For The Best Cheesy Grits, Turn To This Southern Staple

Grits are a simple, neutral-tasting food when served alone. That's why you load them up with extras. When you add some butter, a dash of hot sauce, and a hearty amount of cheddar cheese, that quiet corn-based southern staple transforms into much tastier cheesy grits. Cheddar is considered the standard cheese for making cheesy grits, but you can get away with experimenting with more combinations. To get some ideas about creative grits concoctions, we talked to Pam Brand, the co-founder of southern food blog Biscuits & Burlap.

Specifically, we asked Brand about using the South's iconic pimento cheese in grits. According to Brand, "Pimento cheese is a good choice, but it is its own flavor profile — adding the punchy taste of the pimentos and most often a bit of cayenne pepper. If you add pimento cheese, you are making 'pimento cheese grits' not just 'cheesy grits.'" 

Pimento cheese is a spread that uses the sharp cheddar you'd typically see in cheesy grits, with the addition of mayonnaise, sweet pimento peppers, and often a little extra spice. All of these things combine easily with grits, but the added creaminess from the mayo and the sweet and mild boost from pimentos will get you a rather different, but very delicious, dish.

For 4 cups of cooked grits (1 cup uncooked), you'll want to add between a ½ cup and a full cup of pimento cheese, depending on your taste. Feel free to go with store-bought pimento cheese, although the best brands might be grocery store items you'd only find in southern states. If you use a homemade spread, it may help you keep track of measurements if you make the pimento cheese first rather than mixing the separate ingredients into the grits. (Either method works, in the end, but you can always use leftover pimento cheese to make irresistible fried green tomato sandwiches.) Pam Brand advised, "When adding pimento cheese to grits, we do it at the end, stirring in just long enough to melt and blend."

When we asked if Brand had any other suggestions for cheesy grits, she gave a resounding "yes!" According to Brand, "We love plain cheddar (the base for traditional pimento cheese), but many types of cheeses go well in grits, such as gouda, parmesan, Edam, havarti." She suggested that it helps to think of grits like potatoes, another neutral base that you can pile lots of flavors onto. Feel free to top your pimento cheese grits with a few extras like Tabasco sauce or thinly sliced scallions. You can even mix it with another classic recipe and make pimento cheese shrimp and grits.