10 Foods That Actually Taste Better Slightly Burnt

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For most home cooks, burning food is the one thing that must be avoided at all costs. No one wants the bitter taste of smoke and burnt patches when they are served their meal — or do they? It might seem counterintuitive, but certain foods actually benefit from being slightly overcooked, and a few slightly charred edges here and there create a flavor and texture contrast that gives it an edge over the blonder version.

From blackened blisters on an Italian pizza straight from the oven to the caramelized sugar layer that coats toasted marshmallows, there are a few foods for which a touch of char is a big flavor advantage. The key of course is treading the fine line between a desirable crispiness and totally overcooking it. When sugars caramelize, they can burn quickly, so keeping a close eye on your cooking is crucial.

Whether you are looking for inspiration for what to throw on the barbecue or just love the burnt crispy bits on mac and cheese, we've got you covered with some great new ideas. Let's take a look at 10 foods that actually taste better slightly burnt.

Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, especially when it is cooked just right — creamy, gooey, and more than a little bit crispy. Slightly burnt edges around the edge of the pasta dish when it comes out the oven take mac and cheese to a glorious new level, and there are bound to be arguments at family dinners over who gets to eat those burnt bits.

The Maillard reaction is what we need to thank for changing the already-delicious cheese into something with an incredible depth of flavor. This reaction happens when proteins and sugars are heated, and a new substance forms as they cook. In the case of mac and cheese, and many other baked pastas, the edge of the dish that is pressed up against the side of the baking dish will cook the fastest, meaning it gets more crispy goodness forming as the Maillard reaction progresses.

The key to mac and cheese nirvana is getting slightly burnt edges as opposed to bitter, black cheesy pasta. Keep an eye on the dish as it nears the end of its cooking time, and once the edges begin to turn brown, you can turn the temperature up or put it under the broiler for a few minutes to take it to just burnt enough, but no more. Once you have your perfectly crispy brown mac and cheese, the final step is to make sure you keep those bits all to yourself.

If you are ever in any doubt as to whether burnt food can taste good, just try a charred marshmallow. While a regular marshmallow tastes perfectly fine, the toasted version, with little blisters around the outside and just beginning to melt in the middle, is a joy for the taste buds.

It helps, of course, that marshmallows are often toasted on an open flame at celebratory gatherings, meaning that nostalgia plays a part too. But the way the sugar caramelizes as they hit the flame is enough to make your mouth water before you have even tasted them, and the burnt exterior provides smoky relief for what is a pretty sweet piece of candy.

The key is to make sure the center of the marshmallow remains soft and fluffy to provide that contrast, rather than the whole thing turning to charcoal. There is a technique to the perfect toasted marshmallow — rotating it as it cooks will ensure an even layer of char while retaining the beautiful softness inside. Taking that first bite where the crackly burnt layer hits your tongue, only to be quickly followed by the intense sweetness, is a feeling of great joy, and a memory that will last long after the flames have gone out.

Bell peppers are a wonderfully vibrant ingredient that tastes great raw, sauteed, or stuffed and baked. But when you chargrill them and take the skins just to the point of burning, it transforms the flavor and creates a deep, smoky element that makes them even more of a joy to eat.

The most adventurous way to take peppers to the perfect level of char is to hold the whole pepper over a gas flame until it burns, then place it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Once they have cooled slightly, they will be easier to peel, revealing the soft flesh just below the skin that has the wonderful smoky taste of char without the bitterness of the blackened skin. For a more hands-off approach, you can throw pepper halves on the barbecue grill, broil them, or bake them in the oven.

Poblano peppers can be charred in a similar way, resulting in a slightly spicy, beautifully smoky flavor that can add depth to a variety of dishes and is often used in Mexican dishes. Char the poblanos just enough that the skins start to blister, but the whole pepper doesn't turn black. Peel them in the same way as the bell peppers, before chopping up and adding to a variety of dishes to give a smoky punch of chili flavor.

As plant-based cooking becomes much more mainstream, cauliflower has become a bit of an unlikely hero. As well as being a delicious, healthy side dish, it has risen to fame as a vegan option for those who are missing the steak in their lives. If you previously loved a bit of char on your sirloin, you will definitely want to experiment with taking your cauliflower steak a bit further than usual to create beautifully burnt edges.

Like the vast majority of fruits and veggies, cauliflower contains natural sugar. Although the sugar content is low, when you take it past the point of perfect cooking and just into the charred stage, the sugars caramelize and create a smoky sweetness that complements the earthiness of the rest of the steak beautifully. If you are planning to drizzle a sauce or dressing over the steak, it will mingle with the chargrilled pieces and create an amazing depth of flavor that has just the right amount of smoke, not to mention the delightfully crispy texture. Next time you fancy a vegetarian version of a steak, try taking the cooking a little further than usual and see the difference it makes to turning it into a delicious entrée.

If you are a fan of bacon — which would surely be the majority of meat eaters — then the chances are that you will love it when it is super crispy. A little char around the outside of the rashers takes the already irresistible flavor of the bacon to crispy new heights, and manages to increase the umami aspects that make it such a delicious meat.

