Southern Comfort Foods You Need To Try Before You Die

If you've ever lived in the South, you know that the food down there is different — and absolutely delicious. The cuisine you find in the Southern United States blends African, European, Native American, and other elements to create entrees, salads, stews, and desserts that will have your taste buds doing cartwheels.

If you're visiting the South, all you need to do is go to a nearby restaurant or diner, and the menu is sure to be filled with enough Southern comfort food to satisfy your every desire. Alternatively, you can learn to make Southern cuisine in your own kitchen. That said, while the food isn't difficult to make, it takes a while to master.

If your time is limited, read on to learn about the Southern comfort foods you absolutely deserve to eat before you die. If your life passes you by without eating all this food from the South, you will have deprived yourself of some of your life's finest moments.

Originally created in New Orleans, you will find Bananas Foster at a variety of restaurants around the country these days. This delicious dessert is made with bananas, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. The bananas and other ingredients are cooked, then alcohol (typically rum and banana liqueur) is added. 

Here's where it gets exciting: The concoction is then ignited! When you light something on fire while cooking, it's either a result of a colossal fail or an expert doing serious business. This is the latter. The flambéed bananas and sauce are served over vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream and walnuts.

Biscuits and gravy are a hearty breakfast dish that you'll find in most restaurants and homes in the South. Soft, flaky biscuits are smothered in white gravy that is made from pork sausage drippings, milk, and flour. The gravy typically includes bits of the breakfast sausage, making it even more flavorful, and it is seasoned with black pepper. 

If you don't know how to make sausage gravy, there are an abundance of recipes online — or easy just-add-water packets at the grocery store can make a passable version (though you'll really want to try the homemade stuff at least once). As for the biscuits, when making them from scratch just isn't feasible, the Pillsbury ones you pop open and bake will work just fine. Just don't let a Southerner catch you taking shortcuts, though.

For centuries, people have been creating different forms of bread pudding around the world as a use for stale bread. Often made with bread, cream, eggs, sugar, spices, and raisins, modern bread pudding is a hearty comfort food that can really warm you up and fill you up on a dreary day. 

What can make bread pudding even better? Bourbon. In the South, they add a few (or, to be honest, more than a few) dashes of bourbon to an array of recipes, and bread pudding is one of them. Bourbon is combined with heavy cream and sugar to create a thick, warm sauce that is drizzled over the warm bread pudding right before serving.

Similar to Irish stew, burgoo is often served in the Midwest as well as the Southern parts of the United States. Typically made with at least three types of meat, it's a thick spicy stew that is chock-full of vegetables and pairs perfectly with cornbread. In Kentucky, burgoo is eaten at large gatherings, like Derby Day parties. However, it also makes a comforting family meal any time of the year. Give it an honest try before you draw your final breath, and you won't regret it.

Fresh catfish, which is fried until it's golden and crispy, is a simple dish that is available at many Southern restaurants. Catfish is a healthy fish to eat, as Livestrong says it's high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in mercury. If you can't find it at a restaurant near you, your grocery store may offer farmed catfish, which is also typically safe and clean. Catfish is easy to prepare: dip the fish in milk, dredge it in seasoned corn meal, and fry it in hot oil. It only takes a few minutes to get it golden brown on the outside and beautifully flaky on the inside. Add a squirt of lemon and a side of rice, then start chowing down.

Chicken fried steak, sometimes called country fried steak, is made from a tenderized cube steak that is battered like fried chicken, pan-fried, and then topped with white gravy. It is often served with mashed potatoes on the side. While you can find chicken fried steak in an array of Southern states, it's most closely associated with Texas. And, as with most things, the chicken fried steak is bigger in Texas. 

If you can't make your way to the Lone Star State, try to find a Texas grandmother to fix up some chicken fried steak for you. Delicious!

Yes, more chicken. Chicken pot pie is an iconic comfort food that can't be beat when done right. And "done right" doesn't mean grabbing a pie from your grocer's freezer section. A flaky, golden brown, homemade crust is essential for this Southern specialty. Inside, the chicken needs to be moist and plentiful. The vegetables must be neither too firm nor too mushy, and the gravy creamy but not goopy. 

Is it a challenge to find a good chicken pot pie? Yes, but it's worth it. You can find amazing chicken pot pies at various Southern restaurants around the country, or you can experiment with different recipes at home. There may be a lot of gummy crust and flavorless gravy to wade through, so once you find a good recipe, stick to it.

