10 Soups That Pair Best With Grilled Cheese Beyond Tomato

Name a better duo than grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. We'll wait. Oh, you can't? Well, we can. Don't get us wrong: We're huge fans of the combination of a classic grilled cheese, in all its salty, gooey, crunchy glory, and the creamy, yet pleasingly tangy notes that tomato soup brings to the table. However, that pairing is just the tip of the iceberg — and if you're looking for a way to upgrade your grilled cheese, one of the best and easiest ways is to consider which soup you're serving it with.

There are so many soups that pair well with grilled cheese, creating a new, unforgettable flavor dynamic in your meal. Old favorites like broccoli-cheddar, French onion, and even carrot and coriander soup will bolster the taste of your grilled cheese in unexpected ways, while the sandwich itself will unlock new elements in the soup you might not expect. More out-there combos — like grilled cheese and clam chowder or grilled cheese and split pea soup — might raise eyebrows at first, but just wait until you try them. Even seemingly boring soups like cream of mushroom can bring a grilled cheese to life. Your soup and sandwich lunch is about to get really good, guys.

When you think about it, butternut squash soup has a real kinship to tomato soup. It's got the creaminess, the saltiness, and, of course, that orange-red color. All of these make it a worthy competitor to tomato soup when paired with a grilled cheese (and yes, the color is important too — you want your meal to look good, after all!), but it also has other elements that allow it to stand out on its own. Butternut squash has a sweetness and an earthiness that tomato soup often doesn't, which allows it to provide greater nuance in this combo and contrast in more interesting spaces. Its creaminess is also often heavier and starchier, giving it heft and coating the outside of your sandwich more effectively.

What we love about pairing butternut squash soup with grilled cheese is that you need to do absolutely nothing different to the sandwich itself: Just rustle up your regular grilled cheese, pour a bowl of soup, and enjoy the warming comfort. Having said this, though, it's a lot of fun to lean into the autumnal feel that butternut squash brings to the table. Whipping up a grilled cheese with some apple butter inside, or even just some apple slices, will give it an earthy sweetness and (with the latter) a lovely crunch, and will make your dish feel wonderfully seasonal.

A soup-sandwich combo that almost feels healthy? We're sold. Broccoli-cheddar soup has more going for it than its potential nutritional benefits (which are sort of outweighed by the cheese), though: Its nutty, earthy, savory flavor works excellently with grilled cheese, and the cheese in the soup amps up the dairy notes in the sandwich perfectly. The broccoli provides a starchiness that thickens the soup nicely, perfect for clinging to that buttery bread, and the onions (which are included in most broccoli-cheddar soup recipes) add a lovely sweetness.

This combo works particularly well when your grilled cheese has a sour note that can combat the deep savoriness of the soup. A sourdough-based grilled cheese is perfect here, as the acidity it brings to the table lights the soup up. Adding a little garlic butter to your grilled cheese can have a similar enlivening effect, not through sourness, but through a sharpness and a slight spiciness, which is mellowed out by the dairy. You don't have to do anything particularly unique with your grilled cheese, though: It's just as good with this soup if you're whipping up your standard recipe.

If you think about it, you may well have had a form of this combination already. French onion soup is traditionally topped with a large crouton covered in Gruyère cheese. When you plunge your spoon into the bowl, the crouton soaks up all of the soup and its sweet, yet rich flavors, while the cheese begins to melt into the liquid, turning even more gooey and stringy. It is, to put it simply, divine.

It's no wonder, then, that the internet is awash with French onion soup grilled cheese recipes, which combine the two elements into one easily holdable package. We prefer to keep them separate, though, and to serve our French onion soup with a full grilled cheese on the side. Leaving them separate allows you to make the most of the superb flavor combinations at play, without losing any textural contrast. You can just dip at will, soaking your grilled cheese with all of the savory, sweet, meaty flavor of that perfect French onion soup (with the meat notes coming from the broth used). Oh, and if you get bored with keeping them apart, you can just place your sandwich into the soup and get back to basics. It's up to you.

Don't let this combo deceive you. Roasted red pepper might feel like tomato soup by another name, given the vaguely similar flavors and the almost identical appearance of the two. If you ask us, though, it's got a lot more going for it than its tomato-based cousin. Roasted red pepper soup is smoky, sweet, and tangy, all of which give grilled cheese a lovely roundness of flavor, while the cheese helps to mellow out some of its more intense notes. The charred note in the soup also goes well with the toasted flavor of the bread, creating harmony between the two in a slightly unexpected place.

We also love the permission that roasted red pepper soup gives you to mix up your grilled cheese and to introduce more Mediterranean flavors. Try adding some sliced Kalamata olives to your sandwich, or a dusting of dried oregano. You could also throw in some feta or Fontina cheese for a different twist on its dairy element. We permit you to make your sandwich as interesting as possible.

Cream of mushroom soup might seem like a dull choice with grilled cheese, right? Well, it can bring a lot more to the table than you might be giving it credit for. This unassuming choice has a dense creaminess that wraps the sandwich up, adding a thickness on the outside that's matched by the cheese within. The earthy, savory notes from the mushrooms give an undertone of fullness to the grilled cheese, while the saltiness of the soup intensifies its flavors.

