Basic Polenta Recipe (2024)

Italian grandmothers not withstanding, adding corn meal to boiling water is an act of self-inflicted masochism. I spent 35 years in the corn starch industry and corn meal is 90% corn starch. No one in that industry would ever add starch to boiling water. The result will be a lumpy mess, which will require either patience or a hom*ogenizer to smoothen it. Simply slurry the meal in cold water and heat it to boiling with periodic stirring and hold for 15-30 minutes. Try it; you'll like it.

For 25 years I have been making oven polenta--easiest recipe ever and needs no "minding". In a large pot or oven-proof bowl, put one cup of cornmeal. Add 4 (+ or -) cups of water or stock or milk or combo. Add teaspoon of Kosher salt. Add (optional) a "knob" of butter. Give a stir. Put in oven at 350 (no need to pre-heat). Cook 30 minutes. Stir again. Cook 15+ minutes til nearly all the liquid is absorbed. Stir. Voila! Polenta to use in any recipe. EASY!

Joe is absolutely correct. No way can you add polenta to hot boiling water without creating a mess. The corn flour needs to be added to cold water as he instructed. I have been doing it like this for years as have my Itslian ancestors.

Adding the corn meal into boiling water in a slow and steady stream with left hand while whisking with the right hand has worked perfectly for my 20+ years of polenta making. Maybe some folks just don't have the patience for "slow and steady".

I don't understand everybody's excitement about adding polenta to boiling water. I have done it a million times and it works like a charm. Never one lump in sight. Besides: there are many ways to rome. AND: fot the ever- present "grandmother-tradition-etc.-killer-argument": just because one is a grandmother doesn' t mean one is automatically right.Like somebody wise once said: " it is possible to do something the wrong way for a very long time"

This will be heresy for some, but I gave up cooking polenta on the stove or in the oven when I discovered it could be perfectly cooked in a microwave. Same ratio liquid to corn meal, i.e. 4 or 5 to one for soft or firm results. Cook 8 minutes on high (in 900-1000 watt unit) and stop to stir every 2 minutes. I typically add a knob of butter and most often use stock and stir in grated parmesan at the end along with some herbs. Turns out perfectly every time.

I sprinkled the cornmeal into the boiling water while whisking and it went in smooth as silk! The texture is wonderful. I can't believe I made it just using plain old cornmeal. Wonderful. This is the best recipe I've found. I mixed in some Parmesan and served it with pan fried Portabello mushrooms and a side of sauteed peppers. Too delicious to describe. Thank you for this wonderful yet simple recipe!

Your recipe is what I would call "White Bread & Mayonnaise" polenta.
If you would like to try it Italian style: Pour the polenta onto a very large serving platter immediately after it is finished cooking; then cover the polenta with a tomato sauce (a meat sauce is best) and then add cooked Italian-style sausages (whole or sliced). Other toppings (as on a pizza) can be delicious as well. Allow guests to serve themselves from the large plate.

I had polenta last night with ratatouille with fresh tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, and eggplant from the garden or farmer's market. Cooking the polenta for about an hour makes for an amazing flavor, with butter and some parmesan! Tonight leftovers will be a torta, polenta layered with leftover ratatouille, fresh mozzarella and parmesan, and heated in the oven. (even if the heat index is 103 today!)

I took Joe's advice and started the polenta out cold. The only other change that I made was to the liquid. I used 2 cups chicken stock, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of half and half. Velvety smooth and delicious. I served it with the Pressure Cooker Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine from this site. Will definitely make again!

In a large pot or oven-proof bowl, put one cup of cornmeal. Add 4 (+ or -) cups of water or stock or milk or combo. Add teaspoon of Kosher salt. Add (optional) a "knob" of butter. Give a stir. Put in oven at 350 (no need to pre-heat). Cook 30 minutes. Stir again. Cook 15+ minutes til nearly all the liquid is absorbed. Stir. Voila! Polenta to use in any recipe. EASY!

I'm Italian and have always added polenta to a hot boiling liquid. The trick is to add and incorporate just a bit at a time and keep repeating until all of it is incorporated into the liquid. Doing it this way I never get lumps.

I always reduce the amount of water by half a cup and add that amount of milk. Also add a little butter. To my tsdte it is yum!

