Grilled cheese goes well with numerous side dishes such as soups, salads, and pickles. Can’t decide which side dish works best for you?
Here is a list of side dishes that go well with grilled cheese:
- Tomato Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Cream Chowder
- Cucumber Salad
- Coleslaw
- Spinach Salad
- French Fries
- Roasted/Air-fried Vegetables
- Chips
- Dill pickles
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
Soups To Serve With Grilled Cheese
Biting into cheese-coated bread while slurping on a hot and hearty soup — there’s nothing better, right? Yah, we agree. Here are our soup suggestions that pair well with grilled cheese.
Tomato Soup
Tomatoes and cheese are like Sherlock and Dr. Watson: they make one hell of a team! This soup is pretty easy to make with ingredients you might have lying around. One important note is that the debate is hot when it comes to using real tomatoes vs canned tomatoes.
Some say canned tomatoes lose nutrients in the canning process; others argue they actually stay fresh longer thanks to canning. Either way, they pair perfectly with grilled cheeses, so we’ll leave you to decide what’s best.
Of course, you can simply pick up ready-made soup from the store and heat it up. You can also order online; Amazon Kitchen has 24 oz. soups that can serve a party of four.
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Tip: Great for using up overripe tomatoes.
Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut squash is a hearty soup that pairs well with grilled cheese. Plus, it’s super easy to make. Put butternut squash on an oven tray, and add red peppers or any vegetable you like. When they’ve softened, simply blend them with a mixer.
The sunset-like color of the soup will pair with the crispy golden-brown of the grilled cheese to give you a visual and gastronomic feast!
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Tip: Low in calories and rich with fibers and minerals.
Cream Corn Chowder
You know it’s delicious when it has three C’s: Cream. Corn. Chowder. This sweet and savory soup demands another C: Grilled Cheese! This soup can be prepared in an hour, and you can tweak the ingredients to make it even tastier.
You can use fresh corn to highlight that sweet taste and add smoked peppers to give it a distinctive edge. This recipe uses three different peppers to give your cream corn chowder that extra bit of spice!
Preparation Time: 50 minutes
Tip: Can be made vegan.
Salads That Go Well With Grilled Cheese
Salads are perfect accompaniments for grilled cheese sandwiches. They add a fresh touch to the cheesy bread and are a great way to sneak in vitamins and greens. Plus, they are delicious!
Here are our salad suggestions to serve with grilled cheese:
Cucumber Salad
A favorite side dish from Mediterranean cuisine, cucumber salad has so much potential. It can be sweet or savory, depending on the ingredients.
The main elements of this salad are cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Just chop them up into small bite-size pieces and add some lemon juice and olive oil dressing – and it’s ready!
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Tip: A tasty, low-calorie option.
Coleslaw
Creamy and fresh: two great words to describe a basic yet essential salad like coleslaw. It’s effortless to make and compliments the easiness of grilled cheese.
For the coleslaw, you can shred different types of cabbage and carrots or buy a pre-shredded coleslaw mix to make the process even faster.
Combine this mix with the mayonnaise of your choice and apple cider vinegar for that zingy taste, and you are done. You can play around with different ingredients and make your coleslaw even fancier, like, for example, if you follow this recipe that uses cranberries and almonds to give your coleslaw a sweet kick.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Tip: Convenient, cabbage mix can be bought pre-shredded.
Spinach Salad
A very reliable source says that spinach is the ultimate power food. (You guessed it: this reliable source is Popeye). It’s rich in fibers and minerals, and it’s just what your grilled cheese needs.
When paired with feta cheese and fresh strawberries, it creates the perfect yin to the yang of grilled cheese. You can check out this recipe which suggests adding dijon mustard as a dressing for a simple yet flavorful spinach salad.
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Tip: Raw spinach is packed with vitamins.
Fried Foods To Eat With Grilled Cheese
There is a reason why there is room on the plate when you put your grilled cheese on it: it’s meant to be filled with fried food.
Here’s our list of fried food suggestions that complement grilled cheese:
French Fries
There’s no food on planet Earth that doesn’t pair well with french fries. But they’re particularly well-matched with grilled cheese because, as the ultimate finger food, they more than satisfy that munching need.
Make sure you use russet potatoes to get that perfect combination of crispy and fluffy. But if you’re in a hurry, you can just grab some fries from your favorite fast-food chain and add spices like cajun or paprika to make them stand out more.
Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Tip: Can be paired with lots of different condiments.
Roasted/Air-fried Vegetables
If you want to take the less caloric route but still want to have fun flavors, you can roast and/or air-fry your vegetables to serve with grilled cheese. You can make wedges with the vegetable of your choice (this recipe uses pumpkin and a yogurt+tahini dip).
Another option is to roast or air-fry your favorite frozen vegetables. This recipe suggests oven-roasting potatoes and Brussel sprouts with olive oil and herbs and spices. These crispy vegetables compliment the taste of grilled cheese and make it a healthier snack.
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Tip: A lighter “fried food” option.
Chips
There is nothing wrong with wanting a quick fix for a side dish. Grilled cheese works well with almost any chip and even better with your favorite one. They are also fairly budget-friendly.
Of course, you can go the extra mile and make your own chips at home and customize them according to your own taste.
Tip: Easy and quick fix.
Pickles That Go Well With Grilled Cheese
The crunch? Yes. The delightful sourness? Oh, yes. The spice and the herbs with that crisp flavor? You bet! Of course, we are talking about pickles.
Here are some pickles that go well as a side dish for grilled cheese.
Dill Pickles
Dill pickles are pickle royalty, so they pair well with grilled cheese – the comfort food royalty. Just grab a few pickle slices from the jar and put them on your sandwich.
One quick trip to the supermarket will show you that there are endless options, from sweet to sour, and even kosher pickles.
However, they are also super easy to make yourself. You only need a few ingredients: salt, the cucumbers of your choice, and vinegar.
The fermentation process takes some time, from 48 hours to a week, but the satisfaction of the first crunch of the pickle you’ve made yourself is like no other.
Preparation Time: 48 hours to a week
Tip: Can be bought from the store.
Kimchi
The traditional Korean side dish Kimchi is packed with flavor and spices. The base is made from napa cabbage and daikon radish, but other ingredients vary from shrimp paste to pears depending on the region it comes from.
The added garlic taste and the crunch factor pair well with the smoothness of grilled cheese. Don’t even get us started on the health benefits! Kimchi is packed with antioxidants and is a great source of Vitamin A and C. It also promotes gut health because it’s a good source of probiotics.
Next time you are at your supermarket, be on the lookout for kimchi! You’ll thank us later!
Preparation Time: 3-21 days depending on surrounding temperature
Tip: Promotes gut health.
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is another cabbage-based delicacy, but it’s less spicy than kimchi and has a more fishy taste. If you don’t want a spicy pickle side dish, sour and salty Sauerkraut is the way to go.
It gives your grilled cheese bite some acid and a contrasting texture. Check out our article if you want to know where you can find sauerkraut in the grocery store.
Preparation time: 3-4 weeks
Tip: Promotes digestion.
