Cheesy Tomato Grits with Chiles and Bacon Recipe

Name: Cheesy Tomato Grits with Chiles and Bacon
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 2 slices bacon; 3 green onions (sliced); 29 ounces chicken broth ((2 14.5 ounce cans)); 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cup quick cooking grits (not instant); 14.5 ounces canned plum tomatoes (drained and diced); 4 ounces canned diced green chiles (lightly drained); 6 ounces extra sharp Cheddar cheese (grated)

5 from 3 votes

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Cheesy Tomato Grits with Chiles and Bacon is a super easy, ready in 25 minutes, side dish that is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. With grits, cheese, tomatoes, green chiles, and bacon, this is an over-the-top Southern comfort recipe!

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One of the first recipes I ever posted on Lana’s Cooking was my favorite Cheese Grits. I grew up eating grits pretty much every week. Sometimes several times a week. Grits are as quintessentially southern as fried chicken and pimiento cheese.

If you’ve never had grits, I do wish you’d give them a try. They’re really just ground corn, first cousins to the famous Italian polenta. If you like cornbread, you’ll probably like grits.

I always recommend trying a regional southern brand such as Dixie Lily or Jim Dandy and never, ever, under any circumstances, use “instant” grits. Just no.

A southern breakfast wouldn’t be quite complete without grits to go along with your fried eggs and bacon (or sausage!). But don’t think they’re only breakfast food. By no means! One of the more popular ways to serve grits outside of breakfast is with fried fish.

Grits are also delicious with other things mixed in. Like cheese. Or greens – turnips, mustard, or collards. Or as I’ve prepared them in this recipe with crispy bacon, plum tomatoes, green chiles, and sharp Cheddar cheese.

Serve this alongside any protein – chicken, fish, and pork are best – or topped with a fried or poached egg for the main course on its own.

❤️ Why I Love This Recipe

Ready in under 30 minutes
You can adjust the heat level to your preference
Great side dish for lots of different proteins

🛒 Ingredient Notes

Bacon (use your favorite breakfast bacon)
Green onions (make sure they’re nice and fresh, remove any wilted or bad spots)
Chicken broth (canned or boxed is fine, but if you have homemade use it!)
Salt and pepper (the classic seasoning combination for almost all cooking)
Quick-cooking grits (if you have a regional brand such as Jim Dandy available, use those)
Plum tomatoes (I prefer canned for this recipe)
Canned green chiles (any brand you like; my preference is Hatch)
Cheddar cheese (I like extra sharp for this)

You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

🥄 How to Make Tomato Chile Cheese Grits

Cut the bacon crosswise into about ½-inch wide pieces. Cook in a deep skillet over medium high heat until brown and crisp – about 8-9 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Keep the bacon fat in the pan.

Green onions cooking in bacon fat in a skillet.

Add the sliced green onions to the hot bacon fat and cook for a minute or two until slightly softened.

Adding grits and remaining ingredients in a skillet.

Add the broth, salt, grits, diced plum tomatoes, green chiles to the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in 4 ounces of the Cheddar cheese. Serve immediately topped with remaining cheese and bacon to garnish.

❗ Recipe Tips

Either quick grits or old-fashioned grits work fine in the recipe. Stone ground grits are my favorite, but they take quite a bit longer to cook. Just don’t use instant grits. Just no. Not ever. For anything.
Change the heat level to suit your taste by using mild, medium, or hot chiles.
Switch up the cheese if you like. Any type of Swiss or Gruyere is great!

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

These grits are really fantastic with grilled shrimp (for a quasi shrimp and grits), grilled chicken, or a ham steak. They’re not bad with pork chops, either :-)
Top with a fried or poached egg for a standalone main dish.

❓ Questions About Cheesy Tomato Grits

Can this recipe be made in advance?

Yes! One of the great things about grits is that they store and reheat very well. You may find that they need a little liquid added when reheating. Just stir in some water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.

How do you store leftover grits?

Leftover grits store really well, but usually need thinning with a bit of water when reheating. They’re easily reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop (stir often to prevent sticking).

What are grits anyway?

Grits are simply ground corn. More specifically, they’re made from dent corn. The corn kernels are dried, then the outer hull is removed and the remaining kernel is ground to create grits.

Are grits and polenta the same thing?

They’re very similar. Grits are made from white corn and polenta from yellow corn. Polenta is also coarser than grits. They’re not exactly interchangeable but can be substituted for each other in a pinch.

What are the different types of grits?

There are several different types. Stone-ground is made from whole kernels by the traditional method of grinding corn between two grindstones. They have a speckled appearance, a richer corn flavor, and take much longer to cook. Hominy grits have the hull and germ removed before grinding. Quick grits are finely ground and processed to cook quickly. Instant grits have been pre-cooked and dehydrated. I do not recommend using instant grits for any reason in any recipe.

📖 Recipe