South meets South America in this delicious side dish, breakfast, or base for a classic shrimp and grits dinner. Well-cooked winter squash and onion sneaks its way into cheesy grits with minimal changes to texture, but a big boost to both flavor and nutrition.
This side of cheesy pumpkin grits is topped with butter and a dash of sriracha hot sauce.
Which Squash?
For this recipe, you’ll need about a cup and a half of already cooked winter squash. Use my master recipe for baked squash, or squash that’s been steamed or quick-cooked in an instant pot. Butternut, kabocha, calabaza, red kuri, or tetsukabuto squash are all good choices. Canned pumpkin is an option as well. I don’t love the pureed-to-smithereens texture of canned pumpkin in this recipe, but it works just fine. I prefer the variable texture of home-cooked squash that’s been lightly mashed and then whisked into the grits. You’re safe to call these cheesy pumpkin grits regardless. Canned pumpkin is made from hubbard or butternut squash anyway.
South Meets South America
The inspiration for this cheesy pumpkin grits recipe is quibebé, a staple food of the indigenous Guarani people of South America. Also spelled kivevé, it is still very popular in Paraguay, where Guarani remains one of two national languages. This dish persists in certain regions of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, to which it was spread by Jesuit missionaries during colonization.
My version is not traditional in any way. It’s a South American twist on our Southern US tradition of cooking course-ground corn into grits as a breakfast or side dish. The original recipe contains a large amount of sugar or sweetened condensed milk and is today often served as a dessert, but there’s no sugar in this take. The original features a fresh paraguayan cheese similar to queso fresco found in Mexico or Central America. I’ve substituted cheddar.
The truth is, cooked ground grain has been an essentially belly-warming foundation of the human diet since the dawn of agriculture-based civilization. It’s just good stuff.
Use the Right Grits
This recipe calls for grits made from course-ground yellow cornmeal. Do not use white grits because the mixed-in speckles of squash will not look nearly as nice on white as they do blending in with the yellow corn. I also don’t recommend instant grits here. Many grocers throughout the US carry Bob’s Red Mill yellow corn grits. If you live in the South like I do, as well as certain areas of the midwest and northeast, you’ll also find distinct regional brands, some of them still ground using historic stone-based milling equipment.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, or Holiday
Cheesy Pumpkin Grits are a versatile dish. Don’t be afraid to improvise and add what you wish to it, or subtract any ingredient. It’s great for breakfast under some over-easy eggs. It’s a beautiful side dish with butter and a dash of your favorite hot sauce. And it takes your favorite shrimp and grits recipe to new heights. If you’d like for me to share my shrimp and grits recipe posted above, just ask in the comments.
At Christmas, thanksgiving, or Easter, this dish makes an excellent seasonal side for a baked ham or turkey, pairing especially well with deep-fried turkey for a real southern holiday spread.
Go Crazy with Add-Ins
Want a fancy breakfast? Seeing fancy grain bowls in restaurants and coffee shops and want to do it the old-fashioned way, with grits? Whatever’s good on plain grits is even better here: a fried egg, some chopped tomato or peppers, slices of avocado, pumpkin seeds, fresh corn kernels, bacon, country ham, or heck, how about raspberry habanero hempeh . . . add your ideas in the comments!
Cheesy Pumpkin Grits
Equipment
- Whisk
- Cheese Grater
- Medium Saucepan
- Small Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup Yellow Corn Grits or Polenta not instant
- 2 cups Water
- 2 cups Milk
- 1 Onion medium yellow or white
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 6 ounces Cheese, grated
- 1½ cups Cooked Winter Squash, mashed canned pumpkin is okay
- pinch Thyme
Instructions
Make the Grits
- Put water and milk over medium-high heat in saucepan.
- Whisk in grits.
- Reduce heat to low as it comes to a boil.
- Cook according to package instructions, usually about 20 minutes, or until grits are soft and liquid absorbed. Stir frequently so grits don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Prepare the Add-Ins
- Dice onion.
- Melt butter in frying pan and add onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is soft and translucent and tastes sweet.
- Grate cheese.
- Remove baked or steamed squash from peel and mash.
Compose the Grits
- Whisk squash, onion, and cheese into grits.
- Add pinch of thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
- Offer hot sauce, more butter and cheese, and/or toppings of your choosing.