Grilled Cheese Is 10X More Flavorful When You Add This Underrated Canned Veggie

Grilled cheese can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be — although to most of us, it likely represents one of the easiest, quickest comfort meals that need very little hands-on prep. But when you're making the classic, convenient grilled cheese, you usually don't have the most bougie, expensive cheese at hand. Sometimes, we all have to make do with a cheaper, albeit less flavorful variety. A good filling can easily fix that, but many of the popular grilled cheese additions require prep and cooking time of their own. Unless, of course, you reach for an often-overlooked item at the canned section of the grocery store: mushrooms.

Canned mushrooms can break the spell of flavorlessness without sacrificing any of the convenience. They're pre-cut and pre-cooked, so really all you need to do is pick them out of the can, load them into the sandwich, and that's it. Optionally, you could take the additional steps of rinsing the mushrooms, to wash off the stronger notes of the brine and then patting them dry to prevent moisture from leaking into your sandwich and making it soggy.

You'll find that canned mushrooms have a way of bringing gentle umami notes to grilled cheese, not completely taking over the flavor but perfectly complementing the savory cheese. The slightly salty aftertaste of the brine emphasizes the melding flavors even more, proving that your grilled cheese sandwich can only benefit from a mushroom filling.

Because canned mushrooms are soft and even a bit delicate when pre-cut, they won't texturally stand out too much and will nicely blend in with the gooey cheese. That said, they're still versatile enough to upgrade if you do want a slight crunch — all they really need is a quick trip to the air fryer. Do note that the air fryer will pull the moisture from the mushrooms, so they will noticeably shrink; keep that in mind when calculating the quantity.

To boost the flavor further, you can season the canned mushrooms before you air fry them. They don't need much, because they're already salty from the brine, but a dash of soy or Worcestershire sauce will elevate the umami notes. If you find that your gilled cheese is still lacking a little extra something despite the seasoned mushrooms, adding fresh herbs is another great way to quickly add to the flavor. Mushrooms pair exceptionally well with most herbs, but especially basil, parsley, chives, and coriander.