How to cook polenta

How to cook with polenta

Polenta is a real ‘love it or hate it’ ingredient – but perhaps the haters just haven’t had it served correctly. We talk you through authentic, Italian-style preparation of this thrifty cornmeal product, plus exciting ways to serve it.

Polenta gets a bit of a bad press, but then again maybe it’s just misunderstood – of the many Italian-origin products on British supermarket shelves, it’s not one we’ve embraced as enthusiastically as pasta, pesto or pizza.

What is polenta?

What kinds of polenta are available?

Traditional polenta can take up to 50 minutes to cook, depending on the coarseness. There are more opinions on how to cook polenta the ‘proper’ Italian way than there are grains of the stuff in a packet, but generally it’s cooked in boiling water or milk. It takes up to an hour for the starch to break down to a smooth consistency, and importantly it requires regular stirring – treat it a little like a risotto, i.e. don’t take your eyes off the prize. If you want to adhere to the unspoken Italian rulebook, cook your polenta in a copper pot.

Quick-cook or instant polenta takes just a few minutes to make as it comes part cooked, but purists may sniff at such a shortcut. This varient is, however, ideal for using in cakes. Polenta also comes ready-made in tubes or blocks, ready to be sliced and reheated.

You’re most likely to find traditional yolk-yellow polenta in standard supermarkets, but if you branch out into specialist delicatessens you may find more delicate white polenta. Favoured in northern Italian regions like Venezia, it’s delicious served with seafood or fish, while hardier yellow polenta is best served with rustic meaty ragu sauces.

How to cook perfect polenta

As mentioned above, the key to perfectly cooked, smooth polenta is to keep that wooden spoon rotating. Our food editor Cassie advises that when you add the polenta to the pan, make sure the water is boiling, then continually whisk it while you pour in the polenta in a thin steady stream. Add flavourings once it’s cooked – traditionally, a generous knob of butter and a handful of grated Parmesan are added to make it extra creamy, but the key is plenty of seasoning.

Other ways of cooking with polenta…

To add crunch

Fine polenta makes a great coating for anything that requires a satisfying crunch. Try polenta dusted onto potatoes before roasting, or on fish or chicken. One particularly effective way of using it for bite is by adding it as a Southern-style coating for fried chicken.

As chips

Ready-cooked polenta comes in a firm block, which is an ideal shape for cutting into chips, which can then be oven cooked. Assistant food editor, Miriam always cooks extra polenta and pours it into an oiled dish to set, mimicking a pack of ready-made polenta, but giving you more control over the flavour.

In bread

Cornbread certainly gives a regular white sliced loaf a run for its money. Dense, moist and daffodil-yellow, it’s ideal dunked into American-style chowders and Creole gumbo, or with Caribbean curries. This recipe is totally gluten-free and contains a fiery chilli hit, although before you get started remember that the polenta needs a couple of hours to soak before baking.

In cake

Polenta can be used in cake in two ways. The first is to use polenta in place of part of the flour content, giving the cake a golden colour and crumbly consistency. Second is to use it in place of flour altogether, making it an ideal choice for those following a gluten-free diet as it’s likely to be cheaper than specialist flours.

As a base

Try using instant polenta as a semi-set base for a baked tart. Cook it quickly then spread it onto a baking tray in a 2-3cm-thick layer. Top with Italian sausage and cheese, fresh herbs or sautéed garlic mushrooms.

As a mash substitute

Cooked using the ‘boil and stir’ method above, polenta makes a fine alternative to mash, especially if you want to cut back on heavy spuds. Add as many flavourings as you like, although you might prefer to leave it neutral and add a super-tasty, saucy topping like mushroom or sausage ragout.

As stuffing

Try baking ready-made, cubed polenta into a bacon and cream stuffing – it works to add body to the stuffing in place of traditional breadcrumbs, and it’s delicious served with chicken flavoured with hard herbs, lemon, fennel and lots of delicious caramelised garlic.

As pudding

A traditional Italian dessert to make your tastebuds (and arteries) quiver is deep-fried polenta slices tossed in sugar and lemon zest and served with a dollop of mascarpone. Come hither dolce principe!