The key to the best bacon is to get the fat starting to crisp up and become slightly charred, without totally burning it and rendering it inedible. The Maillard reaction is what creates the beautifully brown edges on the bacon, and achieving that requires cooking at a high heat and ensuring the bacon is dry before you begin. Martha Stewart recommends baking the meat in the oven on top of parchment paper to get it perfectly crisp, but frying in a hot skillet will also achieve the desired effect, as long as you keep an eye on it and don't let it burn. Once you have bacon that is burnt just enough, enjoy it on a crispy BLT or as part of a big breakfast.

If you're having an authentic Italian pizza with a thin and crispy base, then a few spots of burnt dough around the edges are nothing to complain about; in fact, it makes it even more desirable. Whether you are cooking it at home in an outdoor pizza oven or ordering in your local pizzeria, the contrast of the white, almost-sweet dough with the blistered, charred sections makes the pizza an even more delicious affair than usual.

Professional pizza ovens can hit a whopping 900 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking a pizza in just a minute and a half, so it is no wonder that the base comes out significantly more scorched than it went in. As the sugars in the dough caramelize, the crust becomes crispier and gets the signature smoky notes that make Italian pizzas so irresistible. If you're trying to recreate this at home with a regular oven, consider purchasing a pizza stone. By heating the stone first in the oven at maximum heat, the base of the pizza will begin to crisp up as soon as you lay it on the stone, and will have a good chance of creating those amazing burnt bubbles throughout the base. Just be sure to watch it closely — you don't want to ruin your hard work by burning the whole pizza to a crisp.

Grilled cheese is already such an awesome lunch or snack dish, rich with oozy, umami flavor from the cheese and contrasting textures and tastes from the other ingredients you have chosen. If you cook the sandwich to the point of charring the bread and the cheese ever so slightly, though, you can create a next level treat that scores even more highly on the satisfaction scale.

If you are going to attempt to char your grilled cheese sandwich, it is essential that you don't take it too far, as burning the bread completely will create a bitter flavor that will spoil the experience. Of course you have to cook it long enough to melt the cheese anyway, but once the cheese starts to ooze out, keep a close eye on the sandwich and stop cooking when you see slightly blackened edges to the bread and some chargrilled cheese; this should create a meal with the perfect balance of soft gooey center and crispy exterior, with just enough smokiness to contrast the rich cheese.

Corn on the cob is a brilliant, healthy side dish that goes great with meat, especially if you're having a barbecue or garden party. Its sweet summery flavor and juicy texture are brilliant in themselves, but if you can get a bit of char on it too, it becomes a detectable treat at a much higher level.

If the barbecue is already up and running, it would be a travesty not to take advantage of that and throw the corn on the grill alongside the burgers or steaks. The sweet in the sweet corn name gives a clue as to what's happening on the grill: The sugars in the corn will caramelize, and some of the kernels will blacken and blister, creating a wonderful contrast with the ones that remain yellow and sweet.

In the absence of a barbecue, placing cooked corn on the cob under the broiler for a few minutes should give the desired effect, but keep a close eye, as the whole thing could burn quickly. Whether grilling outside or inside, turn the corn regularly to ensure the whole vegetable gets chargrilled without any of it becoming completely blackened. Top it with butter before devouring, and be sure to have a few napkins handy, as it's guaranteed to be messy!

You may not be expecting rice to appear on a list of foods that taste better slightly burnt, but if you've ever had an authentic paella, you will understand why. The bottom of a paella is designed to be burnt, and is considered the signature part of the dish that is packed with deep savory flavor.

Known as the socarrat, meaning scorched, the bottom layer of the paella next to the pan is not designed to be stirred in the way that a risotto is. Instead, the rice is allowed to dry out as the dish simmers, and by the end of the cook that precious burnt layer will have developed and be ready for everyone to fight over.

Creating a perfect socarrat is by no means an easy task, and if you are new to cooking paella, it may take a number of attempts before you master the concept. But once you start to create a golden, crispy base without burning the rest of the rice, you will be on your way to a traditional Spanish paella and understanding why it is so coveted.

Pepperoni already hits pretty high on the flavor stakes, which is one of the reasons it is the most popular pizza topping in the U.S. However, if you want to take the rich, savory flavor even further, cooking it until the edges start to blacken and it changes from soft to crispy will turn it into a flavor bomb that is even more enticing.

If you are cooking your pizza in a regular oven, turn up the heat for the last few minutes to char the tops of the pepperoni slices without drying out the meat or burning the pizza. In a pizza oven, this should happen naturally in the intense heat, meaning the joy of crispy pepperoni is almost guaranteed.

If you are using pepperoni for a different dish, you can crisp it up in advance, either in the oven or in a frying pan, then add it to the dish in its already-crispy state. The crunchy, smoky, umami flavor works brilliantly on grilled cheese sandwiches or can even be eaten on its own as an indulgent snack.