Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta

by Sabrina Snyder

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17 Comments

3 from 2 votes
8 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
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Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta Recipe – how to make polenta with just a few easy ingredients in the oven! No stirring of boiling polenta!

Creamy polenta makes a rich dinner Side Dish perfect to serve with Slow Cooker Beef Ragu, Braised Chicken with Mushrooms, and other comfort food favorites.

Polenta in a blue bowl, ready to serve.

Sabrina’s Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta

When I first started working as a private chef, I had a client who absolutely LOVED polenta. The thing about cooking for clients is you have to always have four or five things cooking at once, so it was the bane of my existence to stand at the stove stirring and avoiding injury every week for polenta. It took me almost three months of weekly stirring before I started making this Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta Recipe

Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta Recipe – how to make polenta with just a few easy ingredients in the oven! No stirring of boiling polenta!
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Polenta in a blue bowl, ready to serve.
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 6 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups polenta or yellow cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • ½ – 3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
  • 3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Add 6 cups of water to a Dutch oven
  • Stir in polenta, salt, pepper and butter into water.
  • Bake uncovered 40 minutes.
  • Add in the cream/milk, cheese and stir to combine.
  • Bake for an additional 10 minutes, stir and serve immediately garnishing with more cheddar cheese if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 698mg | Potassium: 65mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 520IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 0.3mg

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About this Recipe

I was thrilled to have to make this Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta every week after that since it was as easy as stir in the ingredients and put it in the oven. The hardest part is letting it cool for a second before you start eating or you’ll end up with basically lava in your mouth.

Oven Baked Polenta got to be so popular that it became part of one of my signature dinner party meals. I serve it with braised short ribs and crispy roasted vegetables, and it is always a hit.

Chef’s Notes: 4-Ingredients

Oven Baked Creamy Cheese Polenta with just four ingredients?! Ok, ok, technically seven. But is it really fair to count water, salt, and pepper? I’m standing by my four ingredient claims. Also, if you have ever made polenta before on the stove top, you will totally appreciate that this polenta recipe comes without any third-degree burns on your arms from molten polenta.

Cooking Tips and Tricks

One last thing, you can make this polenta recipe with either polenta or cornmeal. Let me save you $10.00 and tell you I have done both and people overwhelmingly prefer it made with cornmeal. So go to your grocer and buy an inexpensive bag of cornmeal for just a few dollars and you’ll have enough to make this polenta recipe 5 or so times.

More Amazing Recipes

Collage featuring two photos of cheesy polenta

Photos used in previous versions of the post:

Cheesy polenta with title over top in blue
View of polenta topped with shredded cheese
Creamy polenta topped in cheese in a blue bowl
Close up view of cheesy polenta in a bowl

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. The standard water to polenta ratio is 4:1, so when you multiply 1.5 cups of polenta/yellow cornmeal by 4, you get 6 cups of water. This is also a creamy version, not the type that is sliceable like a casserole. If you desire a version that can be cut into slices, reduce the total liquid slightly, or let it rest longer after baking.

      Reply

  2. Comfort food at its best! My family loves this recipe. I cut it in half as it makes a lot. I like it extra creamy and a mix of cheddar and parmasan cheese.

    Reply

  3. Giiiiiiirl! You have changed my life! I LOVE POLENTA!!! LIKE it’s one of my favorite foods kind of love! And I too am VERY familiar with the whole stirring time waste / molten lava burns on my arms! This is bloody genius! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I will definitely be using this method going forward…I mean really…You know how sometimes people say “yum I am trying this” no I REALLY AM! It’s too good!

    Reply

  5. I always forget about polenta…. this recipe looks amazing though! I need to make it as side soon… perfect for summer entertaining~

    Reply

  6. I have never tried polenta before but this seems like he perfect recipe to start from. It looks terrific!

    Reply

  7. Polenta is one of my guilty pleasures, love when is creamy just like yours. Yummy pictures too!

    Reply

  8. I know I would much rather put polenta in the oven then to stand next to the stove stirring! Sign me up!

    Reply

  10. I love oven polenta…it is so easy and you can make it ahead, too. Yours looks scrummy!

    Reply

  11. Thanks for the great recipe Sabrina! I absolutely LOVE Creamy Polenta & know the dangers of stirring that lava like goodness. Going on my to make soon list!!

    Reply