Make the most delicious, Creamy Polenta in half the time using your Instant Pot or Pressure cooker! Vegan-adaptable and totally gluten-free! A cozy, easy side dish that goes with so many things! See notes for stovetop version!
Hey friends, here’s another convenient use for your Instant Pot! Instant Pot Polenta. This recipe requires very little hands-on time, can be made vegan, and is perfect for busy weeknight dinners. I think of this as a “building block” recipe, one that has a myriad of uses. No Instant pot? See our stovetop version.
So think of the Instant Pot Polenta as your “base” or foundation, then layer it however you like! Pure and total comfort food! I love it with our cherry tomato confit with a bit of garlic and olive oil , or our sautéed mushrooms, or with simple roasted veggies– so simple and yummy!
With only a few minutes of hands on time- you’ll have a lovely dinner in no time flat!
Instant Pot Polenta Recipe Ingredients
- Polenta (cornmeal)
- Water or veggie broth
- Salt and pepper
- Optional: granulated garlic powder, dried herbs (rosemary, herbs du Provence, Italian herb blend) or fresh herbs
- After pressure cooking, add your choice of fat: olive oil, butter and parmesan or pecorino cheese, cheddar cheese, cashew cheese, vegan cheese, goat cheese, sour cream, thick greek yogurt, smoked mozzarella, or whatever meltable cheese you have on hand. Start conservatively, add more to taste.
How to make Instant Pot Polenta
- Add the cold water (or broth) and salt, spices & herbs to the Instant Pot. Whisk in the dry polenta.
- Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 9 minutes.
- Manually release, covering the steam spout with a kitchen towel.
- Give a good whisk. Add the olive oil (or butter) and cheese; it will thicken a little as it sits.
- Taste, adjust salt to taste.
- Keep it on the warm function until ready to serve, stirring occasionally.
Troubleshooting The Burn Error
- To prevent the burn error, double-check your measurements: 1 cup dry polenta to 4 cups liquid.
- Go directly to the pressure cook setting, skipping the sauté function.
- Do not add milk or dairy to the Instant Pot before pressure cooking
- Stir lightly before sealing.
Storing Instant Pot Polenta
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in a saucepan, whisking in a bit of milk or water.
Ways to Serve Instant Polenta
- While the polenta is cooking away in your pressure cooker, you could be roasting salmon, or pan-searing wild mushrooms, or roasting root vegetables, to serve over top. Or make this Sheet Pan Ratatouille to serve with it.
- You could simply top with Sauteed Greens and a little Parmesan and call it good. Or add a poached egg. You get the idea. 🙂
- Often in our catering business, we serve this with slow-braised lamb shanks, osso bucco, or slow-braised beef short ribs – all excellent pairings if you’d like something meatier.
- And this sheet pan chicken and asparagus recipe would go really nicely too.
The nice part- many of these options can be made vegan! And I know you will come up with many more ways to use the polenta, once you see how easy it is to make in the Instant Pot.
Happy delicious week! Sylvia
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Instant Pot Polenta | Pressure Cooker Polenta
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: instant pot, side dish, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free
- Method: pressure cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Instant Pot Polenta! A delicious healthy side dish that is quick and easy to make in your Instant pot | pressure cooker! Vegan adaptable and totally gluten-free! Use this as a delicious healthy base for your own creations!
Ingredients
- 4 cups water or veggie broth
- 3/4 teaspoons salt,more to taste
- fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried herbs ( Rosemary, herbs du Provence, Italian herb blend) or 1-2 teaspoon fresh herbs
- 1 cup stone ground polenta (cornmeal)
Add your choice of:
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- Cheese- you could swirl in 1/4-1/2 cup of parmesan, pecorino, cheddar, cashew cheese, vegan cheese, goat cheese, sour cream, thick greek yogurt, smoked mozzarella, or whatever meltable cheese you have on hand. Start conservatively, add more to taste.
Instructions
- Add the water (or the broth) and salt, spices & herbs to the instant pot. Whisk in the polenta.
- Set the Instant Pot to 9 minutes, on high pressure.
- Manually release, covering the steam spout with a kitchen towel.
- Give a good whisk. Add the olive oil (or butter) and cheese, it will thicken a little as it sits.
- Taste, adjust salt to taste.
- Keep it on the warm function until ready to serve, stirring occasionally.
Notes
Stove Top Version:
- In a medium pot, over high heat, bring water or broth, salt spices and herbs to a simmer on the stovetop. Lower heat to a gentle simmer. Gradually whisk in the polenta a little at a time to prevent any clumps. Once whisked smooth, cover the pot and lower heat to low– and cook for 15 minutes, or until the grains are tender and it has thickened.
- Stir in butter or olive oil and your choice of cheese. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Note: adding milk to the water in an Instant Pot may cause the burn error, so I’ve adjusted the recipe and removed this option.
