27 Creative Food Mash-Ups You'll Wish You Tried Earlier

Crab Rangoon Mozzarella Sticks

Our readers go wild for this delicious food mash-up. We've taken the cream cheese-and-crab goodness of the popular Asian takeout appetizer and turned it into a pub favorite: the mozzarella cheese stick! This irresistibly cheesy, melty, and crunchy snack will disappear from the table fast.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Banana Bread

This food mash-up invokes the memorable flavors of your childhood brown bag lunch. Rather than slathering sliced bread with peanut butter and jelly, we incorporate them into a delicious loaf of banana bread. The streusel-peanut topping makes an impressive (and tasty) finish. Keep this delicious mash-up on hand for a quick breakfast.

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Chicken Cheeseburger Shepherd's Pie

Enjoy a one-pot meal with this mash-up of a juicy cheeseburger and shepherd's pie. Although it looks most like the latter, you'll find the flavors of a burger here thanks to the addition of dill pickles, mustard, and cheese. To keep things on the leaner side, we used ground chicken, but ground beef or turkey are equally delicious options.

Carrot Cake Refrigerator Oatmeal

Shredded carrot, crushed pineapple, maple syrup, and cinnamon make every bite of these homemade overnight oats taste like the carrot cake you crave. The yogurt base is even a bit reminiscent of cream cheese frosting! Top with toasted walnuts for extra crunch and a boost of antioxidants.

Korean Chicken Tacos

Bring Asian-inspired heat to taco night with this amazing food fusion. Boneless chicken breast is coated with a sweet and spicy sauce, made of lime, soy sauce, brown sugar, and garlic, for a quick-and-easy dinner—it takes just 25 minutes to make! Use kimchi as a topper for a fiery, fermented kick with every bite.

Lasagna Pasta Chip Nachos

Nachos and lasagna are delicious on their own, so you know this Italian- and Mexican-inspired mash-up is going to score a spot in your recipe repertoire. What are pasta chips? Cooked pasta that's fried to crispy perfection, creating a unique base for nacho-like toppings: ground sausage, pasta sauce, and cheese. Sprinkle with fresh basil and you've got a delicious pile of nachos to bring a new zing to your pasta night.

Jalapeño Popper Chicken Soup

How do you make your favorite fried appetizer a meal? Turn it into a soup! This creamy soup features the spicy jalapeño popper flavor you love but adds chicken and bacon for a food mash-up you'll be craving on cool winter days. Bonus: This quick soup only takes 30 minutes to make with the help of already-cooked rotisserie chicken.

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Banh Mi Pizza

Ah, banh mi. The trendy sandwich, complete with pork, cucumber, carrots, and jalapeños, hails all the way from Vietnam. Enjoy it slice-style by serving its fixings on a pizza crust. Show off your artistic skills by drizzling sriracha sauce and Japanese mayo as a pretty finish for this mash-up pie.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

For a comforting meal in a bowl, look no further than this belly-warming mash-up. Creamy chicken soup plus quick, buttery biscuits equals a fast weeknight meal that just might remind you of eating a cozy potpie at your grandma's house.

S'mores Icebox Cake

Why mess with childhood flavor perfection? Because a treat as tasty as s'mores warrants as many iterations as possible. We've taken the classic graham-and-marshmallow sandwich and turned it into an easy, delicious frozen treat. With just 20 minutes of prep time, the hardest part is giving the cake enough time in the freezer before you dig in.

Pizza Quesadilla

No need to choose between Mexican and Italian. This pizzadilla (don't you love our food mash-up naming skills?) allows you to enjoy a bite of both in a handy tortilla package. It's a quick-and-easy after-school snack the kids will start requesting.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

Start with a boxed cake mix and end with a pie-flavor dessert that will take your taste buds on a trip to a sunny beach. A graham cracker crumble nods to the classic crust, while both the cream cheese filling and the buttercream showcase tangy lime juice. This sweet fusion recipe is a great make-ahead dessert, since you can store these cupcakes in the fridge up to three days.

Sushirito

Just when you thought sushi couldn't be any more fun, we turned it into a burrito. This popular food mash-up became a fan-favorite takeout dish in recent years, but you can easily make it at home. Drop the chopsticks and wrap up sushi rice, your protein of choice (e.g. crabmeat, tofu, chicken), and some veggies into a handheld sushi burrito for an unforgettable lunch.

