If grits has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 37 recipes to try it in.

What are grits?

Grits are coarsely ground corn simmered with water or milk into a soft, creamy porridge. The texture lands somewhere between polenta and oatmeal: thick and spoonable, faintly sweet from the corn.

In the American South they are a breakfast staple and a dinner base, served plain under butter or piled high with cheese and shrimp.

Most grits start from dent corn, simply dried and ground. Hominy grits go a step further: the corn is first soaked in an alkaline solution, a process called nixtamalization, which gives it a distinct round, tortilla-like flavor.

Stone-ground grits keep the germ and hull, so they cook slower and taste cornier than the quick or instant grits on most supermarket shelves.

If you have only ever had the watery, instant kind, real grits are a different food. Cooked low and slow with enough liquid, they turn silky rather than gritty.

Cooking With Grits

The ratio is what makes or breaks a pot. Stone-ground grits want roughly 4 parts liquid to 1 part grits, simmered 30 to 45 minutes with frequent stirring; quick grits use the same ratio but finish in 5 to 7 minutes.

Whisk the grits into already-simmering liquid in a slow stream so they do not clump.

Salt the liquid before the grits go in. Cornmeal absorbs seasoning grudgingly once it sets, so a pot salted at the end always tastes flat no matter how much you stir in later.

Liquid is your richness dial. Water makes clean, corn-forward grits; swapping in milk or cream or stock makes them luxurious.

Many cooks split the difference with half water and half milk, then beat in butter and cheese off the heat the way Serrano Grits with Cheese and Cheesy Grits Florentine do.

Grits also set firm when cold, which opens a second life. Pour leftover grits into a pan, chill them overnight, then slice and pan-fry or bake the slabs, the trick behind Grit Casserole and Parmesan Cheddar Grits Pudding.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Grits are a canvas, mild enough to carry almost any topping that is salty, sharp, or spicy. Sharp cheddar, Parmesan, bacon, sausage, and pickled jalapeno all cut the corn's soft sweetness.

Shrimp is the classic partner, and a well-made Sauteed Shrimp with Grits leans on that contrast of garlicky seafood against a buttery base. They also take sweet treatments, as Southern Praline Grits shows with brown sugar and pecans.

The most common mistake is underliquid and undertime. Skimping on water or rushing stone-ground grits off the heat leaves a chalky, raw-corn graininess that no amount of butter fixes after the fact.

The second is letting them sit. Grits firm up fast as they cool, so loosen the pot with a splash of hot liquid right before serving rather than reheating a solid block later.

Substitutes

Polenta is the closest swap. It is ground from a different corn variety and is usually a touch coarser, but it cooks the same way and takes the same cheese-and-butter treatment, so use it 1:1 in any savory grits dish.

Coarse cornmeal or corn semolina also works, though it lacks the nixtamalized roundness of true hominy grits and tastes a little flatter. Standard fine cornmeal will turn pasty, so reach for the coarsest grind you can find.

For a non-corn stand-in under shrimp or grillades, creamy mashed potatoes give you the same soft, starchy landing pad, even if the flavor changes.

Buying and Storing Grits

Read the label for grind and process. Stone-ground grits cook slowest and taste best but spoil fastest; quick grits are partly precooked and broken finer; instant are precooked and dried, fine in a pinch but the least flavorful.

Hominy grits, sometimes labeled with lime or nixtamalized corn, carry that signature tortilla-like aroma.

Stone-ground grits still contain the corn's oily germ, so they go rancid. Buy them in small amounts, keep them in an airtight jar in the fridge or freezer, and use within a few months. Smell before cooking: a sour or paint-like note means they have turned.

Quick and instant grits are far more shelf-stable. Stored airtight in a cool, dark pantry they keep well past a year, since the germ has been removed.

A standard serving is about ¼ cup dry grits per person, which swells to a generous bowl. They scale up easily for a crowd, which is why casseroles like Rio Grande Grits Casserole and Jalapeno Cheese Grits Casserole are Southern potluck regulars.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Grits are a member of the Breakfast Cereals US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

糁

British (UK) term

Grits

en français

gruau de maïs

en español

sémola

How much do grits weigh?

Amount	Weight
0.25 cup	41 grams

Related

Breakfast Cereals

Recipes using grits

There are 37 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 37 recipes