Serve this with: Wild Mushrooms, Garlic and Sage , Sheet pan ratatouille or Simple Roasted Vegetables with Gremolata or Spring Veggies
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 575.4 mg
- Fat: 8.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.5 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 4.6 mg
this is one of those things that’s just easier to make on the stovetop. i had a hard time getting my instant pot to pressurize so it couldn’t cook properly (it doesn’t have this problem with anything else). i repeated the cycle a couple more times and by the end it still wasn’t cooked but the bottom was all crusted up (thankfully not burned yet). i ended up transferring everything out to finish it on the stove. it needs monitoring and stirring.
Oh shoot, sorry this didn’t work for you Bowie. Weird that it wouldn’t pressurize.
Love how simple this is but super delish. Thank you 🙏🙏
Great to hear Jayanthi!
Enjoyed very much
So happy you enjoyed this!
Excellent
Perfect timing in the pressure cooker. Like the hands off approach. I also added 1/2 cup pumpkin puree at the end of cooking for a twist on polenta. Used herbs de Provence, So easy. I skipped the cheese and butter this time and didn’t miss it. Will be a go to polenta technique/ recipe. Thank you.
Perfect Frances! Love it!
So yummy! Thank you! Followed your recipe exactly! Added a little butter and Asiago cheese once the polenta was cooked. Used basil, granulated garlic, salt & pepper. So creamy and delicious!
Perfect Rose!
Fabulous! And so easy.
Awesome Stephanie!
I really want to try this recipe (I love polenta but have never cooked it well myself), but I don’t own an Instant Pot/pressure cooker! Any tips on cooking this regularly on the stove?
Hi Danielle- it is super easy to make on the stove and I added some stovetop directions to the post in the recipe notes. 🙂
I made this and got a burn error. So I salvaged it from the instant pot and finished it on the stove. It was delicious! not sure what I did wrong. I used broth and cornmeal from bob’s read meal. maybe because it wasn’t “polenta?”
Oh shoot Emmalie. I’m sorry about that, I wonder why that happened? I’ve used corn meal and it works fine… did you give a good stir first? Really not sure what it could be, sorry, I’m sure it was frustrating!
Holy smokes that was delicious!
This was the easiet polenta I’ve ever made. Saw the note about omitting the milk and just used water-it turned out perfect. Added parmesan and butter and topped with wilted greens and an egg. Delish.
Burned.
Sorry. I am testing the recipe as I type. Did you add milk? Or just water/broth? What kind of polenta did you use? fine grain? course grain? Thanks!
Hi, I updated the recipe to remove the milk option- it cause the burn error.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I got the dreaded “burn” alert both times I tried to make this. The recipe as written was also way too salty for my family.
Oh dear.Sorry about that. I updated the recipe to remove the milk option- I believe this is causing the error in the instant pot.
So easy and quick. Thank you!
I just made this and it is delicious!
Deelicious polenta!
I posted about using the vegan smoked gouda (Daiya) for dairy free…it melted beautifully added just enough fat to make it sumptious (I used about 3-4 slices diced). I cut the recipe in half since it was just my husband and I. Topped it with sautéed mushrooms and garlic, perfect, no left overs!
Thanks to much Romy, glad you liked it!
I discovered a bag of cornmeal in the cupboard and thought, Polenta! Great timing…
Love the convenience of the Instant Pot. A suggestion which I intend to try is to use a vegan cheese of choice. The Daiya Smoked Gouda would be amazing I believe, or Violife’s “Mature Cheddar”.
This was so good!
Does this keep well for later in the week? Thanks!
It keeps, but I often find leftover polenta is hard is to get creamy again. Whisk in a little liquid while warming.
Hi! I’m trying this now…so double checking to do a manual quick release at the end of the 8 minutes? No waiting for any natural release? I see so many grains that need 10 minutes of natural release so wanted to double check.
Yes manually release!
I made this on the stove and it came out perfectly. The herbs are a nice touch. I jut used herbes de provence. We ate it with oven roasted vegetables and coconut yogurt sauce. Great, easy weeknight meal.
Thanks Elizabeth! So happy you enjoyed this!
My polenta started to burn, luckily by Insta pot flashed a sign. I think med. would be better. Also If you put the polenta in the water or broth while it’s cold you don’t have to worry about lumps.
That is a good point with the cold water. I’ve never gotten the burn signal, so will have to test this over the weekend. My Instant pot doesn’t have a “med” setting? Hummm… has anyone else had problems with this one?
Yes, my instapot also burned so I had to do it on low. It actually burned twice but I wouldn’t give up and finally got it to work with cold water. I had to let it cook for longer though
Oh my gosh…this was to die for. I only used garlic, no sodium chicken bouillon, tsp provence herbs and when done added 1/4 cup parmesan…I don’t want to share!!!! Used spray margarine for each serving. Will fry mushrooms and sage when I get at grocery store….thanks so much for recipe. As an Italian, my mother would load up on three different cheeses and I can still see her with her hugh cast iron pot stirring and stirring and when it was time to each we would put spagetti sauce over it and that would be our dinner.
Came out perfect! who knew?!
Do you think you could double or triple the amount of polenta you make in the instant pot? It sounds like it would be a lovely dinner party dinner because it would be so easy!!!
I haven’t tried to double, but don’t see why not? If you do try it, let me know, and if I get a chance here, I’ll give it a go too, and report back.:)