How to Cook Grits That Would Make Even a Southern Chef Proud (2024)

How to cook grits to creamy perfection is a tradition passed down from generation to generation in many Southern families. This affordable and simple dish is served on the breakfast table and as a dinner side dish.

Grits are traditionally made from hominy, which is corn with the hull and germ removed and ground to fine, medium, or coarse grains. While hominy is Native American in origin, the word "grits" is thought to derive from the Old English word "grytt," which means coarse meal. Grits can be made with any coarsely ground meal, including corn, oats, or rice.

If you're curious about how to cook grits that will make any soul food chef proud, you have several solid options. You can serve grits soft-cooked, as a cereal or side dish, or chill the mixture until it sets up, then slice and fry it. Or bake quick-cooking grits into a cheesy casserole.

Before we dive into how to cook grits at home, it's helpful to remember that grits have a very mild corn flavor and taste best with a bit of salt. They're often served with milk or cream (or butter, of course, because everything's better with it!).

If you're not a purist about how to cook grits, stove-top, quick-cooking grits, and slow cooker grits can be customized with a variety of flavor-boosters, including:

• Sweet grits: After cooking grits, feel free to top them like you would oatmeal. A little brown sugar, dried fruit, shredded apple, maple syrup, honey, milk, cinnamon, and/or other sweet breakfast stir-ins work wonderfully.
• Cheesy grits: Any cheese can dress up grits. Stir in shredded cheddar, Monterey Jack, pepper cheese, provolone, or Swiss, or add feta or goat cheese crumbles. For the best texture, shred cheese from a block yourself instead of purchasing it pre-shredded.
• Savory grits: Replace some of the cooking water with broth if you like (consider reducing the salt) and stir in a spoonful of herb pesto or add canned diced chile peppers, minced jalapeño pepper, chopped roasted red peppers, snipped fresh herbs, or snipped dried tomatoes.

How to Cook Grits on the Stove

This makes about 4 cups of cooked grits, which is four to six servings. If you're in a hurry, you'll want to pay special attention to this method; it's the quickest option for cooking grits. (And these 15-minute side dish recipe ideas might come in handy too!)

• In a medium, heavy saucepan, bring 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt to boiling.
• Slowly add 1 cup quick-cooking grits, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. It's important to stir well as you add the grits so they don't clump. Cook and stir until the mixture boils. You should see bubbles rise and fall on the surface but not a full rolling boil. (Be careful because the hot grits can splatter at this point.)
• Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 5 to 6 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the mixture is thick. If desired, stir in 2 tablespoons butter. Spoon grits into bowls and serve as cereal or transfer to a serving bowl and serve as a side dish.

How to Make Grits in a Slow Cooker

Use regular grits instead of quick-cooking grits for slow cooker grits. This makes about eight servings.

• In a 3½- to 4-quart slow cooker, combine two 14.5-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth or 3⅔ cups water; 2½ cups water; 1½ cups regular grits; and ¼ teaspoon salt. If desired, add ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper.
• Cover the slow cooker and cook on low-heat setting for 3 to 3½ hours or on high-heat setting for 1½ to 1¾ hours or until a small amount of liquid is visible on top of the slow cooker grits.
• You can serve the grits as is or stir in 3 tablespoons butter. Or stir 1½ cups shredded cheese, such as aged cheddar, into the cooked grits. Stir until the cheese is melted. If grits become too thick, thin the mixture with milk to desired consistency. If you wish (we always do!), top each serving with additional shredded cheese.

How to Bake Grits

Here's another method for how to make grits that we default to all the time because it's so good. Serve baked quick-cooking grits with eggs, sausage, or bacon for breakfast or as a dinner side dish alongside pork chops, roast chicken, or steak. It can also be a meatless entrée. For a more basic version, swap water and ¼ teaspoon salt for the broth and omit the cheese, onion, tomato, and cilantro. The recipe makes four or five side-dish servings.

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of broth to boil. Slowly add ½ cup quick-cooking grits, stirring constantly.
• In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg with a fork until lightly beaten. Gradually stir about ½ cup of the hot grits mixture into the egg. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and stir to combine.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese; 1 green onion, sliced; and 1 tablespoon butter into the grits until the cheese and butter melt.
• Pour the grits mixture into an ungreased 1-quart casserole dish. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. If desired, top with ½ cup chopped fresh tomato and 1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro.

How to Choose the Best Cooking Grits

When stocking up on ingredients after deciding how to make grits, you'll likely be presented with several options. Here's a debrief on the difference between grits varieties.

• Stone-ground grits: While a die-hard grits cook may sing the praises of this most traditional variety, it takes an hour or more to cook. Some cooks soak stone-ground grits overnight to reduce the cooking time. These also work well for slow cooker grits.
• Regular grits: This is the equivalent of old-fashioned oats, the less-processed version of grits. They generally take 15 to 20 minutes to cook.
• Quick-cooking grits: The above recipes for cooking grits mostly use this version of grits, which takes about 5 to 7 minutes to cook.
• Instant grits: Like instant oatmeal, instant grits are pre-cooked, so just rehydrate the grits with boiling water and let stand.

All that's left now is choosing a grits recipe to make. Might we suggest this Shrimp and Grits. Just a side of cooked grits with nothing fancy added may be all you need to round out your meal; the choice is yours.

Favorite Southern Recipes

• Classic Oyster Stew
• Savory Collard Greens
• Chocolate Chess Pie
• Classic Buttermilk Biscuits
• Southern Sweet Tea