Oceania → New Zealand → Southland
🍢 SNACK
Southland Cheese Rolls
"Southern sushi": bread rolled around a rich onion-cheese filling, toasted golden and painted with butter.
New Zealand (Southland) · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~631 cal · 26g protein · 48g carbs · 37g fat · 3g fiber · 9g sugars · 23g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The cheese roll is the pride of Southland at the bottom of New Zealand's South Island, so much a Southland thing that it is half-jokingly called southern sushi. Below a certain line on the map it is an identity; elsewhere in the country it is a curiosity people discover with delight.
A slice of white bread is spread with a rich, gooey filling of grated cheese bound with onion and evaporated milk (and every family guards its own version), then rolled up, toasted until golden, and brushed with butter. Simple as it sounds, the warm, savoury, oniony pull of it is genuinely addictive.
Cheese rolls are the workhorse of Southland fundraisers, sold by the thousand at schools, churches, and rugby clubs, and they turn up warm at any gathering. Humble and buttery, they are a small regional treasure that locals defend with real passion.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 12 slices sandwich bread, crusts on
- 2.5 cups sharp cheddar, grated
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 onion, very finely minced (or onion soup mix, the classic)
- 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 4 tbsp butter, for brushing
Instructions
- 1Warm the evaporated milk with the onion and mustard powder; stir in the cheese off the heat until thick and spreadable. Cool.
- 2Flatten each bread slice lightly with a rolling pin so it rolls without cracking.
- 3Spread filling edge to edge and roll each slice into a snug cylinder, seam down.
- 4Toast under a grill or in a hot oven, turning, until golden on all sides, 10-12 minutes.
- 5Brush generously with butter and serve hot, with soup, or with nothing at all, Southland-style.
Southland fundraiser tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Southland. Southland is New Zealand's deep south, cold enough to shape a distinct table: cheese rolls grilled until molten and nicknamed southern sushi, mutton and swede from the surrounding farms, and Bluff oysters that the whole country waits for each season.
🗺️
New Zealand. New Zealand pairs Māori traditions like the hāngī earth oven with abundant lamb, seafood, and dairy. Kūmara (sweet potato), pavlova, and a strong café culture round out a fresh, produce-driven national table.
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Oceania. The staple crops here were carried on purpose. Lapita voyagers moving east from roughly three thousand years ago brought taro, yam, banana, breadfruit and coconut with them along with pigs and chickens, because most of the islands they settled had almost nothing edible growing on them. The earth oven travelled too, as umu, imu, hangi, lovo, mumu, motu and um.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from New Zealand
Boil-Up with DoughboysA one-pot Māori classic: pork, kūmara, potatoes, and watercress simmered together, with dumplings dropped in at the end.
PavlovaA cloud of meringue, crisp shell, marshmallow heart, piled with cream and summer fruit. The dessert two nations claim.
Mince on ToastSavory, gravy-rich beef mince spooned over hot buttered toast, a nostalgic Kiwi breakfast and any-time comfort meal.
Browse all New Zealand recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Grill or barbecue, Rolling pin.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a New Zealand meal
Flat WhiteDrink
PavlovaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Southland Cheese Rolls?
"Southern sushi": bread rolled around a rich onion-cheese filling, toasted golden and painted with butter.
Where does Southland Cheese Rolls come from?
Southland Cheese Rolls is a New Zealand (Southland) dish from Southland, New Zealand.
Can Southland Cheese Rolls be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Southland Cheese Rolls recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Southland Cheese Rolls safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Southland Cheese Rolls take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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