In the South, biscuits and gravy don't always feature white sausage gravy. Sometimes, hot, buttery biscuits are smothered in chocolate gravy instead. Chocolate gravy is just what it sounds like. To make it, you simply mix cocoa, flour, and sugar with milk, butter, and vanilla. Like all gravies, you want to eliminate the lumps, so you need to stir it well while cooking. The result is a sweet, but not too sweet, sauce that adds a dessert-like quality to any type of breakfast dish. In the South, chocolate gravy is typically poured over biscuits, but it can also be an awesome replacement for maple syrup to top your pancakes or waffles. You aren't living right if you don't have chocolate gravy at least once before you die.

You're probably thinking, "What are collard greens anyway?" Well, they're a leafy green vegetable not completely unlike turnip or mustard greens. Collard greens are often associated with soul food. They can be bitter and tough, if not cooked properly. After washing them well, chop the leaves into inch-long pieces, then simmer them in water. The key is to simmer, don't boil. People often throw a hambone, along with garlic and onion, into the pot for extra flavor. However, one of the best ways to cook collard greens is with bacon and onions. When they're done, you will have the perfect side dish for any Southern meal.

Red-eye gravy is made with the grease and drippings of pan-fried ham and black coffee. Sounds gross, right? Well, it's amazing. The coffee is used to deglaze the pan. When the thin sauce is poured into a bowl, the coffee sinks to the bottom and the result is a mixture that looks like a red human eye (even redder if you add red pepper). You can pour the simple gravy over your ham, potatoes, rice, or grits. However, many hungry folks choose to simply sop it up with biscuits.

As simple as it sounds, don't try to make this dish at home. Instead, hop in a pickup truck and head to one of the awesome waffle places across the county that makes fried chicken and waffles right. If you haven't experienced chicken and waffles before, it can seem like an unusual combination. But, truthfully, it would be a shame to miss this creation during your lifetime. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, perfectly seasoned fried chicken makes a heavenly partner for buttery, delicious waffles. This is an amazing meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a late-night snack — and in the South, it can be any of those.

Fried okra should certainly be on your must-try list. Southerners know everything is better when you fry it, and okra is no exception. To create these golden nuggets of veggie goodness, slice your okra, dip it in buttermilk, and then coat it in cornmeal and seasonings before deep-frying it. Some research claims okra is very good for you, but while that is debatable, this Southern veggie dish is delicious. You should definitely try it at least once.

The Hot Brown sandwich originated at the restaurant in The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1920s, and it is still served there. The Hot Brown is traditionally an open-faced turkey sandwich with tomatoes covered in Mornay sauce, baked, topped with bacon, and then broiled. Some people say it was originally created with peaches rather than tomatoes. Others swear it's a great hangover cure. All agree that its gooey, cheesy deliciousness should be experienced at least once in your life.

If you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary to fill you up, consider jambalaya. A favorite in Louisiana, jambalaya is a mix of sausage, chicken, seafood, and vegetables, such as onion, celery, and bell pepper, cooked in the same pot with rice and stock. Creole jambalaya contains tomatoes, while the Cajun version does not. However, both are extremely tasty. In Cajun jambalaya in rural Louisiana, you might find a variety of game meats used as well as alligator, crayfish, and even turtle.

When it comes to Southern comfort foods, you have a wide assortment of amazing desserts to choose from. One of them is good old fashioned banana pudding. This stuff isn't simply a bowl of Jell-O instant pudding from a box. It's expertly placed layers of creamy homemade pudding, fresh bananas, and vanilla wafers baked with meringue toasted over the top. If you're from the South, it's a near certainty that your grandma made this for you when you were a youngin'.

Southern pecan pie made with a splash (or a few splashes) of high-quality bourbon is hard to beat. If you don't have a restaurant in your area that makes killer pecan pie, it's not difficult to make at home. However, you'll want to experiment with the amounts of corn syrup, brown sugar, and bourbon until you find the combination your family loves. And don't worry. We're pretty sure that they won't mind you making pie after pie until you figure it out.

If you aren't from the South, then you probably aren't a connoisseur of pimento cheese. Basically, pimento cheese is a mixture of cheese (cheddar, American, or even Velveeta) mixed with mayo and pimentos. It can be spread on crackers, stuffed into celery, and scooped onto chips. Some people add it to scrambled eggs or grits, while others use it as a relish for brats, burgers, and hot dogs. In Louisiana, they make it spicy by adding hot sauce or cayenne pepper into the mix. The possibilities for pimento cheese are endless, and once you start incorporating it into your daily life, you won't stop for the rest of your living days.

Potlikker (or pot liquor) is the liquid that is left behind after you boil greens. So, what do you do with it other than pour it down the sink? Some people save potlikker and use it in place of stock in their next stew or soup, while others pour it over rice or potatoes. But the best thing to do with potlikker is drink it. Yep, drink it. That way you can reap all the nutrients that have boiled out of the greens.

