Skip Heavy Tomato Soup And Glaze Grilled Cheese With This Italian Condiment For A Tangy Bite

One of the all-time great comfort foods is a hot, crunchy grilled cheese sandwich alongside a small bowl of tomato soup. Some of it for dipping, some of it for slurping — all of it for enjoying. But there are other ways to elevate the humble cheesy delight to something grater (ahem) than the sum of its parts. Balsamic glaze is a popular topper for drawing aesthetic and delicious black stripes across Italian caprese salads or pasta dishes, and when drizzled onto a grilled cheese might actually give tomato soup a run for its money.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches are such great dancing partners because of the satisfying contrast between fatty cheese and the acidic tang of tomato soup. This same contrast happens when you scribble a drizzle of balsamic glaze over a grilled cheese, providing complexity and acidity with sweetness that adds a complementary layer to the cheese. Where this combination differs from the classic tomato soup pairing is that it's far lighter and much less hearty.

Balsamic glaze is typically reduced balsamic vinegar that's been sweetened with sugar and thickened. It's syrupy and glossy, which means that when it's drizzled on top of food it usually stays there. On a grilled cheese, balsamic glaze clings to the bread, adding levity to cheesy bites.

You might want to explore more combinations by experimenting with the other ingredients inside the grilled cheese. For example, capitalize on the flavor of balsamic by leaning into other classic Italian pairings. Use mozzarella and add tomato and fresh basil for a crazy caprese grilled cheese that's lighter and fresher. You might even depart from Italian shores and lightly pour the condiment on a Norwegian-style grilled cheese sandwich using Jarlsberg cheese, which is a decadent pairing with balsamic reduction.

There is also a way to take a leaf from tomato soup's book. Instead of drizzling balsamic glaze on your grilled cheese, you can create a balsamic dip by essentially making your own reduction. This allows the same satisfaction of dipping the toasted sandwich into the condiment, while still enjoying all that great cheesy balsamic magic. All you have to do is reduce down a cup of balsamic vinegar with some brown sugar before mixing in a little butter.

If the balsamic approach isn't doing it for you, push the boat out on some other dip ideas. Instead of tomato soup, tangy ranch dressing is a satisfying grilled cheese dip for a similar reason to balsamic glaze. But if the acidic bite is what you don't like, simply dunk your grilled cheese in sweeter BBQ sauce, if that's more up your flavor-street.