Have you been convinced of the perks of polenta? We’d like to hear your thoughts on our serving suggestions – and whether you think you have the knack for making it better than the most experienced nonna…

Smooth and Creamy Polenta Recipe

A definitive guide—and some myth debunking—to making the best possible polenta at home.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

There are a lot of rules people say you need to follow to make polenta, like using a wooden spoon, stirring in only one direction, adding the polenta to boiling water, and stirring constantly. And yet, of all the things worth knowing about how to cook great polenta, those might be some of the least important (and, frankly, partially incorrect) lessons.

Forget those. What’s really important is using the right ratio of liquid to cornmeal and allowing the cornmeal to properly hydrate.

What Is Polenta, Anyway?

Polenta, in short, is a cornmeal porridge that’s a common dish in Northern Italy. Long before corn was brought from the Americas to Europe, polenta was already a staple food—it just wasn’t made from corn, obviously. The name originally comes from the Latin word for «pearled grain» (like barley), and the dish, a gruel that could be made with all sorts of grains and legumes, predates the Roman Empire.

Today, polenta is no longer associated with those other grains—just corn (or, in the case of polenta taragna, cornmeal mixed with buckwheat). While there are certain heirloom varieties of corn, like otto file and biancoperla, which some prefer over the more generic stuff, for all practical purposes, any medium-ground or coarsely ground cornmeal will do. Even grits, which are often ground more coarsely than polenta and are sometimes made with a different variety of corn (dent instead of flint), are a perfectly acceptable substitute in just about any situation requiring polenta.

That’s the first thing that’s helpful to know: Polenta doesn’t have to be made with a product that says «polenta» on the package. There’s nothing wrong with using a product designed exclusively for polenta, but you can just as easily use any medium- or coarse-ground cornmeal.

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

For instance, the above photo shows an imported package of Italian polenta as well as a bag of stoneground cornmeal from Bob’s Red Mill. The Bob’s Red Mill stuff makes no mention of polenta anywhere on the bag, and yet it’s totally fine for making polenta. (The company also makes a product that it does sell as polenta, but it’s not stoneground.)

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

The biggest difference between the two, in fact, is the grinding method. In this case, the imported polenta has a more consistent grind, while the Bob’s Red Mill product is stoneground, producing a more irregular texture. Stoneground grains can range from a powdery flour to large, grit-size pieces. Bear in mind that there’s no connection between origin and grind type: You can find imported Italian polenta that’s stoneground, and domestic stuff with a more consistent grind size. In the end, it’s just a matter of personal preference. The consistent grind will produce a more uniform polenta, while the stoneground cornmeal will have a more varied texture, potentially with some large, firm bits of chaff mixed in.

A lot of stores sell quick or instant polenta, which is made either from an incredibly fine grind of cornmeal or from precooked polenta that’s been dried and processed into a flour that can be rapidly reconstituted and put on the table within minutes. While I recognize the convenience a product like that offers, I’ll be honest: I’ve never met a quick-cooking polenta I’ve liked. Personally, I’d rather just not eat polenta than settle for that stuff.

The Real Rules of Making Polenta

So, what is important when you’re making polenta? Let’s take a look.

The Liquid

Perhaps the biggest decision, aside from the exact type of cornmeal itself, is what type of liquid you’re going to use for the polenta. Years ago, when I worked for the Tuscan chef Cesare Casella, I spent a week or so cooking with his mom. One day I asked her about making polenta with milk, and she looked at me in complete horror. No, no, no, she told me, you don’t make polenta with milk, ever—you use water!

Not being as bound to tradition as she is, I don’t necessarily agree that water is the only acceptable choice for polenta. Milk, for instance, makes an incredibly rich and creamy polenta that’s a lot more of an indulgence all on its own, while chicken stock infuses the polenta with much more flavor. They’re both perfectly good options, depending on what you want.

Still, while I like polenta made with either milk or stock, water is my personal favorite. First, because it creates a more neutral polenta that allows the corn flavor to shine through.

