It’s the first Thursday of the month which means that it is time for another installment of 30 Minute Thursday!! Ā I was so tempted to give you another Mexican recipe but I dug deep and went with Italian this time. Ā If you aren’t familiar with 30 Minute Thursday here is a little bit of info about it: On the first Thursday of each month I get together with some of my food blogging friends and we all come up with 30 minute meals to share with you! Ā See bottom of post for the links to all of their delicious recipes š
Have you guys ever cooked with polenta before? Ā Up until a few months ago I had only ever bought the logs of polenta at the grocery store and fried it up in a pan. Ā I had never even had the idea to cook my own at home and I definitely didn’t know how easy it was. Ā You can use the corn grits to make classic polenta that holds together really well, or you can use them the way I did and make more of a cereal version that you can eat in a bowl and top with delicious ingredients
This is a pretty simple dish so it is important to use really great ingredients. Ā You could always pour some bottled tomato sauce over the top, but I think it makes it really delicious to make your own chunky sauce for this recipe. Ā Tomato sauce can sound intimidating but it is so easy to make and much more flavorful than the canned stuff. Ā I love black olives on my pizza so I chose them as one of my toppings for these Pizza Polenta Bowls, but you could also top these with any other pizza topping options that you like. Ā This is a great recipe for a busy weeknight where you don’t have a lot of time to cook but you want a delicious dinner with lots of flavor!
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Pizza Polenta Bowls
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small red pepper, diced
- 1 small green pepper, diced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (28 ounce) can whole San Marzano tomatoes, slightly drained
- 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence or dried oregano
- 1 large handful baby spinach leaves
- Optional toppings: fresh parsley, sliced black olives, any other pizza toppings you desire!
Polenta:
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup corn grits
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Earth Balance, or butter (optional)
- 1 – 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
Instructions
- Add 3 cups of water to a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. While water is coming to a boil, heat a large pot over medium heat and add olive oil, red pepper, green pepper, onion, salt, pepper and herbs de Provence. Cook vegetables until tender, 3-5 minutes. Next add the garlic and cook for another minute. Using your hands, carefully squeeze the tomatoes into the pot and then add a little bit of the leftover liquid, depending on how thick you want your sauce to be. Bring sauce to a simmer and stir occasionally.
- While sauce is simmering, make the polenta. Add the corn grits and salt to the boiling water. Reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking frequently. Once polenta has thickened, whisk in the butter and nutritional yeast and set aside.
- Turn off the heat for the tomato sauce and stir in the spinach. Divide the polenta into 4 bowls top evenly with the tomato sauce. Top with fresh parsley and black olives if desired, or your favorite pizza toppings.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Entree, Gluten Free, Vegan
I love polenta but I so rarely eat it. I’ve barely cooked with it, but that needs to change ASAP. š
Yum! That chunky tomato sauce looks so good on top!
Thanks, Christin!
This is such a creative idea, Izzy! I love all the flavors in these pizza polenta bowls, and I agree, homemade tomato sauce is a must with meals like this!
Thanks Kristine! Homemade sauce is the best š
Polenta is something that my mom used to make for my sister and I all the day when we were young. For this reason it always bring me good memories! I love that you made your own topping š
Awwww, I love food memories like that, Olivia!
I’ve never eaten polenta before! It always sounds so fancy pants to me but your recipe looks easy and so delicious! Yum!
You should try it out, Denise! You can pretty much mix it with everything and it is so easy to make! thanks, Denise š
I love 30 minute meals! This pizza polenta sounds fantastic Izzy!
Thanks Kelley!
I’ve developed a recent obsession with polenta and this one looks SO good, Izzy! I want a big bowl of this for dinner š
Thanks, Rachel! Isn’t it so good!? And so easy to make š
Oh Izzy! You went and combined polenta – one of my favorite comfort foods – with pizza??? I love you, that is all haha
Haha, I’m so glad you like it, Ashley!! They are two of my favorite foods too!
I’ve actually never had polenta before – but if it involves pizza I’m in! This sounds like a terrific meal!
Haha, that is how my brain works too, Stacey!
What a fun idea! I’ve got to start making my own polenta- pinning š
You totally should, Medha!
I bought a bunch of corn grits with all of the intention to make a polenta dish a couple of months ago…and no such go. This has motivated me to give it another try!
Oh how I love polenta, but for whatever reason the rest of my family isn’t nuts about it. More for me?? I’d be happy to have this meal all to myself, and Italian food is right up there with Mexican for me!
I don’t think my husband would be crazy for it either, but more for us then! I love Italian food too!
Pizza polenta bowls are such a great idea, Izzy! I love that you can customize the toppings to suit your liking. I can imagine it’s super comforting to have a warm bowl of this on a cold fall evening!
Thank you, Sarah! So comforting to have a big bowl of this and thankfully we have been having great fall weather lately! I hope you are too š
You know I would have been AOK with another Mexican recipe! But I’m glad you shared this one, Izzy, because I love polenta! Especially paired with tomatoes. I spy herbs de provence too… This looks just delicious my dear! š
Haha, I will probably make one next time! I just used up all my herbs de provence in this recipe so I need to get some more soon because I love it š
We made polenta from scratch at school the other day and I’m completely hooked! I have a feeling these pizza bowls are about to become my new favorite thing ever. I mean, how could you ever go wrong?? Looks so good Izzy!
How fun! I want to hear more about your school stories, Sarah!! If you love polenta, you will love these pizza bowls š
I’m a big polenta fan. But I sometimes forget about it and then realize that I haven’t used it in months. I think that’s a total food blogger problem. Ha! Delicious dish, Izzy!
I do the same thing all the time! Definitely a food blogger problem š Thanks, Liz š
I love this creative twist on pizza, Izzy! I will admit that I’ve never made my own polenta before, but now I have the motivation to do so. Sounds perfect for 30 minute Thursdays!
Thank you, Gayle! It is so easy to make, you would love it!
I sent Josh to the store this week to buy polenta and he came bag with the weird log of it — no idea what to do with that lol. Wish he would’ve gotten the right stuff so I could whip this up! Sounds delicious.
That is totally something my husband would have done! I’ve cooked with the log before and just cut it into slices and crisped it up in some oil, it was actually pretty good! Thanks, Kelly š
I love cooking with polenta! We usually have the quick-cooking kind and I love that it’s ready in pretty much no time! I love all the pizza flavors going on in these bowls Izzy! Looks so good š
It seriously takes like 5 minutes, I love it! Thanks so much, Nora š