It's also worth remembering that cream of mushroom soup is incredibly adaptable. You can go for a simple version straight from the can, or make yourself a gourmet version. Using a recipe with lots of fresh garlic will give the soup a sprightliness and an intensity that you might not expect, and adding in some wine can concentrate its flavors further and provide a boozy edge. Want to turn it into something incredibly special? Add some truffle butter to your grilled cheese; we promise you won't look back.

Here's one you might not expect. At first glance, carrot and coriander soup may not seem like a particularly good choice for a grilled cheese sandwich. Sure, it's hearty, but it's also got a peppery and sweet flavor profile that doesn't feel as though it pairs with cheese that well. However, it's those elements that actually make this soup an MVP. The fresh, herbal, spicy notes from the coriander give the grilled cheese an entirely new layer — one that lightens the cheese considerably, while also bringing out its savory flavors. The sweetness of the carrots also underpins the savory cheese — oh, and the soup is thick and luscious, perfect for coating your sandwich.

If you want to bring out even more flavor in your carrot and coriander soup, try roasting the carrots before you blitz them up. This will unlock more of their mellow sweetness and add a slightly caramelized note that works well with the sandwich. You can also spruce up your sandwich by adding in additional flavors like garlic butter, which will deepen the soup's impact. However, don't be afraid to keep it simple: This combo's rustic, and you don't have to do anything super special for it to pop.

Wait, what? Yep. Split pea soup and grilled cheese. Allow us to explain. Split pea soup is hardly the most fashionable dish, but it has a tremendous amount of earthiness and sweetness, which are typically backed up with sprightly notes of garlic. All of these elements add loads of layers of flavor to your grilled cheese, without moving it into taste territory you might not want to dwell in. Plus, its nice smoothness, which comes from the peas themselves, feels ever-so-slightly texturally different from other soups, and this quality pairs gorgeously with the crunch of the bread.

Split pea soup also works excellently with bacon, which in turn can give your grilled cheese way more savoriness. Not convinced yet? Well, what if we told you that noted gourmand and Hollywood actor Stanley Tucci's favorite comfort food duo is none other than a grilled cheese with split pea soup? Tucci revealed just that in an interview with Allrecipes, while also saying that the combination is "one of the best things in the world." Don't just take our word for it; take his, too.

The problem with the combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup is that it can all get a little too tangy. Most cheeses are fairly sour, and tomato soup has a lot of acidity going on — and together, after a few bites, things can begin to taste too intense. That's why we're big fans of opting for cream of chicken soup instead. Cream of chicken gives you all of the smoothness of tomato soup, but with a deeply savory base that works beautifully with grilled cheese, and none of that overt tanginess that can sometimes tip things over the edge. It's salty and full of umami, and you can allow all the sourness to come from the cheese.

One thing cream of chicken soup isn't, though, is sweet — and the lack of this can make things slightly one-note. However, you can address this simply and effectively by adding a sweet note to your sandwich. Opt for a fruit bread, or spread some apple butter or a drizzle of hot honey. Alternatively, you can really dig into the savoriness of it all by adding some thick-cut ham into your sandwich.

The possibilities really are endless with lentil soup and grilled cheese. Lentil soup typically has the earthy note that you'd find in a split pea or red pepper soup, but its inherently delicate flavor means that it can absorb spicy notes beautifully. This makes it a wonderfully versatile accompaniment to grilled cheese, and one which you shouldn't be afraid to be bold with.

If you want to keep things simple but effective with a lentil soup and grilled cheese combo, whip up a quick soup spiced with cumin and coriander, and packed with some additional vegetables like celery and carrots. The veggies will give it sweetness and earthiness, while the spices will provide warmth. Or, make your lentil soup lemony and tart, and sprinkle some za'atar onto the outside of your grilled cheese before frying it to give it a fresh, zingy, bright flavor. Want to deepen things? Smoked paprika will do that for you, giving your lentil soup a gorgeously dusky note that will add intensity to whatever cheese you've gone for. Keep things playful in the kitchen, and you'll be rewarded.

So, this one might seem a bit strange — until you think about it for a sec. Not only is the combination of clam chowder and grilled cheese pure comfort, but flavor-wise, it's a match made in heaven. The salty-sweet nature of the chowder gives your grilled cheese a brand new note, while the creaminess of the chowder ties in with the sandwich's ingredients. Yes, there's a slightly briny, fishy note that might feel a little odd at first with the cheese, but it won't overwhelm things at all. Instead, it'll amplify the sandwich's flavors in ways you probably wouldn't expect. You can use canned clam chowder, but we'd recommend making your own if possible — it'll just be better.

In our opinion, too, the more interesting your cheese is here, the better. Making grilled cheese with Gorgonzola can be a bold and exciting move, giving your chowder and the whole meal more funk and sourness. Adding some Parmesan into your grilled cheese can also give it a deeper savory note, which will work excellently with the chowder, particularly if you're adding bacon into the mix. That said, even a grilled cheese made with classic American cheese will do the trick nicely.