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Second, polenta made with milk can often be too rich. It reminds me of another experience I had while working for Cesare. At the time, he had a very talented cook working as his chef de cuisine, who had a tendency to load just about everything with cream, cheese, and other heavy ingredients. One night, Cesare took me outside and said, «Look, that guy is a very good cook, but he’s not thinking about an important part of cooking: Food can’t just be judged by how it tastes in your mouth; you also have to consider how it leaves you feeling once you’re done eating. Delicious food that makes you ill isn’t necessarily good food.»

I think about that lesson a lot with things like polenta. Sure, you can load it with milk (and then, often, finish it with butter and tons of cheese). It will taste good, but it’ll also leave you feeling pretty gross afterward. More often than not, I opt for water instead, which, when the polenta is cooked right, still leads to incredibly creamy (but less heavy) results.

The Polenta Ratio

Once you’ve picked up your polenta and decided on a liquid, the next question is what ratio to use. I’ve seen far too many recipes that mess this up, so here’s what you need to know: Any recipe that uses less than four parts water to one part polenta by volume should be approached with extreme caution. I have yet to see such a low ratio produce good results, unless it’s with instant or quick polenta. Frankly, depending on the grind of the cornmeal, even a 4:1 ratio can be too low; I almost always use a ratio of five parts water to one part polenta by volume.

The problem with using less liquid than that is that it almost invariably fails to fully hydrate the cornmeal: Your polenta may thicken faster and appear to be done sooner, but the little bits of dried corn will retain an unpleasant crunch. In essence, too little water makes polenta that’s undercooked and gritty.

Using more liquid does extend the cooking time, but I like to think of it as the proper cooking time, not a long cooking time.

The Cooking Time and How to Shorten It

So, if we’re using a proper ratio of liquid to cornmeal, the next question is how long to cook it. This is another area that a lot of people get wrong all too often, serving the polenta while it’s still very runny. Of course, there’s space for personal preference, and if you want a runny polenta, I won’t argue. But I’d like to share one more story about my time working for Cesare that may change how you think about it.

One day, I was cooking some polenta at his restaurant, and I pulled it from the fire a little too soon. Cesare walked over, lifted a spoonful of polenta from the pot, then tipped it so the polenta flowed off the spoon in a thick stream back into the pot. «You want your polenta to look like snot?» he asked me. No, I realized, I do not. I’ll never look at runny polenta the same way again.

So what is a good texture? As Max put it one day, when he ate some of the polenta I was making in the office, «It’s like soft-scrambled eggs.»

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

He’s exactly right. For me, the best polenta texture in most circumstances is soft and moist, spreadable, spoonable and creamy, and just barely flowing.

With the right ratio of liquid, it can take a while to get there, so here’s another warning: Beware any polenta recipe that uses medium or coarse cornmeal and specifies a cooking time of less than 45 minutes. Honestly, an hour is even more realistic.

Now, as I said above, you don’t actually have to stir the polenta constantly for a full hour as it cooks, but it does require frequent attention. But here’s the good news: In the course of my testing, I stumbled on a way to cut the cooking time roughly in half. All it requires is a little forethought.

The trick is to presoak the polenta in its liquid for several hours before cooking it. This step helps fully hydrate the cornmeal before you even start cooking it, which in turn drastically cuts down on the cooking time. By presoaking, I was able to fully cook polenta that otherwise would have taken an hour in just 30 minutes.

Alternative Methods For Cooking Polenta

As part of my testing, I played with a few other methods of making polenta, including an oven method, a double-boiler method, and a microwave method.

Oven Method

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

The recipes for oven-made polenta that I found online called for combining polenta with water in a baking dish, then cooking it, in some cases covered and in others uncovered, until done. I tried this uncovered and got the above result: soupy polenta, with a dry skin stretching across the top. Not appealing.

Covering helps mitigate this somewhat, but you still have to stir the polenta from time to time to prevent lumps. It works fine, but doesn’t result in much effort saved.

