eggs.

Cheese Manicotti

Four-cheese manicotti stuffed with ricotta, fontina, mozzarella, and Parmesan in a homemade tomato sauce. From-scratch Italian comfort food baked until bubbly.

Pasta Fontina

Pasta Fontina is a five-ingredient Italian linguine dish tossed with grated Fontina and Asiago, browned butter, and fresh parsley. Nutty, rich, and on the table in under half an hour.

Costolette Alla Valdostana

Thick-cut veal chops stuffed with melty Val d'Aosta fontina, breaded, and pan-fried in butter until golden. This classic northern Italian dish from the Aosta Valley is rustic elegance on a plate.

Cornmeal Pizza with Vidalia Marmalade, Ham & Cheese

Cornmeal and whole wheat pizza dough topped with caramelized Vidalia onion marmalade, dry-cured ham, Roma tomatoes, and melted Fontina cheese.

Cravatta

Cravatta with asparagus spears wrapped in ham, spread with shallot-mustard cream sauce, and baked with Fontina and Parmesan until bubbly and golden.

Smoked Salmon Ravioli with Dill Cream Sauce

Homemade ravioli stuffed with flaked smoked salmon and melted fontina cheese, served with silky dill cream sauce. This elegant pasta dish brings restaurant-quality flavor to your dinner table.

Exquisite Calzones

Three-cheese calzones stuffed with ricotta, provolone, and fontina plus prosciutto, olives, pepperoncini, and sundried tomatoes. Baked golden in bread-dough crescents, equally good piping hot or packed cold for a picnic.

Vegetable Frittata & Banana Smoothie - Monday's Dinner Menu

Packed with vegetables, this puffy frittata makes a comforting meatless supper on a cold winter night.

Rigatoni with Four Cheeses

Rigatoni quattro formaggi with Gorgonzola, Bel Paese, Fontina, and Parmesan in a half-and-half sauce. The classic Italian four-cheese pasta in 25 minutes.

Rigatoni With Three Cheeses

Baked rigatoni with Swiss, fontina, and mozzarella in a rich cream sauce topped with parmigiano and nutmeg. Golden, bubbly, and irresistibly cheesy.

White Pizza

White pizza no red sauce: a garlicky herb-oil base topped with three cheeses (mozzarella, fontina, parmesan) and baked hot until the crust blisters and the cheese bubbles brown.

Lasagna Torte

Layered lasagna torte baked in a springform pan with ricotta, fontina, fresh spinach, and a homemade tomato-basil sauce with shredded carrots. A stunning round lasagna you slice like a cake.

Rigatoni Alla Fontina

Rigatoni alla Fontina baked with layers of melted Fontina, Parmigiano-Reggiano, butter, and nutmeg. A rich Italian baked pasta with just 7 ingredients.

Antipasto Chicken Sandwich

This quick, easy yet delicious sandwich made with chicken breasts, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, prociutto and fontina cheese is perfect for lunch. It's packed with goodness and yumminess.

Triple Cheese Pizza

A pesto-slathered pizza topped with fontina, mozzarella, Parmesan, sliced Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil on a Boboli crust. Three cheeses, ten minutes, zero leftovers.

Spinach & Fontina Cheese Tartlets

These deliciously cheesy tartlets are great at many occasions. Handy appetizer or tasty breakfast. Make them in advance, put in the refrigerator or freezer, reheat before eating them; so these yummy tartlets can be also served at lunch or dinner.

Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza

I love mushrooms very much, this mushroom-prosciutto pizza is really yuuuumy.

Herbed Turkey Roast

Slow cooker turkey breast rolled with fontina cheese, prosciutto, parsley, and thyme, braised in white wine and broth. An Italian-inspired roast that cooks for 9 to 10 hours.

Sweet Pepper & Basil Frittata

Sweet pepper and basil frittata with slow-cooked red and yellow peppers, fontina, Parmesan, and fresh basil, finished with a brushed-on balsamic reduction for a tangy glaze.

Green Linquine with Four Cheeses

Spinach linguine tossed in a rich four-cheese sauce made with ricotta, mozzarella, fontina, and Parmesan. A lighter take on classic Italian quattro formaggi pasta.

Pumpkin Hummus, Caramelized Onion & Fontina Cheese Pizzas (Halloween)

Use the pumpkin hummus recipe from this site to make this amazing pizza. I love to fool around in the kitchen and I came up with this pizza and my parents love it. For the onions, cut them from one root end to the others and then slice them in little strips between the roots. They will be narrower on the ends and this keeps them from disintegrating during the caramelizing and cooking process

Chipolte Peppper Stuffed Flank Steak

Flank steak stuffed with smokey Chipotle peppers and Fontina cheese.

Four-Cheese Pizza

Grilled four-cheese pizza with mozzarella, fontina, provolone, and Parmesan over sliced tomatoes on a pre-baked crust. A white pizza cooked on the grill with fresh basil.

All 62 recipes