My 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Best Grilled Cheese

Just a dab will do.

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When I need comfort food, my go-to is grilled cheese. I almost always have the ingredients on hand, it comes together quickly, and it’s delicious every single time.

It's never a boring sandwich, either. Since bread and cheese are the perfect blank canvases for all kinds of ingredients, I love to exercise some quick creativity. I have plenty of tasty upgrades for grilled cheese, but this is one that I turn to time and time again.

My 1-Ingredient Upgrade for Grilled Cheese

Sometimes, I have a bit of sauce left over in the bottom of an open jar. Instead of leaving it to languish at the back of the refrigerator, I put a dollop of pasta sauce on my sandwich.

To assemble this upgraded grilled cheese, I butter the outsides of my bread, then place them buttered side down on a plate. On one piece of bread, I layer a slice of cheese, a dollop of sauce, and another slice of cheese. I close the sandwich with the other slice.

This simple package is then ready to toast in a skillet over medium heat for optimal meltiness.

I find that pasta sauce adds exactly the right amount of sweetness and acidity to the sandwich, balancing out the creaminess of whatever cheese I decide to use that day. And somehow, adding pasta sauce makes the sandwich even gooier!

Since I often end up dipping grilled cheese into tomato soup, marinara, or ketchup anyway, this addition beats me to the punch—it delivers that tasty flavor combo without a side of sauce.

While I love a slice of fresh tomato in my grilled cheese, they're only in season for a few months out of the year. This upgrade is perfect for winter, when it's hard to find good tomatoes, but I almost always have store-bought pasta sauce on hand.

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Tips for Making Grilled Cheese With Pasta Sauce

If you want to try my saucy grilled cheese at home, here's how to make the sandwich a success.

• Don’t add too much: Use some discretion when adding pasta sauce to your sandwich. Too much and it’ll be a drippy mess, too little and the flavor won’t shine through. I like to add about a tablespoon right in the center of the first slice of cheese, then gently press the sandwich together once it’s assembled to help the sauce spread evenly.
• Use any kind of pasta sauce: This hack works with any tomato-based pasta sauce. Whether it’s marinara, tomato-basil, arrabbiata, or meat sauce, the results will be tasty.
• Pair the sauce with different cheeses: Similarly, plenty of cheeses benefit from this upgrade. While mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, and Pecorino meld beautifully with this Italian-themed hack, cheddar, Gruyère, Gouda, and brie are also excellent choices.

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