Double-Boiler Method

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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

I thought a double boiler might help reduce the need for stirring, since the steam heat from below won’t cause the polenta to scorch on the bottom of the saucepan. Once again, though, a skin on top of the polenta became a problem, and I found myself stirring it nearly as frequently as polenta cooked directly over the flame. Plus, it took a while longer to cook, since the heat was gentler. This really didn’t seem worth it to me.

Microwave Method

Cook’s Illustrated has published a microwave version, in which polenta and water are combined in a large Pyrex measuring cup, then cooked, covered, for about 12 minutes total.

The method works, but I have some reservations. First, the Cook’s Illustrated recipe uses a ratio that’s slightly too low in water (three and a half cups water per cup of cornmeal), producing polenta that’s still a little gritty when done. I’d recommend bumping the water up to a full four cups at the very least. Second, the water has a tendency to boil over in the microwave, which is why the CI recipe calls for a two-quart Pyrex measuring cup—nearly twice the total volume of ingredients. It’s an unusually large Pyrex measuring cup; we don’t have one that size in the SE test kitchen, nor do I have one at home. Of course, you can use some other microwave-safe cooking vessel that’s large enough, but it does put a limit on how much polenta you can make in the microwave, since you need a vessel that’s significantly larger than the polenta and liquid it’s holding, lest it spill over during cooking.

Finally, this method, too, requires stirring between blasts in the microwave to keep the polenta smooth and lump-free. Still, it’s a good method to have in your back pocket, especially if your stovetop is crowded with pots and pans.

Most of the time, though, I’ll stick with the stovetop method, since I like being able to watch the polenta as it cooks. Once finished, it can be served right away, with braised meats or cheese like gorgonzola dolce, or chilled, cut into pieces, and seared, grilled, or fried.

Cooking Polenta: 10 Ways to Kick up your Polenta

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Golden yellow polenta, or cornmeal, is the ultimate Italian comfort food, but there’s a whole lot more to this versatile grain than simply turning it into a warming side dish. We take a closer look.

The classic hearty and filling winter warmer porridge-like polenta originally hails from northern Italy.

Left to cool and solidify there’s a whole lot more you can do with it, like baking, frying and grilling, or simply substitute flour for polenta in baking, and of course it’s gluten free.

Here are 10 tasty ways to kick up your polenta in everyday cooking, from crunchy coatings to tasty pizzas and cakes to delicious desserts.

How to Cook Polenta

1. First up here’s the recipe how to make polenta the traditional way, at its simplest, most hearty and filling. For the ultimate comfort dish try topping the cooked polenta with creamy gorgonzola.

2. Polenta for a Gluten Free Breakfast

Set yourself up for the day with a warming bowl of soft polenta smothered with butter, sugar, cinnamon and drenched in slightly sweetened milk: the once traditional hearty breakfast of many Italian farmers.

3. Polenta in Cakes

Uncooked polenta lends itself easily to baking, adding moistness and density to cakes, although the fineness of the grain will determine any graininess in the mouthfeel.

Amor polenta, is a traditional Italian cake made from polenta which is baked like a sponge cake and often comes sprinkled with chocolate. Food blogger Emiko Davies has her own take on the classic with this pear and polenta cake recipe (pictured below).

Image: Emiko Davies

4. Crunchy Coating

Calamari, chicken, rabbit and potatoes are always irresistible with a light crunchy coating. Try using polenta instead of breadcrumbs or even baking a polenta crust.

5. Polenta Chips

Put some crunch into your polenta by turning them into chips. Try this elegant recipe for salt cod croquettes where polenta chips add the finishing touches to the dish.

6. Polenta Lasagna

7. Polenta Pizza

If you’re going gluten free, you don’t have to say farewell to pizza altogether, not when polenta’s around. This polenta pizza recipe from the BrownEyedBaker also doubles up nicely as an appetizer or buffet snack.

8. Polenta Bread

Polenta is also a great turned into some hearty gluten-free bread. Here’s a cornbread with bacon and sweetcorn recipe in which you can substitute polenta.

