I gave you my favorite creamy polenta recipe a few weeks ago and although I love the taste of polenta made that way, I think what you can do with the leftovers might be even more delicious.  Fried polenta makes for an excellent breakfast substitute for pancakes or waffles and can be topped with syrup, jam or even just butter.

Fried Polenta Recipe

This is more of a technique than a recipe, but we need to start off by heating up our fat.  I prefer bacon fat, but you can certainly use vegetable or corn oil.  Get that started by heating it up in your sturdiest skillet.

Once that has started to melt, you’ll want to get your leftover polenta out of the fridge.  After settling, your polenta should be pretty much a corn-based brick, that’s perfect it will make for easy slicing.  Go ahead and cut the polenta into half inch thick slices.
 
Time for frying! 

Gently place the polenta slices into the pan, they are a bit fragile at this point and you don’t want to break them. From this point on, your eyes will be your guide.  Make sure to get each side nice and brown, but don’t let it get too brown because burned polenta tastes horrific.  If you’re picky, you can hold the slices on their sides to get the edges, but it’s really not necessary.
 
Once everything is the way you like it, take the polenta slices out of the pan and let them rest for a minute on a paper towel.  That will help to absorb some of the grease and allow the outside to be every crispier.

Finishing & Serving your Fried Polenta

You’ve just finished making your new favorite breakfast food. The polenta slices will be crispy and crunchy on the outside, but creamy, smooth in the middle.  It’s the best way to start your day.

While they can be eaten plain, so can pizza, but when was the last time you had plain pizza?  The salty crunchiness is the perfect compliment for a sweet topping like syrup, jelly, jam or even powdered sugar.