Red beans and rice is a staple dish in Louisiana Creole cuisine. Traditionally, families used ham hocks and other bones along with vegetables and beans left over from Sunday dinner to create a scrumptious dish of spicy beans on Monday that were served over steamed white rice. Cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, and other seasonings can turn up the heat on this hearty meal to whatever level you like. Some people like to add in sausage or other meats, but if you boil bones for the base, you'll get the flavor you want without having to add anything else.

At least one time in your life, you must try grits, preferably with shrimp. Grits are a "love it or hate it" food. There's not often any middle ground. Shrimp and grits is a traditional dish in the South. And though you might consider shrimp a dinner food, this combination is often eaten for breakfast too. It's not guaranteed that you'll love grits, but you should find out.

Spoonbread is more like a savory pudding rather than a bread. Think of it like a cornbread custard, if you will. It's extremely popular in many states in the Southern U.S. In fact, in Kentucky, the town of Berea has an annual festival dedicated to spoonbread. The recipe for spoonbread is simple, consisting of not much more than cornmeal, butter, eggs, and milk. However, you can add in scallions, peppers, herbs, and other ingredients to boost the flavor profile.

Fried chicken is the quintessential Southern comfort food. While you may find fried chicken in many parts of the country and at KFC, finding flavorful fried chicken as good as what you'll find in the South can be a tall order.

The dish likely came to the South via Scottish immigrants. A version of Southern fried chicken appeared in an 1824 cookbook from Virginia, where the chicken is floured, salted, and fried in lard. Today's versions are floured or battered, often include a buttermilk marinade, and usually have a few spices besides just salt.

Lane cake is the boozy dessert your Southern aunt brings to holiday gatherings to shock all of your teetotaling relatives. Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton, Alabama, invented this cake that became a county fair prize winner and published the recipe in an 1898 cookbook. If you read "To Kill a Mockingbird,' you'll find it among the many Southern foods mentioned.

The cake is extremely rich and uses as many as 18 eggs between the cake and the frosting, depending on which recipe you use. It features three layers of butter cake topped and filled with a cooked frosting containing a dozen eggs, sugar, butter, raisins, pecans, coconut, vanilla, and half a cup of bourbon. Once you've tried it, you'll never forget it.

There's a great divide between those who grew up eating stuffing and those who grew up eating dressing. Many Southerners grew up with cornbread dressing, which starts as a more liquid cornmeal mixture baked into a moist but solid casserole.

Dressing may contain broken-up pieces of white bread or biscuits in addition to cornmeal. White or green onions, eggs, buttermilk, celery, cream of chicken soup, and broth are also common ingredients. Regional variations may include ingredients like chicken, sausage, or pecans. Some cooks add extra spices like sage, while others stick with basic salt and pepper. It's also not uncommon to find giblet gravy served alongside the dressing to add moisture.

German chocolate cake may sound like it's a European dessert. However, it originated with a Texas homemaker and was named after the creator of Baker's brand chocolate, Sam German. Since the recipe appeared in a Dallas newspaper in 1957, it's been a much-requested and baked dessert throughout the South.

The cake portion is rich with chocolate and buttermilk, while the frosting is a thick and gooey with coconut and pecans. Some people also layer the coconut pecan frosting with chocolate frosting. The results are decadent and far beyond an ordinary chocolate cake.

Chess cake (or chess bars) is another food that originated elsewhere and made it to the South via immigrants. The original was an English faux cheesecake that was popular in the 1600s. It originated as a way to make cheesecake for cooks who didn't have access to cream cheese or curds. The resulting chess cake is gooey, custardy, buttery, and delicious.

The modern South's version of chess cake includes layers of a baked cream cheese and egg topping spread over a gooey yellow cake. There are also other variations like chocolate and lemon. Chess cake is served cut into bars and is often dusted with confectioner's sugar.

While deviled eggs probably originated in ancient Rome, no Southern potluck, holiday meal, or picnic is complete without them (some people call them stuffed eggs). Even if you prepare a lot, they tend to go quickly, with some people devouring them in a single bite.

While there are plenty of variations on deviled eggs, the Southern version is quite simple. You stuff boiled egg white halves with a mixture of boiled egg yolks, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and sweet pickle relish. And there's often a sprinkling of bright red paprika over the top.

You may have noticed that a lot of Southern cakes contain coconut, so we'd be remiss not to mention the granddaddy of them all: coconut cake. Coconut cake came to the South via enslaved people who were acquainted with using coconuts for baking in their native countries.

There's no one standard recipe for Southern coconut cake. However, it's common for the cake itself to have a richness from coconut flavoring and ingredients like buttermilk or sour cream. Some bakers use a coconut-flavored cream cheese frosting, while others prefer a marshmallow frosting. However, they're all covered in lots of delicious, shaggy coconut shreds.