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Crisp Polenta Triangles

By Julia Collin Davison

Published on April 1, 2024

Time

1 hour, plus 1½ hours cooling and chilling

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Crisp Polenta Triangles

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided2 garlic cloves, minced¾ teaspoon salt 2 cups water ½ cup instant polenta ½ ounce Parmesan cheese, grated fine (¼ cup)⅛ teaspoon pepper

Before You Begin

This recipe uses instant polenta, which has a much shorter cooking time than traditional polenta; do not substitute traditional polenta. We had good luck using Pastene Instant Polenta in this recipe.

Instructions

  1. Line bottom of 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and coat lightly with vegetable oil spray. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and salt in large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until garlic is softened and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully add water, cover, increase heat to high, and bring to boil.
  2.   Reduce heat to low. Whisking constantly in circular motion to prevent clumping, slowly add polenta. Continue to cook, uncovered and stirring often, until polenta is soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in Parmesan and pepper.
  3. Pour polenta into prepared pan and smooth top. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
  4. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush nonstick rimmed baking sheet with remaining ¼ cup olive oil. Run small knife around edge of polenta, flip polenta out onto cutting board, and remove parchment. Slice polenta into 4 squares, slice each square on the diagonal into triangles, and pat dry with paper towels.
  5. Transfer polenta to prepared baking sheet and bake until triangles are browned and crisp on bottom, rotating pan halfway through cooking, about 45 minutes. Serve.
Crisp Polenta Triangles
Photography by Daniel J. van Ackere. Styling by Ashley Moore.

Crisp Polenta Triangles

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Time

1 hour, plus 1½ hours cooling and chilling

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups water
½ cup instant polenta
½ ounce Parmesan cheese, grated fine (¼ cup)
⅛ teaspoon pepper

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups water
½ cup instant polenta
½ ounce Parmesan cheese, grated fine (¼ cup)
⅛ teaspoon pepper

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups water
½ cup instant polenta
½ ounce Parmesan cheese, grated fine (¼ cup)
⅛ teaspoon pepper

Why This Recipe Works

We used instant polenta to make these bites of crispy polenta because it saved time, and we were able to bump up the flavor with a combination of garlic and Parmesan cheese. Pouring the freshly cooked polenta into an 8-inch cake pan and letting it cool completely made it easy to cut into evenly sized pieces that cooked at the same rate. Using a nonstick rimmed baking sheet brushed liberally with oil was crucial to getting a crisp crust (on just one side) and preventing the polenta from sticking to the pan. To encourage browning, we found that the lowest oven rack worked best.

Before You Begin

This recipe uses instant polenta, which has a much shorter cooking time than traditional polenta; do not substitute traditional polenta. We had good luck using Pastene Instant Polenta in this recipe.

Instructions

  1. Line bottom of 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and coat lightly with vegetable oil spray. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and salt in large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until garlic is softened and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully add water, cover, increase heat to high, and bring to boil.
  2.   Reduce heat to low. Whisking constantly in circular motion to prevent clumping, slowly add polenta. Continue to cook, uncovered and stirring often, until polenta is soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in Parmesan and pepper.
  3. Pour polenta into prepared pan and smooth top. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
  4. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush nonstick rimmed baking sheet with remaining ¼ cup olive oil. Run small knife around edge of polenta, flip polenta out onto cutting board, and remove parchment. Slice polenta into 4 squares, slice each square on the diagonal into triangles, and pat dry with paper towels.
  5. Transfer polenta to prepared baking sheet and bake until triangles are browned and crisp on bottom, rotating pan halfway through cooking, about 45 minutes. Serve.

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