To welcome you back from the weekend I am excited to share with you guys our recipe for Polenta Fries. We love to fry these, but I also have instructions for air frying and baking if you prefer! These little sticks are cut from a slab of polenta and then lightly fried. This recipe is pretty versatile, you can serve them as a side dish to something delicious and meaty, appetizers, or our favorite, as party food! With Super Bowl coming up soon these would be perfect. We served ours with sides of our marinara sauce and a simple tarragon aioli. I love the texture of the polenta, and I prefer to give them a real good pan fry, the crispier the better, just how I like my In and Out French fries well done. Enjoy and happy Monday!
♥ Teri
What are Polenta Fries?
We all know and love creamy polenta in a big bowl. Essentially, you are cooking polenta a big longer than you would normally. You will want the polenta to be thick, spreadable, and dough-like. Once you get the consistency right you just smooth out the polenta into a baking sheet and let it cool. This leaves you with a big slab of polenta. You then cut the polenta into long rectangles that resemble french fries. You fry up the polenta fries to get a crispy exterior, and bam! You have yourself some delicious fries! We love Anson Mills or King Arthur cornmeal the best.
What does Fried Polenta taste like?
Polenta fries are crispy and chewy on the outside, and creamy on the inside. We added some goat cheese to our polenta, so you will taste that, as well as the polenta itself, which has a mild taste and a coarse grain. After the polenta is fried, they have a crispy texture on the outside and remain creamy and soft on the inside.
What goes well with Polenta Fries?
We like to serve our fries on the side of a salad, or with anything you would normally serve with french fries. Like burgers, BBQ, chicken, fish. It goes so well with everything!
Dipping sauces for Polenta Fries:
There are so many! We like to serve ours with a variety of sauces, here are some that we LOVE:
– Sir Kensington’s Special Sauce
– Ketchup
– Homemade BBQ sauce
– Homemade Marinara sauce
– aioli (tarragon aioli recipe below!)
– Mayo
How to cook Polenta Fries in the oven
We know a lot of you hate frying things, so we got you! You can definitely bake them instead! Skip steps 8 and 9 in the recipe. Once you have your fries cut out, place them onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Flipping them throughout to ensure they get browned on all sides. Serve with your favorite sauces!
Air Fryer Polenta Fries
To make Polenta Fries in an air fryer, skip steps 8 and 9 in the recipe. Spray the air fryer basket with an oil of your choice. Fry for 20 – 25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with your favorite sauces!
If you’re looking for alternative fry recipes, try our Baked Yucca Fries, or our Baked Asparagus Fries. Or if you are looking for other Polenta recipes, we love our Braised Beef Ragu over Cheesy Polenta.
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Polenta Fries
INGREDIENTS
tarragon aioli
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons minced tarragon
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
marinara
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
polenta fries
- 3 1/2 cups unsalted chicken stock
- 1 ½ cups coarse ground yellow cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3 1/2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Tarragon Aioli
- Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper and set aside until ready to use.
Baked Polenta Fries
- Pour stock into a medium saucepan, place over medium heat and simmer. Slowly whisk in cornmeal until fully incorporated, lower heat to low and continue to stir for about 20 minutes, until mixture is thick and creamy.
- Stir in butter, 2 ounces Parmesan and salt. Season with black pepper.
- Stir until no lumps remain, then pour mixture into a parchment lined 9”x13” baking sheet with a 1” lip. Evenly spread and allow mixture to cool for about 20 minutes before placing into the refrigerator. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
- Remove polenta from refrigerator and invert onto a clean cutting board. Remove parchment and cut polenta into 1”x 3” sticks.
- Preheat oven to 450˚F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray. Line polenta fries onto prepared baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Spray polenta fries with cooking spray.
- Bake fries for about 25 minutes or until fries are golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and top with remaining grated Parmesan.
- Transfer fries to a platter and serve fries with tarragon aioli and marinara sauce (optional).
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I’m so excited to try these for my 4 yo daughter, she is on a low-oxalate diet and these are perfect! I wanted to bake them, but I can’t find the temperature for the oven, only the time. Help!
Hi! Thanks for pointing that out. We’ll add that info into our recipe notes! The oven should be set to 425F
Made these yesterday and they were a hit!
made these last night using coconut oil in the pan. delishhh. i’ve never tried using just milk when making polenta. such a fan!!!
i making these for my sea+star dinner tomorrow night (dinz with my 2 sisters) to munch on as we play Cards Against Humanity and sip vino. love polenta. love grits. i love mexi polenta for breakfast! poached egg on top of creamy polenta with mexi spices, cilantro, dollop of greek yogurt. avo, roasted tomato…hello. can it be morning already??!! thanks for this recipe! i am very stoked to give it a try.
Wow do these ever look good!
My 4 year old loves polenta. I will have to make these for him. I think it will be a big hit. Thanks for the recipe!
Those polenta fries look TOO good! I bet the goat cheese takes them over the top. The dips look amazing, too. What perfect party food. Can’t wait to make these – thanks for sharing this beautiful recipe!
I had these at a bar in Montreal years ago and completely forgot about how much I loved them until now. Thanks for the reminder – cocktail snack this weekend!
What a great idea! We’re going to have to try this with our line of Organic Polenta and see which one makes the best fries.
So happy to see the tarragon aioli. I think people tend to overlook this herb.
Oh I love polenta. I’ll be making these soon. Thank you!
Never made polenta fries but they look seriously yummy! On my list of things to make for 2014
I’ve never tried polenta, either in a restaurant or preparing it myself, but after reading this I’m really intrigued. Beautiful photos too!
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Yum! I wonder if you can bake this instead of frying it and still get the same crunch.
I’m with you, the crispier, the better! The aioli sounds amazing!
I’m always so pleased by polenta fries (even when they’re ridiculously hot and scald the roof of your mouth). They’re just so rich and creamy… and FREAKIN FRIED! Really, what’s not to love? Love the tarragon aioli too! Must try!
I love polenta fries, these are perfection!
I will most definitely be making these–possibly this week. I love polenta and the fries shape is perfect for my little ones. Thanks for the inspiration!
oh my goodness… how delightful!! I will be making these for sure… Simply genius!! <3
I LOVE Polenta Fries….more than normal fries! I am so glad I have a good recipe to follow now! Obesity here I come!
B x
outstanding! my dad would love this, will have to try these out in the fry daddy when I’m home this weekend!