9. Polenta Stuffing

Not only can polenta be used as a coating, it can also be used as a gluten-free stuffing. Add it to a sausage stuffing mix to stuff chicken or turkey,

10. For Dessert

Polenta may seem like it’s all about the savoury, but spare a thought for it come dessert time. These tasty banana and polenta desserts baked in ramekins make an ideal and easy supper dessert.

All About Polenta – And an Easy, No-Stir Polenta Recipe

Polenta is a delicious, easy-to-make, gluten-free dish that can be stand on its own or serve as the start of some amazingly delicious meals.

Some people are intimidated by cooking polenta, but here is a fool-proof method that is so easy even a 4-year-old could do it.

But First … What is Polenta?

Polenta is a dish common in Northern Italy that’s made from a special kind of ground yellow corn. It’s usually eaten with a topping, such as a ragù or cheese.

It can be served freshly cooked and soft, or it can be poured into a dish, cooled, and then sliced and fried or baked.

Is Polenta Different than Grits?

While it looks similar to grits (and sometimes has the word grits added to the label), polenta is made from flint corn, which is a completely different kind of corn than the corn used to make grits (dent corn).

Flint corn has a different flavor and mouthfeel than dent corn. And flint corn holds its texture better than dent corn and so the end result is less mushy.

Can I Use Cornmeal Instead of Polenta?

The name “polenta” actually refers to the final dish, not the yellow grain in the package that the dish is made from. When you buy a package labeled “polenta”, you are actually buying cornmeal made from flint corn with just the right grind for making polenta. (That is, if it is labeled correctly … ahem, get with it food companies.)

That said, in a pinch, medium- or coarsely-ground cornmeal can serve as a stand-in for polenta.

Don’t use finely ground cornmeal to make polenta. The cooked product will be pasty.

Polenta comes in medium-ground and coarsely-ground. If the package doesn’t say what the grind is, it’s probably medium.

The Secret to Creamy Polenta

The secret to creamy polenta is to use at least 4 cups of liquid for every 1 cup of polenta.

Many polenta recipes call for 3 cups of liquid to 1 cup of polenta. This ratio allows the polenta to cook in about 30 minutes or less, but the end product will lack that rich, creamy texture that you’ll get if you use more liquid. In addition, cooking grains thoroughly makes them healthier and easier to digest.

Should I Use Water or Milk or Broth When Making Polenta?

If you plan to serve the polenta by itself or as a breakfast cereal, I suggest using milk as the liquid.

What kind of milk? I’ve tested this with several varieties of non-dairy milk (like almond milk) and, while they each have a different flavor (depending on the milk used), they’ve all been tasty. I’ve never tried this with dairy milk, but I think it would be fine.

If you are making a savory polenta dish with a topping like beans, meat, or cheese, then water or broth (or stock) will work well. Obviously, the broth (or stock) will add more flavor – which is sometimes desirable (if your toppings are simply flavored) and sometimes not (if you need a more neutral base because your toppings have a dominant flavor).

When in doubt, just use water.

What about Quick-Cooking Polenta?

Instant polenta or quick-cooking polenta is pre-cooked and dried so it can be prepared in just a few minutes. However, the flavor and consistency is lacking. And to add to the confusion, some polenta that is labeled quick-cooking isn’t really. Regardless of the variety you choose, I recommend long-cooking (see methods below) for the best flavor and consistency.

How to Cook Polenta

Most recipes tell you to bring the water to a boil, and then add polenta in a thin stream, whisking constantly. In my opinion, this is just a lot of extra trouble. Below are the two methods I use that are a whole lot easier.

Method #1: No-Stir, Slow Cooker Polenta

Cooking polenta does not need to be a long and laborious task. This is my favorite way to cook polenta. No stirring. No worrying. Put in ingredients. Come back in a few hours and it’s ready!

Polenta 101: How to Cook Polenta, with Recipes

Polenta is perhaps best known as a northern Italian dish, but it is also a staple in the cuisines of neighboring countries like Switzerland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, and a favorite side dish in Argentina. And it’s a boon to plant-based cooks the world over. Here’s everything you need to know to cook with this versatile ingredient.

