Cheese Grits Recipe
Cheese grits is a simple buttery, comforting twist on a classic Southern side dish. This is an easy recipe featuring stone-ground grits cooked with butter and sharp cheddar cheese.
Table of contents
Grits is an essential southern side dish made with dried corn, either yellow or white. It comes in a few varieties, most common being stone-ground, quick cooking, or instant. It’s a must-have basic recipe and this cheesy grits recipe makes a wonderful side dish because:
- grits is a great side dish on it’s own but also goes with just about any main dish.
- in the south, it’s common to have it with breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
- using stone ground grits will give you the most rich flavor since it’s less processed and ground with germ still intact.
- it’s rich, buttery, comforting, and super simple to make.
- this is perfect side dish for the classic shrimp and grits but also goes great with steaks, chicken, or breakfast dishes.
How To Make Cheese Grits
- Combine water, broth, and salt in a pot and bring to simmer.
- Stir in stone ground grits and lower heat to medium-low/low heat.
- Cover and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- When cooked, turn off heat and stir in butter and sharp cheddar cheese until smooth.
Storing and Reheating
- Storing – store leftover grits in an airtight food storage container, in the refrigerator. It should last 3-4 days.
- Reheating – you can simply reheat individual portions in the microwave. Add a tablespoon or two of broth or milk to the grits and reheat in 30-45 second increments, stirring in between.
Is Grits Different from Polenta and Cornmeal?
Yes, all three are ground from dried corn but they all have different preparations, textures, and uses.
- Cornmeal – finest texture of the three, slightly granulated but still coarse. Used for dusting baking surfaces, making cornbread, corn muffins, pancakes like Johnny cakes, fritters, and many other recipes.
- Grits – more coarse than cornmeal and made with white, yellow or a mix of corn. It’s more starchy than polenta and more creamy. It’s usually used in recipes originated from the Southern U.S.
- Polenta – even more coarse than grits, it’s less starchy, and usually made with yellow corn. Polenta is often made as a side dish or baked into cakes or crust. It’s original to Northern Italian cuisine.
Substitutions and Add-Ins
- Creamy – you can easily make your cheese grits creamy by substituting the 2 cups of water for 2 cups of milk.
- Spices – you can increase flavors based on what you will be serving with the grits. You can add spices and herbs like paprika, cayenne pepper, Cajun seasoning, parsley, thyme, dill weed, green onion,
- Mix-ins – bacon, sausage, ham, green onions, different cheeses like parmesan, pepper-jack, asiago, gruyere, gouda.
More Recipes To Try
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Cheese Grits Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup stone-ground grits
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups vegetable broth or chicken if you wish
- 1 tsp coarse salt more or less to taste
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 5 oz sharp cheddar cheese block, grated
Instructions
- Bring water and chicken broth to boil in a medium pot and season with salt.
- Stir in grits and lower heat to low heat.
- Cover and cook for about 20-25 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent lumps from forming and make sure to get the bottom and edges of the pot.
- Once cooked, take off heat and stir in butter and grated cheddar cheese until melted and smooth.
Notes
- Grits – this recipe is made for using stone-ground grits, not any other time since it would requite different ingredient ratios and cooking method. Stone-ground grits will also give you the best flavor and is least processed. (Note: “Stone-ground” and “old-fashioned” grits are the same thing.)
- Storing – store leftover grits in an airtight food storage container, in the refrigerator. It should last 3-4 days.
- Reheating – you can simply reheat individual portions in the microwave. Add a tablespoon or two of broth or milk to the grits and reheat in 30-45 second increments, stirring in between.
Nutrition
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
