These Cheesy Fried Grit Cakes are a fun take on a classic Southern Recipe. Fried to a perfect golden brown, they are perfect for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or even an Appetizer!
Southern Comfort Food
Here at Bubba Pie, we love recipes that have strong roots in specific regions of America. From Idaho Finger Steaks to Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwiches, we relish in the stories and traditions that make these dishes the classics that they are.
When looking at Southern Cuisine, there isn’t much more of a trademark dish than Grits! Grits are a staple on breakfast plates all over the South, with a rich history and strong tradition.
Cheesy Fried Grit Cakes
Traditionally, Grits were served as a breakfast side. But, as of late, they have become a little more “trendy, with restaurants and celebrated chefs dressing up this classic ingredient into all sorts of fare. One thing I’ve heard about is Fried Grit Cakes. This had me intrigued!
How To Make Fried Grit Cakes
The process to make these Fried Grit Cakes is super easy and only takes a handful of simple ingredients. You will need to let the grits chill for at least 3 hours, so this is something you’ll have to plan a bit in advance. But the recipe is really straightforward. Here is what you’ll need:
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup instant grits
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
- Oil for frying (you’ll need enough for about 1/2 inch of oil in whatever fry pan you are using.)
Do You Have To Use Instant Grits For This Recipe?
We love shortcuts and making comfort food recipes as simple as possible. So we used Instant Grits for this Grit Cake recipe. But you could use “quick grits” or “stone ground grits”. But both would take more cooking time. For Quick Grits, you’ll need to add 5-10 minutes of cooking time. For Stone Ground Grits, it’ll be more like 30 minutes.
How To Serve Cheesy Fried Grits
With all the cheese, salt, pepper and other seasonings, this dish does taste fine on it’s own. But you can also dress it up and incorporate it into other dishes.
BREAKFAST GRIT TOPPINGS:
- Fried Ham
- Sausage Gravy
- Scrambled Eggs
DINNER GRIT TOPPINGS:
- BBQ Pulled Chicken or BBQ Pulled Pork
- Shrimp
- Smoked Sausage
- Taco Meat with Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream, etc.
APPETIZER IDEA
- Cut the Fried Grits into “Fries” and dip them into Marinara
Notes, Tips and Variations
- Don’t have a round cooking cutter? No problem! You can make these into a square or rectangle shape by just cutting them out of the baking dish in those shapes.
- Feel free to substitute any cheese you’d like with this recipe! Colby Jack, Pepper Jack or Mexican Blended Cheeses would work great!
- Make sure you chill the grits for at least 3 hours before cutting them. Or else they will be too hard to work with!
Tools To Help With This Recipe
- LARGE SAUCEPAN– It’s great to have a nice large skillet for recipes like this.
- SET OF 7 DIFFERENT SIZE MIXING BOWLS– Super affordable set of bowls will have all you need for any recipe!
I hope you enjoy these Cheesy Fried Grit Cakes! Let me know how they turn out for you in the comments section! Thanks for reading!
Cheesy Fried Grit Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk to simmer with water.
- 2 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup instant grits
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk to add to eggs and breadcrumb coating later.
- 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
- oil (enough to for about 1/2 inch in your fry pan)
Instructions
- Heat 2 cups of milk, water, and salt in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- When the milk begins to simmer, reduce heat and stir in the grits. Cover and cook until thickened, around 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheese and pepper until well combined.
- Spread the mixture into a baking dish and chill for 3 hours, until set.
- When ready to fry, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Whisk together the eggs and tbsp milk in a shallow dish. In a separate dish, mix together the breadcrumbs and Creole seasoning.
- Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the grits.
- Dip each grits cake in the egg mixture, then the breadcrumb mixture. Repeat the process again, dipping in the egg mixture and then breadcrumbs. Continue dipping all the grits cakes in the egg and breadcrumbs until they’re all coated.
- Place the coated grits cakes in the hot oil and cook each side until browned, between two and three minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to cool slightly before serving.
Nutrition
Comments & Reviews
Barbara Bibby says
This recipe was great with both shrimp in a honey siracha sauce and with pulled pork. I’d love a home made spicy bbq sauce recipe. Would frying the cakes in a deep fryer work for this recipe?
Kathy says
Yes, you could use a deep fryer as well for this recipe, just a couple of minutes should do the trick.
Libby Clark says
As you stated, this is truly a “Southern dish”, although yours has a fun twist.
My mother would often fry grits while frying chicken (separate skillet) to serve as a replacement for mashed potatoes. Instead of panko, we used the same flour, salt & pepper mixture as the chicken. Using the chicken frying pan (not the grit frying pan), she’d make the white gravy to serve over the grits. *Side note – although being refrigerated to harden, the grits will still crumble a bit. Hence why separate flour & seasonings, frying skillet and gravy pan, other than the chicken.
Many in the South enjoy cheese grits, so your recipe combines two traditional ways we enjoy them. Thank you so very much for reminding me of such wonderful memories
Kathy says
Thanks so much for this comment. This is wonderful information and a great story!
NayNay says
I’m a truly Southern lady that truly love all of my moms southern recipes and that includes the various ways that she would prepare grits
For the fried grit cakes, I add scallions and pieces of bacon in the mixture. I also like to spread some chunky mild salsa over the crunchy deep fried cakes while they are piping hot and enjoy them. Yum Yum YUM YUM!!!
Kathy says
Thanks so much for the great suggestions!
Mary says
How much oil is needed?
Kathy says
You’ll need about 1/2 inch of oil in whatever fry pan you are using. I clarified this in the recipe.
Yolonda says
I would like to try this dish. There’s confusion about the use of the milk. Recipe specifies bringing the water(2c) and the milk(2c) to a simmer then add grits, then cheese. Later I’m asked to mix the eggs with the milk for coating with Panko.
How much milk do I need to put aside and not use when preparing the grits? I eat grits 2-4 days a week. Four cups of liquid for one cup of quick grits is a lot!!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Yolonda
Kathy says
Yes. Sorry, I could have been clearer. And I’ll fix it. The list of ingredients had “milk” on it 2X. 2 cups milk and, later 2 tbsp. The 2 cups is what you simmer and the 2 tbsp is what you mix with the eggs later. I’ll make it clearer. Sorry.