6 Killer Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Combos

Remember your first taste of a grilled cheese with tomato soup? Well, processed cheese and canned soup are for five-year-olds. Blow that memory away with one of these killer grilled cheese and tomato soup combos:

1. For a creative take on your grilled cheese and tomato soup, look no further than Chef Michael Bulkowski’s version on CHOW. Chef Bulkowski sweetens his soup with ground cinnamon, and swaps the traditional white bread and American cheese with a savory zucchini quick bread and a tangy chèvre.

2. What could be more delicious than a BLT-inspired tomato soup amplified with smoky bacon, and an open-faced grilled cheese layered with country ham, pear, and Gruyère?

3. Serious Eats’ J. Kenji López-Alt has figured out the science behind cooking the perfect grilled cheese with cheddar (hint: Both sides of the bread are toasted). Serve it with Chef Stephanie Izard’s tomato-apple soup for the perfect pairing.

4. The classic combo goes Mexican with Eclectic Recipes' fajita grilled cheese, and Chef Barbara Lynch’s spicy tomato soup recipe on CHOW.

5. Get your veg on with How Sweet It Is’s Balsamic Brussels Sprouts Grilled Cheese, and to play off the sweetness from the sandwich’s balsamic reduction, pair it with Food52’s roasted tomato and fennel soup.

6. Go spicy, sweet, and halfway around the world with a grilled cheese and Indian chutney (made with cilantro) sandwich. Serve it with Chef Kaumudi Marathé’s santosh (tomato-coconut soup).

Leena Trivedi-Grenier is a Bay Area food writer and cooking teacher with an undying love for pot stickers. She earned her master's in gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu. Her writing appears on her blog Leena Eats and in various food-based encyclopedias.