What To Eat With Grilled Cheese, According To Children

“What to eat with grilled cheese?” is a question that comes up quite often in the KA kitchen. Let me explain, dear reader.

Grilled Cheese is the holy grail of after-school snacks for my children. Every couple of weeks I surprise them with a hot and melty treat and they remember to love me a bit more for a couple of hours. It’s parenting 101!

Early on I set a dangerous precedent of always providing a new small side dish with their sandwiches. And the whole idea of an after-school snack blended into an early dinner kind of thing. Especially in the warmer summer months.

I was running out of ideas for what to eat with grilled cheese so I came up with idea of compiling as many ideas as I could and then posting the most popular for the KA readers. A two birds, one stone deal.

I took an informal poll of the under-16 children of friends and family and asked them their choices for what to eat with grilled cheese.

I got some solid winners and a few unexpected gems. My pool of respondents were mostly children of foodies so there were definitely some unusual suggestions. Truffles anyone?

Top 6 Side Dishes That Solve The What To Eat With Grilled Cheese Dilemma

Dill Pickle with Grilled Cheese

Almost half the respondents almost immediately said “pickle” as if it was obvious. Like it goes without saying. What a dumb question! Then they’d move on to a secondary suggestion for a grilled cheese side dish. We raise pickle lovers in these parts!

A Pickle Is What To Eat With Grilled Cheese

Slice a Vlasic Kosher Dill Whole Pickle in half (or quarter it for the younger kids) and serve with a grilled cheese for delicious gastronomic simplicity. It’s a comfort combo that never fails to please.

Soup with Grilled Cheese

Tomato Soup is another classic Grilled Cheese Side. One of our favorite recipes is this Rustic Tomato Basil Soup from Bita at Honest & Tasty.

Fries with Grilled Cheese

You can’t go wrong with some fries on the side with a grilled cheese. I espcially like them Belgian style with an Aioli dipping sauce. The creamiest Aioli recipe at Bon Appetit has never let me down.

Salad with Grilled Cheese

A small side salad is another near-perfect accompianement for a grilled cheese sandwich.

There are so many options and variations in salads that pair well with a grilled cheese sandwich. I could easily do a whole separate post on the topic.

An easy to prepare choice my own kids love is a classic wedge of iceberg with a simple creamy dill dressing like this recipe from Julie from A Cedar Spoon.

What To Eat With Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

If you want to something a little more sophisticated then Heidi at Foodie Crush has just the recipe with her Arugula Salad With Shaved Parmesan Three Ways.

Pasta with Grilled Cheese

One of the more amusing responses we got was “carbonated pasta” which we assume meant Carbonara.

This kind of next-level cheese combining requires you choose the best cheese for your grilled cheese sandwich that pairs well with the cheese in the Carbonara.

For a true cheese lover this is the cheesy choice of champions! So rich!

Pork and Beans with Grilled Cheese

This was a surprising response from more than a few of our respondents. This is a great wintertime combo that is sure to please the hungry hordes. I usually just open a can of common baked beans with pork and heat that up and serve it in a bowl along with the grilled cheese.

We really love the Brown Sugar and Bacon Baked Beans from Amanda at the Chunky Chef.