Huge quantity. Soft takes a lot of water and butter. Firm TBD

Cooked as directed. I had no problem whisking in the polenta into boiling liquid. I used the fifth cup of water, adding it 1/4 cup at a time about five minutes apart the last 20 minutes. I cooked it over a double boiler so I didn’t have to worry about it scorching between stirs. Added 3 tbsps of butter and a heaping half cup of Parmesan finely grated with a microplane. Very soft and tasty. I do prefer using half milk and half water to cook, makes it a bit creamier. Served w/ home spaghetti sauce

I added a third cup Parmesan and a little milk at the end of the cooking. After the polenta was fully cooked I cooled in an 8x8 pan. Then cut it into 10 rectangles. I sprinkled each piece with parmesan and heated it in the oven just prior to serving dinner. If you have a small household the polenta “bars” are easy to freeze and use later.

I liked suggestions to cook in the microwave, but they didn't allow enough time. As we learned in "My Cousin Vinny," it takes at LEAST 20 minutes, and that's just for grits. I whisked 1C polenta with 4C cold water & stock, salt, butter, in a large bowl, microwaved to a boil with occasional stirring, covered and let stand 30 min. The water was completely absorbed by then. Microwaved about 10 min. more minutes on high, stirring every 2-3 min. Stirred in the cheese and let stand 15 min. Excellent!

Forget all the stirring and work. Look up online recipes for instant pot polenta, which are much, much easier. Basically: Mix four cups water with one cup polenta, and salt to taste (and some oil or butter if you want). Cook in instant pot on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes, then manually vent the instant pot. Whisk polenta for half a minute or so. Voila, creamy no-hassle polenta.

Don't know what people are talking about regarding adding cornmeal to the boiling water. I have never made polenta before, but followed the recipe as written. I used a whisk to stir cornmeal into boiling water while GRADUALLY adding to water. I suspect the problem people have is maybe they dumped all the cornmeal in at once, then went to look for a whisk before stirring. If you slowly add while whisking, it works

Adding it to boiling water ends in a lumpy mess. Do what Joe said. If you're reading this because you didn't read Joe's comment first and you're trying to work out, "how do I get myself out of this lumpy conundrum I've created for myself?" - a stick blender is your friend.

Ridiculously easy and ridiculously delicious. No issue at all with the method in the recipe. Could have eaten a bowl on its own, but it was perfect for short ribs.

While following this recipe, except I only had course corn meal so I ground it in my spice grinder to a finer cut, I read the comments and as a result at the twenty minute mark I switched from water to chicken stock, and then eventually a tablespoon of my tomato sauce and finally 2 tsps of my in-house harissa and it ended up being delicious. Seems folks like to adamant about their preferred method, but the goal is delicious polenta fully cooked and I got there.

My mother made a similar recipe, salt only. She chilled the polenta, covered, in a bread pan, overnight. She sliced it about 3/4” thick, lightly floured it and fried it in butter as you would French toast. Served with warm maple syrup it was an inexpensive lunch for our large family and is still a favorite comfort food for me 60+ years on. My husband detests it; otherwise he is definitely a keeper. I was a young adult before I learned there were other ways to eat polenta.

Polenta is just another name for grits! Everyone has their favorite method. I prefer the corn flavor and stick to water adding a little milk at the end to soften the corn.

Don't ever start pouring the cornmeal into boiling water.Pour it into tepid water and then slowly raise the heatso that the cornmeal starts to slightly bubble. Then lowerthe heat and

Creamy polenta dinner:1 cup instant polenta 2 cups milk 2 cups half and half1 cup Fontina cheese cubed 1 Burrata (with whey)1 pkg Merguez sausage or other sausage Heat milk and half and half till just simmering. Stirring constantly add polenta in a thin stream. Add Fontina cubes, stir, add a half teaspoon of salt. Add Burrata and it’s whey. Meanwhile, cook sausage. Polenta is ready in minutes. Serve immediately with sliced sausage on top. Serve with side vegetable or salad.

Ha! I add one part corn meal to three parts water, add salt and pepper, and MICROWAVE it for eight minutes, two minutes at a time, stirring after each round. At the four minute mark I add butter and maybe bacon or sausage. It turns out great. I am a Southerner, and also of Italian descent. We call this dish "grits." Topped with a fried egg and some grated cheese it is the breakfast food of the gods. For dinner, I serve it with braised lamb or beef. Mangia, y'all!

Polenta should be cooked in a copper pot. The water is boiling with coarse marine salt added when the flour is added slowly whisking constantly to avoid any lump. it is better to use at least 50% of coarse flour (farina bramata) for better texture with ratio of 500 g flour/2 liter of water and 1 tbs of coarse salt. Stir with wooden spoon for about 50' and turn on a wooden table and let it rest for about 10' covered with a cloth. Cut slices with thread. No addition of butter or oil is necessary.