You're 2 Ingredients Away From An Upgraded Bowl Of Grits

Grits — they're a Southern staple and a comfort food that's hard to top. The close cousin of the more upscale-branded polenta, grits are coarsely- or finely-ground dried corn that's been cooked into a porridge. Typically mixed with the basics of butter and salt, grits on their own are very bland and unflavored, so where you take from there is up to you. They can easily be dressed up and often are served topped with a protein like shrimp, served as a tasty side dish with dinner, or, of course, mixed with cheese for the ultimate gooey, comforting breakfast.

To make standard grits, choose from a range of types available on grocery store shelves. You'll see your traditional grits, which take a little bit longer to cook, quick grits, and instant grits, which, as the name implies, cook up in a snap. Pick your type accordingly based on your flavor and texture preference and how long you have to cook them, but if you have the time and patience to cook the old-fashioned way, you'll be rewarded with creamy, perfect Southern-style grits.

No matter the type you choose, what you do next is up to you. While salt and butter are the standard requisite add-ins, that doesn't mean you're limited to just these additions. As grits are so plain on their own, think creatively with your dish, or just try out some of these unorthodox, flavorful fixes.

Grits can easily be dressed up in savory ways, and it's less common to see the blank slate of a food taken in a sweet direction. But just because it's not often done doesn't mean it shouldn't be.

If you're more Team Sweet rather than Team Savory for breakfast, or just crave a bit of a treat, try swirling sugar and cinnamon into your grits, treating them like you would a plain bowl of oats ready to be upgraded. Much like bland-on-their-own oats, grits are delicious when sugary since they don't provide much flavor on their own. Add as much or as little as you like, or try other sweet additions, like a touch of maple syrup, honey, or agave, if you'd prefer. But no matter how you're dressing up your grits, stick with the essential add-ins of butter and salt; they're needed to create the silky, creamy mouthfeel and bring the other flavors to life — sweet or savory.

Add your sweetener of choice and a dash of cinnamon when the grits are nearly done cooking, and dig in to a bowl of simple, sweet comfort food. Grits are usually best enjoyed immediately, but for the plan-ahead foodies, you can also prep them en masse as you would an overnight oatmeal, storing a batch of grits in several mason jars for multiple breakfasts.

With a little imagination, grits can easily become the base template for a sweet and savory addition of luxe add-ins that take the dish in a totally unexpected direction. Hear us out — try adding the high-low combo of a spoonful of grape jelly and a bit of cheese. It sounds wacky at first, especially in the context of grits, but grape jelly, specifically, plus cheese is a tried and true winning combo, found on many a charcuterie platter or slathered on bread for a twist on grilled cheese.

The combo of fruity jelly and umami cheese (use whatever type you prefer, but punchy sharp cheddars or other bold, pungent options are ideal) works so well because it provides a lively burst of contrasting flavors that'll transform grits into something far from boring. Cheesy grits are a widely beloved thing, but the jammy sweetness rounds out the flavor and can either be thoroughly mixed or added in distinct dollops so you can customize and mix each bite just to your liking. It's similar to how you'd put cheese and jelly on crackers from a cheese board, but instead of a cracker, your grits are the vessel.

Grits are typically thought of as Southern in nature, which makes sense as they're served at many downtown diners, country buffets, or your grandmother's house. But they have universal appeal and aren't limited to this region — they didn't even originate in Southern kitchens — so why not take things tropical? Again, working with the blank canvas that is a bowl of grits, you can easily give them a fresh, fruity twist with the addition of coconut and tropical fruit like mango, pineapple, bananas, or a mix thereof.

Adding fatty, flavorful coconut milk — the type from a can versus a box — while grits are cooking down, or adding a splash of the liquid to the pot near the end of cooking, imparts each bite with tropical vibes while creating a creamy, decadent mouthfeel and texture. This liquid addition works in many grain contexts — you can add it to rice pudding, make pudding with it, or even mix it into oats. Once you have your silky tropical base, add in the refreshing fruits. Think of your grits almost as an acai bowl; pineapple, mangos, more coconut in the form of shreds, or whatever you have in your fridge helps to create a breakfast that feels light, refreshing, and totally beachy.

Peanut butter and jelly is an absolute classic combination for a reason and never goes out of style. Whether made traditionally, on your ideal type of bread for a PB&J, spread onto a toasted bagel, added to a bowl of oats, or swirled into a bowlful of plain grits, the flavor combo just works. One of the quickest cheat codes to dressing up basic grits with sweetness, salt, extra calories, healthy fat and protein, and texture is by dropping in a couple of spoonfuls — however much you'd like — of your favorite peanut butter and jelly.

Almond butter also works, as does any flavor of jelly or jam. The combo is a crowd pleaser for all ages and palates and is an easy way to bulk up the simple side dish for a breakfast or snack that'll stick to your ribs and hold you over for longer than it would without these add-ins. You can mix dollops of the PB & J in your bowl once the grits are done cooking, or experiment with cooking them down with peanut butter and jelly mixed in for a smoother, more cohesively mixed dish. Feel free to add in other creative ingredients you might use to elevate a PB&J sandwich, like sliced bananas or other fresh fruit like berries, a drizzle of honey, or some crushed peanuts or other nuts.

Bacon is an ingredient that gets a lot of mileage. Apart from only being enjoyed on its own, it's often mixed into desserts like donuts, sprinkled into salads, and used for dressing up pastas like carbonara — so why not mix it into grits? After all, this addition makes sense, as grits and bacon are often enjoyed separately but on the same breakfast plate. Take things up a notch with the addition of brown sugar for a caramelized, gooey, indulgent treat.

The combo of brown sugar and bacon is candy-like, salty, savory, and satisfying. Try crumbling cooked bacon into the grits and swirling in brown sugar to taste, or save a step by making brown sugar-glazed bacon first.

As we mentioned earlier, we think of grits as quintessentially Southern, but like so many foods we attribute to a region of America, their true origins trace back much further, to Indigenous foodways. And since ground corn was a thing far further back, thousands of years ago, it's likely people have been eating some form of a corn porridge for much longer than we realize. So think beyond the classic butter-plus-salt — it's certainly far from the only way the basic ground corn porridge has been enjoyed over the years. There's no rule against getting inventive with your grits, and with these simple, two-ingredient ideas to get you started, you might never look at a bowl of grits the same way again.