Add-Ins to Take Your Grilled Cheese from Good to Great

YumSugarSource: Add-Ins to Take Your Grilled Cheese From Good to Great

Making homemade manicotti or mixing up your own molé is noble and all, but with all due respect to from-scratch cooking, sometimes you just want to get dinner done - and in those moments, nothing fits the bill better than an elemental grilled cheese sandwich. While a basic grilled cheese is just about the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread, there are a few additions that are guaranteed to take your sandwich to the next level. Click through for our top 10 suggestions.

• Mac and Cheese: Mac and cheese inside a grilled cheese? The notion of putting a cheese dish inside another cheese dish might sound meta, but trust us: it works.
• Potato Chips: Even Thomas Keller believes that potato chips add value to a grilled cheese sandwich. Experiment with different flavors like barbecue or sour cream and onion, and for maximum crunch, add the chips just before you plan on digging in.
• Honey and Truffle Salt: The sweet and savory combination of honey and truffle salt tastes wonderful in contrast to a mild grilled cheese.
• Eggs: There's no reason why eggs-in-a-hole and grilled cheese couldn't come together to form an ooey-gooey baby that's oh-so delicious.

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• Kimchi: Ever since our first encounter with grilled kimcheese - at Sarah Jenkins's Porsena Extra Bar in New York - grilled cheese has never been the same. Try this revelatory combo yourself by mixing drained, chopped kimchi with a sharp white cheddar.
• Apples: Slices of tart, crisp apple add much-needed moisture and acidity to a grilled cheese sandwich; the classic pairing of yellow cheddar with Fuji apples can't be beat.
• Chorizo: Spicy chorizo sausage, whether crumbled Mexican-style or cured Spanish-style, adds heft and heat to an otherwise vegetarian grilled cheese.
• Nut Butter: A nut butter, when used appropriately and sparingly, can add dimension and sophistication to a grilled cheese sandwich. Case in point: Laura Werlin's gruyère, gorgonzola, and hazelnut grilled cheese, which calls for a thin layer of hazelnut butter on bread.
• Bacon Jam : Who can pass up a brie sandwich with salty, sweet, spreadable bacon jam? Not us! Make it yourself, or buy a version to save yourself some time.