Italian Crispy Fried Polenta Cakes

Fried polenta is a traditional side dish popular in Northern Italy made with leftover polenta. Crispy outside and creamy inside, it is an easy gluten-free replacement for the pasta to serve with rich meat or vegetable stew or ragu. Traditionally, it is often served with cheese and mushrooms.

Jump to:

• What is polenta
• Why fried polenta
• Types of polenta and ingredients
• Instructions
• When to serve it
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• FAQ
• Recipes using polenta
• 📋 Italian Crispy Pan Fried Polenta

What is polenta

Polenta is boiled cornmeal like a warm porridge that Italians like to eat with plenty of melted cheese or serve as a side dish to stews.

Because of its consistency and mild taste, polenta combines well with sauces and melted cheese as it absorbs the flavor and juices.

A similar dish was originally made in Mesopotamia with millet and rye, in Greece with barley flour, while the Romans used spelt.

After Columbus brought back corn from the Americas, polenta was made with cornflour.

As it was a very profitable cultivation, the use of corn quickly spread into Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The polenta was traditionally a lower-class meal, often being combined with simple ingredients.

For example:

• Polenta taragna made with corn and buckwheat and served with cheese
• Polenta osei served with birds
• Polenta alla contadina served with pork cracklings
• Polenta pasticciata served with a mix of different types of meat stew

Polenta is very common in the norther part of Italy: Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto.

I served polenta with an old recipe: chocolate wild boar stew, from a famous Italian cookbook from the 19th century by Pellegrino Artusi.

Why fried polenta

Fried polenta is usually done with leftover polenta.

Polenta takes a long time to make as it requires stirring for about 1 hour, so polenta is often made in large quantities.

When polenta cools down, it solidifies and it is not as easy to warm up.

It can be cut into different forms: round, square, rectangular and it will keep its shape.

By cutting polenta into smaller shapes, it is easier to warm up.

While it stays warm and creamy in the center, it forms a nice crispy crust on the outside.

Polenta cakes can be either fried or baked.

In this recipe, we are frying it.

Types of polenta and ingredients

There are 3 different types of polenta in Italy:

• Polenta Taragna - made with corn and buckwheat usually served with cheese and butter
• Polenta Bramata - made with coarse grain usually served with meat
• White Polenta - made with white corn is usually served with fish

For this recipe, you can use either type of polenta depending on what you want to serve it with.

Note: I served it with grilled scamorza cheese so I used the Polenta Taragna.

• Butter and olive oil for frying: I like to mix olive oil and butter as the butter gives the polenta a nice flavor
• Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top while still warm

See the recipe card for quantities.

Here I serve the fried polenta with grilled Scamorza cheese and stir-fried porcini and white button mushrooms.

If it is not porcini season now you can use dry porcini. You can find out how to use dry porcini in my next recipe.

Instructions

Make the polenta

1. Fill a large cauldron with salted water and bring to boil.
2. Once it is boiling add the polenta gradually stirring with a wooden spoon, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Stir continuously for 50 minutes to 1 hour until the polenta detaches from the edges of the pot. If you lift the spoon it will stay attached.
4. Pour the polenta over a large wooden base or over a large oven tin covered with greased foil. You can brush it with some olive oil.
5. Spread flat and uniformly with a spoon.
6. Wait for the polenta to cool down completely, about 1 hour.

Hint: if you want to make it perfectly flat cover the polenta with parchment paper and roll it with a rolling pin.

Frying the polenta

1. Cut the polenta into rectangular sticks (3'X1.5' - 8cm X 4cm)
2. In a pan warm up olive oil and butter
3. Place the polenta cakes and fry
4. Turn onto the other side once the polenta gets a brown color
5. Place on a serving plate
6. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese while still warm and serve immediately

Hint: I like to fry the polenta with a mix of olive oil and butter as using both gives the polenta more flavor. If you prefer you can use only one or the other or use vegetable oil for a milder flavor.

When to serve it

For Italians, fried polenta is usually made with polenta leftovers and it is served as a side dish to accompany the main dish, usually stew or ragu.

Also, fried polenta is often served as a quick meal with melted cheese and mushrooms.

It is normally served for dinner on a cold winter day or after an exhausting day of skiing in the Alps.

Italians would not have it at breakfast, as traditional Italian breakfast is mainly sweet. However, it is an excellent vegetarian breakfast.

Substitutions

Polenta is vegan and gluten-free so it is suitable for many diets.

You can substitute polenta with grits. In Italy, this is called semolina.

While polenta is made from yellow corn, semolina is made with durum wheat.

Polenta has a more crumbly and coarser grind, while semolina is finer, smoother, and easier to digest. A great remedy for an upset stomach.

Though, some Italians don't like semolina as they associate it with being sick.

Variations

You can also make this recipe using:

• Polenta tube - you can buy ready cooked polenta shaped into tubes. You only need to cut it in slices and fry them. A great short cut, but of course the flavor of homemade polenta is much better.
• Deep frying - instead of frying the polenta in a pan you can also use a deep fryer.
• Baked polenta - for an healthier option you can bake the polenta. Top it with some butter and Parmesan cheese before baking it so it will form a nice crunchy crust.

Equipment

Traditionally polenta was cooked on a cauldron "Paiolo" over the fire and stirred constantly for an hour with a wooden spoon called "cannella".

As you need to stir polenta for a long time, I have Oxo wooden spoons which have comfortable handles.

The Paiolo is usually a copper cauldron as it is a great heat conductor.

It cooks the polenta thoroughly without altering its flavor and prevents the polenta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

If you do not want to stir for an hour you can buy an electric copper cauldron.

Once cooked, the polenta is placed over a wooden cutting board and served with the meal. I prefer the cutting board with a border to collect the juices.

Storage

You can store fried polenta in the fridge for up to 3 days sealed into a plastic container as it will tend to dry out.

You can heat it up in the oven before serving it to make it crispy again.

Polenta is not suitable for the freezer as it retains too much water.

FAQ

Recipes using polenta

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