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Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars

The sweet crackle of the crème brûlée topping takes these cheesecake bars to new levels of dessert awesomeness. With a simple homemade sugar cookie crust and that crowning brown sugar layer, your sweet tooth is guaranteed to be satisfied.

Deviled Egg Macaroni Pasta Salad

This food mash-up screams "potluck side dish." Rather than making both deviled eggs and macaroni salad, we combined them into one simple salad. With pickled red onions, hard-cooked eggs, and chopped sweet pickles, there's a lot to love about this top-rated macaroni salad.

Upside-Down Waffle and Egg Cups

This muffin tin breakfast recipe moves beyond mash-up territory. It's more like an amalgam of everything that makes breakfast worth eating. It includes waffles and eggs, but also gives sausage, cheese, and syrup a moment in the morning sun. Just add a side of orange juice and your breakfast is ready.

Baked Potato Pizza

Why eat a plain baked potato when you can eat it in pizza form? When it comes to the food mash-up, Guy Fieri is our go-to guy. For this recipe, the culinary rockstar put garlic potatoes on pizza, along with crispy bacon, tomato, bubbly cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil. You won't be picking anything off this pizza.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

This adorable cupcake perfectly embodies an iconic soda-shop treat: the root beer float. Pour a little root beer into the batter, then embellish the light-as-air frosting with root beer candies for double the soda-pop goodness. Boost the cute factor by adding a colorful straw to each sweet treat.

Peanut Butter and "Oreo" Brookies

Peanut butter and chocolate are known as a match made in heaven. This dessert mash-up capitalizes on that marriage with stunning success, combining peanut butter cookies and Oreo brownies into one seriously sweet cookie treat. The brownie batter and peanut butter batter are made separately, then a tablespoon of each are fused together. The resulting dessert is so good, you might have a hard time stopping at just one.

Mac and Cheese Dogs

You could eat mac and cheese as a side and be satisfied. Or you could load it on top of your hot dog, along with toasty bread crumbs and a dash of chili pepper, and be totally awestruck. We think these two childhood classics taste even better together, although we should warn you: You may need a knife and fork to consume.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Pie

No need to wait in line for your PSL. The quintessential drink of fall can now be enjoyed in the form of an indulgent pie. This perfect fusion starts as a traditional pumpkin pie but veers into latte territory when brewed espresso is added to the custard base. For an extra nod to the sweet coffee shop drink, we like our slices served with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and extra pumpkin pie spice.

Egg Roll Soup

The veggie-and-meat combo that fills wonton wrappers makes an equally delicious base for soup in this food mash-up. Pre-shredded carrots and quick-cooking ground pork allow this liquid meal to come together in 30 minutes flat. Don't worry, we wouldn't forget the crunch from those egg roll wrappers—we bake them and enjoy them as a crispy topper.

Cheesecake-Stuffed Peaches

For a slightly healthier take on cheesecake, try this magical food mash-up. Cinnamon-coated peaches and lush cream cheese partner up in this pre-portioned cheesecake treat you won't want to share. Simply pop them in the oven until their centers are bubbly and oozing with deliciousness.

Mimosa Pancakes

Have your mimosa and eat it, too! This creative pairing is perfect for a weekend brunch menu. Orange juice and champagne give the fluffy pancake batter an exciting bubbly twist. Prepare to impress the table even more with the homemade citrus-infused champagne glaze.

Pasta and Meatballs Meat Loaf

This isn't your mom's meat loaf. For this mash-up version of a classic, the ground beef and the pasta are combined into a single entrée— with buttery garlic bread as the vehicle for each mini meat loaf. Our mouths are watering just thinking about the first bite.

Baklava Monkey Bread

We'd never suggest giving up classic monkey bread for good. But we do highly advise giving this mash-up a try. We still used canned biscuits as the shortcut ingredient, but gave the whole thing a baklava-inspired upgrade with honey, cream, butter, and a hint of lemon zest. Baking this sweet treat in a cast-iron skillet allows the edges to caramelize beautifully.

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Strawberry Margarita Cheesecake Minis

Cocktails are often accused of being desserts in disguise. So why not go all in and make margaritas an actual dessert? The fresh, lip-smacking flavors of the drink (sweet strawberries and face-scrunching lime) meet cream cheese in these darling mini cheesecakes. Bake 'em in our salted-pretzel crusts.