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How To Make Quick Grits

how to make grits

How To Make Quick Grits is a part of a page in my first ebook As Seen On IG, just fleshed out a little bit more. In the book, I cover the different types of grits, but for this post, we’re focusing solely on Quick Grits or 5-minute grits. We are not talking about stone-ground grits. Those require more time, precision, and attention to detail than quick-cooking grits and deserve their own post. I have never used Instant Grits before so I can’t help you there.

It’s no secret to my social media family that I am a master of making grits, and my family (save for my oldest daughter) loves them. Grits Bowls are a very frequent breakfast in our house. It’s usually on a whim, so about 70% of the time I’m using Quaker 5-Minute Grits. 20% of the time I planned ahead and soaked stone-ground grits overnight to use in the morning. The remaining 10%? I’m using stone ground that I only soaked long enough to remove the chaff (inedible husks found in grits + hominy).

Quick Grits Ingredients

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Quick Grits recipe:

  • Quick-cooking grits: As mentioned above, I always use Quaker 5-minute grits when I’m making Quick Grits. And they do not cook up in 5 minutes, at least not to the texture and consistency that I’m looking for. They actually take the better part of 15 minutes to cook. Quick grits don’t need to be soaked or skimmed, but you can soak them to lessen the cooking time. Put them in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes before you’re ready to cook them, and drain them well: don’t use the soaking water to cook them. This’ll take about 7 minutes off of the cook time.
  • Water: I don’t use broth when cooking quick grits, but you can if you like. I do not recommend using solely broth, because… you’ll have brown, meat flavored grits. How much water (and milk you use) determines the consistency of your grits. We like grits you can eat with a spoon, not a fork. If you’d like thicker grits – like you can pile ’em up on a plate and eat them with a fork like mashed potatoes – just use about 1/2 a cup less liquid.
  • Whole milk: You can do all water with just a splash of milk if you like, as long as there is some. It provides a creaminess that you can’t get with just water. You can also use anything from whole to skim milk, but for quick grits I don’t recommend using anything heavier than half-and-half because it’s too thick. The grits won’t absorb it so you’ll just be eating milky grits.
  • Salted butter: Use unsalted if you’re watching your sodium. Melt it into the cooking liquid at the start, and stir it into the pot at the end. This infuses the grits with the flavor, and provides a super velvety texture to the final product.
  • Kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper: To taste, of course.

How to Make Quick Grits 

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this Quick Grits recipe:

  • Heat the liquids. Place a medium-sized saucepan (with a lid) over medium-high heat and add the water, milk, salt, and half of the butter. Watch the pan closely as you wait for it to come to a boil because once it does the milk will foam and it’ll spill over the sides within seconds. You can rest a wooden spoon over the top of the pot to prevent over-boiling, but I want my grits as quickly as possible so I opt for a lid and a careful eye.
  • Whisk in the grits. As soon as the liquid has come to a boil whisk in your grits. Keep whisking for 30-45 seconds after you’ve added them to the pot, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid.
  • Cook ’em. the grits until thickened and the grains are tender with just the touch of a bite, similar to a grain of rice, about 10-15 minutes. If the grits thicken too quickly, but the grains are still hard or chewy, whisk in another 1/4 C of warm water to the pot and continue cooking until they’re like you want them.
  • FINISH HIM. Once the grits are cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining butter and the black pepper. Taste, and add more salt if needed. Serve hot. Dassit!

Amp Up Your Quick Grits

You can make endless variations with this Quick Grits recipe, so please feel free to customize yours to taste!  For example, you could…

  • Cheese Grits: Add half a cup of your favorite cheese. Shred it or dice it up. Add it at the end of cooking, or after you turn off the heat. Sharp White cheddar and a lil’ ground cumin is an amazing combination if I do say so myself.
  • Sweet Grits: Confession, first. I still have yet to try sweet grits. I’ve only ever had savory ones! I am going to try it tho. I’ve had unicorn grits in my freezer this entire year (they cook up pink and purple) and that just seems a perfect time to try sugar in my grits! It must be like oatmeal without the lumps, right? I dunno. I guess I’ll find out!
  • Grit Cakes: Fried Grits! Spread your leftover grits out on a sheet pan, cut them into squares or use a cookie cutter, batter them in bread crumbs and fry them up in a shallow layer of oil on the stovetop. It’s delicious! Let me know if you’d like a fleshed out recipe for those, and you watch me make them on Instagram.

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how to make grits

How To Make Quick Grits


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  • Author: María
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 C water
  • 1/2 C quick-cooking grits
  • 1/2 C whole milk
  • 2 tbsp salted butter
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, to taste


Instructions

  1. Place a medium-sized saucepan (with a lid) over medium-high heat and add the water, milk, salt, and half of the butter. Watch the pan closely as you wait for it to come to a boil because once it does the milk will foam and it’ll spill over the sides in within seconds.
  2. As soon as the liquid has come to a boil whisk in your grits. Keep whisking for 30-45 seconds after you’ve added them to the pot, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid.
  3. Cook the grits until thickened and the grains are tender with just a touch of a bite, similar to a grain of rice, about 10-15 minutes. If the grits thicken too quickly, but the grains are still hard or chewy, whisk in another 1/4 C of warm water to the pot and continue cooking until they’re like you want them.
  4. Once the grits are cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining butter and the black pepper. Taste, and add more salt if needed. Serve hot. Dassit!

Notes

  • Read the post above the recipe to ensure you have maximum success!
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 20
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1 Comment

  • Fried Grits (Grit Cakes) • deepfriedhoney
    November 1, 2021 at 1:41 pm

    […] or Grit Cakes. I did a live stream on Instagram over the weekend to demonstrate my recipe for Quick Grits and decided smack-dab in the middle of it that I was going to use them to make Fried Grits, so here […]

    Reply

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