Our Best Polenta Recipes

Look for stone-ground polenta or grits for this dish. Admittedly, they take a bit longer to cook, but the results are worth it, adding a creamier texture and hearty, nutty flavor to the dish.

Polenta is made when cornmeal is boiled in water, resulting in a grits-like consistency. Once this warm dish is made, it’s baked, grilled, fried, or served creamy, making it one of the most versatile dishes. Served as a side dish or main, we have 29 of the best recipes that feature just about every way to enjoy polenta.

Make this meal in forty minutes or less by chopping the herbs while the chicken cooks, and preparing the green beans while the polenta cooks. Instead of tarragon, you can use fresh sage or more thyme.

The polenta and onions may be prepared a few days in advance.

We love the versatility of this 25-minute entrée. It's a hearty choice for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

This meal is not just a pretty plate. It's quick, delicious, and will no doubt become a family favorite.

Ready in just 40 minutes, Oven-Fried Tilapia with Cheesy Polenta is a delicious and easy way to add fish to your weekly menu. For a crunch in the breading, toast the panko first.

Prepare polenta through step 2 up to two days ahead. Before serving, let the dish stand at room temperature one hour, cut polenta into triangles, and toast them at mealtime. Pork sausage gives them a wonderfully familiar, stuffing-like flavoring.

Creamy and savory collide in a wonderful way. Everyone gathered around your table will love this one.

Serve this meat-and-starch combo with steamed haricots verts or a mixed green salad. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Turkey sausage and bottled marinara combine for a healthy, quick, and affordable twist on this Italian classic. Our readers gave it five stars and rave that this dish is creamy and delicious. Opting for turkey sausage over pork sausage cuts the fat and calories nearly in half. Serve with a romaine salad tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Price: $2.45 per serving

Pantry Checklist:
• Sweet turkey Italian sausage
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Lower-sodium marinara sauce
• Whole milk
• Instant polenta
• Pecorino Romano cheese
• Black pepper
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley

Don’t skip the gremolata. It melds all the elements and adds bright notes to a hearty dish. Larger ribs will obviously take longer in the oven to get fork-tender, and one of the big ones will be a serving.

This hearty meat sauce with cheesy polenta is a nice change from spaghetti.

Savory blue cheese polenta topped with delicious veggies makes for a comforting and satisfying meal.

Our polenta squares are impressive and delicious. These are also tasty with chopped, dried figs or cranberries in place of the currants.

This hearty entrée features a mushroom and sausage ragù (Italian meat-and-tomato pasta sauce) served over creamy polenta. Cook the polenta while the ragù simmers so everything will be ready and hot at the same time.

To make this a quick and simple dinner, look for tubes of prepared polenta in the refrigerated part of the produce section, or prepare our Creamy Polenta a day ahead.

Reduce the vinegar while the polenta simmers so the entire meal is ready and hot at the same time.

This hearty recipe is a rich and comforting dish that will satisfy any savory cravings. Fresh herbs and creamy fontina cheese up the flavor quota and add even more dimension to the mushrooms.

This fish is like the chicken breast of the sea: an American favorite. It’s lean, mild, and pleasantly firm. Creamy polenta complements spice-rubbed fish. Cooking polenta in milk and cheese enriches it with both flavor and calcium.

Invite company over for this gourmet-inspired dish that's a snap to make. Smoked paprika, available in supermarkets, is nice to spice up sour cream, eggs, or rice. Its pungency offsets the shrimp's sweetness. Serve with bagged prewashed salad greens splashed with vinaigrette.

Nutty Gruyère cheese complements earthy mushrooms in these canapés. Make these a day ahead by preparing and chilling the polenta and mushroom mixture. When ready to serve, broil the polenta for a quick time saver.

To keep this recipe quick and easy yet deliver attractive grill marks, we used a grill pan instead of firing up an outdoor grill. If you don't have a grill pan, use a nonstick skillet.

Crisp Polenta Croutons add flair to this simple Broccoli Rabe side dish.

Nearly a full meal and absolutely satisfying—a knife-and-fork dish that highlights the vegetables. Maitake mushrooms, aka hen-of-the-woods, have a robust, nutty flavor that particularly complements the dish. If you can't find them, sub in a handful of another favorite mushroom.

This is an easy and versatile side dish. The polenta is topped with a quick sauté of wild mushrooms (or use exotics, like shiitake and oyster, if wild are not available). If you replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth, this side dish can serve four as a vegetarian entrée. Garnish with sage sprigs.