What Is Polenta?

Polenta is the term used to describe cornmeal when it’s cooked with a liquid (usually water) to make a hot cereal or porridge.

Making polenta is similar to making oatmeal, only it calls for more liquid, more time, and more stirring (for the traditional preparation method). The result is a smooth porridge that is unbelievably versatile. It can be served immediately as a creamy base for sauces and stews. It can also be spread in a pan, cooled until firm, then cut into rounds, squares, or cubes and baked, grilled, or (air-)fried.

Types of Polenta

Because polenta is just another name for cornmeal, you can make it with any type of cornmeal—it doesn’t have to be labeled “polenta.” The taste and consistency will depend on the type of cornmeal or polenta you use; the cornmeal that is labeled “polenta” or “corn grits” has been ground to yield a porridge-like consistency. Coarse-ground will be thick and textured; finely ground will turn out smooth and creamy.

The traditional method for cooking on a stovetop takes 45 minutes to an hour and requires regular—or constant, according to some purists—stirring. Cooks in a hurry can turn to one of these convenience products for faster results:

Pre-Cooked

Sold in tubes, this option can usually be found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket; you may also find shelf-stable tube-style polenta in the dry pasta aisle. Advantage: It’s ready to eat and easy to slice. Caveat: Tube-style usually contains added sodium, so go easy on the salt in the rest of your dish when using it.

Instant

Pre-cooked and dehydrated, instant polenta just needs to be rehydrated with boiling water. Advantage: It’s ready in 5 to 7 minutes.

Quick-Cooking

“Quick-cooking polenta” can refer to instant polenta or a fine-grain cornmeal that cooks in less time. Advantage: It tends to have more flavor than instant polenta and a shorter cooking time than regular.

Grits vs. Polenta: What’s the Difference?

Polenta is sometimes called “corn grits,” which can easily be confused with “hominy grits,” a hot cereal that’s a staple in the American South. While both are made from corn, they undergo different processing steps.

Polenta/cornmeal is made by simply grinding whole or degerminated corn kernels. Hominy, on the other hand, undergoes nixtamalization—a process in which corn kernels are soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution to remove the hulls. (Nixtamalization is also used to make masa harina, the flour used to make corn tortillas.) The hominy can then be dried and ground into a meal that is used to make hominy grits.

Polenta and hominy grits have similar nutrition profiles. Their preparation instructions are slightly different, but cooked grits can be used in place of cooked polenta, and vice versa, in most recipes.

Is Polenta Gluten-Free?

It is naturally gluten-free, but cross-contamination can be an issue. If you have gluten intolerance or sensitivity, look for a variety that is labeled as certified gluten-free.

How to Cook Polenta

The basic ratio for cooking is 1 part polenta to 5 parts liquid (water or broth). Once you know that, it’s just a matter of choosing the cooking technique below that best suits your kitchen style.

Stovetop

The stovetop method is best for controlling consistency and for making large batches. Whisk together 1 cup dry polenta and 5 cups water in a medium saucepan, cover, and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat 45 minutes to 1 hour, whisking every 5 to 10 minutes.

Microwave

If you’re making a small batch (e.g., just for two), you can simply use a microwave. Whisk together ½ cup polenta and 2½ cups water in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover, and microwave on high power 7 to 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.

Instant Pot/Multicooker

Multicookers offer a no-fuss way to make old-fashioned polenta in a jiff. Whisk together 1 cup polenta and 5 cups water in the insert of the Instant Pot or other multicooker: Seal the lid and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. Release pressure naturally.

Slow Cooker

Known for their set-it-and-forget-it ease, slow cookers make deliciously creamy polenta. Whisk together 1 cup polenta and 5 cups water in a slow cooker. Cook 3 hours on low.

Things to Do with Polenta

The ultra-versatile grain can be used in virtually any kind of dish, from sweet to savory.

Polenta Recipes to Try

These healthy, delicious recipes from Forks Over Knives showcase the grain’s versatility. Whether you’re craving sweet or savory, there’s a dish to suit your mood.