My partner Richard and I recently re-watched My Cousin Vinny the other day (for the thousandth time). And it dawned on me, I hadn’t made a grits recipe in the Instant Pot yet. And that was unacceptable – especially being with a Southerner who loves grits.
If you’ve never had them, grits are bits of ground corn (usually white or hominy) and, when done right (NEVER using “instant” or “quick” ones), they are creamy, smooth with a slightly grainy bite (they don’t call it “grits” for nothing), and are out-of-this-world delicious. Of course butter is a key player, and in this case, so is cheese! I also give you the option of tossing in some shrimp but if that’s not your thing, you can easily leave it out.
IMPORTANT: It is crucial you use either old-fashioned, stone ground or hominy grits. DO NOT use “instant,” “quick,” or “5-minute” grits. Not only will it cause many a loyal grit lover to gnash their teeth, it will also not cook properly under pressure. Also, be sure you don’t use yellow grits as that’s meant for polenta.
Instant Pot Shrimp & Cheese Grits
Yield: 6
Instant Pot Shrimp & Cheese Grits
My partner Richard and I recently re-watched My Cousin Vinny the other day (for the thousandth time). And it dawned on me, I hadn't made a grits recipe in the Instant Pot yet. And that was unacceptable - especially being with a Southerner who loves grits.
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Additional Time
5 minutes
Total Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups garlic broth (e.g. 3 teaspoons Garlic Better Than Bouillon + 3 cups water) or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned, stone ground or hominy white grits (NOTE: it must be these and not instant or 5-minute grits. And avoid yellow grits – those are for polenta)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or half & half (see Jeff’s Tips)
- 2 - 4 tablespoons (1/4 – 1/2 stick) salted butter
- 1 (5.2-ounce) package Boursin cheese (any flavor) or 4 ounces of a brick of cream cheese (optional)
- 1 1/2 – 2 pounds raw and thawed large or jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (tail on or off)
- 2 cups shredded cheese of your choice (Cheddar or Gouda work great)
- 2 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper, or to taste (optional)
- A few dashes of hot sauce, to taste (optional)
- Sliced chives, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Add the water, broth, olive oil, and grits to the Instant Pot. Stir well. Secure the lid, move the valve to the sealing position, hit Manual or Pressure Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes. When done cooking, allow a 5-minute natural release followed by a quick release.
- Once the lid’s off, give everything a good stir so the grits are smoothed out and blended with the remaining liquid. Add in the cream, butter and Boursin or cream cheese (if using) and stir until melded into the grits.
- Hit Cancel and then hit Sauté and Adjust so it’s on the More or High setting. Once bubbling, add the shrimp and sauté for about 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally. As soon as they begin to curl and appear opaque, hit Cancel to turn the pot off and then hit Keep Warm.
- Stir in the cheese. Then, add the pepper (if using) and hot sauce (if using). Stir until melded into the grits and let rest for 3-5 minutes to slightly thicken and then serve. Top with chives and additional pepper, if desired.
Jeffrey's Tips
How buttery you want your grits is up to you. Start with 2 tablespoons and you can always add more!
If you want thicker grits, leave out the cream but be mindful that, like pasta and grains, grits always continue to absorb liquid and thicken as they rest.
Not into seafood but craving the grits? Skip Step 3 entirely. This will also make it vegetarian.
Francine
Many pots get a burn notice when we stir oatmeal into the liquid. Won’t grits do the same?
I don’t stir the oatmeal and it’s always perfect.
Caroline
I just tried this recipe tonight just as it says and I got the burn notice… I’m going to try your suggestion next time and not stir! Thanks!
Kay Hugghins
I’m making it tonight for the first time and just got the burn notice. I released the pressure (with a towel over the valve because it was going EVERYWHERE!), and when I opened the lid, there were several stuck spots on the bottom. I used a whisk to get rid of the big lumps just above the places that had stuff stuck to the bottom. I put it back on for 5 minutes and I’m going to keep an eye on it. It’s now counting down so maybe that took care of it….
Kay
Well, it was absolutely DELICIOUS!! I plan on whisking in the grits the next time because I didn’t get a burn notice after I scraped the bottom and whisked the lumps out. I used an 8qt instant pot. My son said he was worried about maybe needing to go get food someplace else after he left our house but he got 2nds then 3rds! He said it was wonderful…and he never compliments my cooking.
Ginny Gaston
Omg…..My Cousin Ginny is absolutely hysterical and the best! I’m gonna try this recipe too!
Arlinda Abekasis
It’s me and my husband’s favorite movie, we’ve watched it so many times that I don’t know how many. I can almost recite many of the lines. 🤣
Heather C
OMG! My mouth is watering just reading this recipe. It’s definitely going on my dinner menu this week. Can’t wait to try it!
Abby
Oh Jeffrey! Richard is a Southerner after my own heart. I’m living in the Pacific NW and can’t get grits anywhere! When we go south I make sure I get grits every day I can. I’m going to use your recipe to make a huge pot of grits! They sound so good!
DBDM
Order them on Amazon. I suggest “Old School” brand grits
Kristin M.
Made this tonight and it was wonderful! Even my picky 7 year old ate it. The only variation to the recipe I made was that I sautéed the shrimp instead of adding them to the pot. This will definitely be in our meal rotation from now on!
Ashley
Is there any way to use instant or quick grits for this recipe? I can not find regular in my area. What modifications should I make if using instant? My family and I love all of your recipes!
DBDM
You can use quick or instant but since they don’t actually need to be cooked (just rehydrated in hot water), I would make them seperate then add the shrimp and follow the remaining ingredients (butter, cheese). Honestly the hot grits should cook the shrimp just fine without the pressure cooker. I would likely just mix the raw shrimp into the dry instant grits then add the boiling water to the shrimp/grits mixture Shrimp needs very very little cooking. (My little southern Grandmother sometimes cooked them in a colander under hot tap water.) Alternative is to cook the shrimp seperately or the simplest way is to buy pre-cooked boiled shrimp. Instant grits are not nearly as good but they are not THAT bad.
Becky
What about the broth, oil, and cream? Should they be added in the same amounts?
Lindsey M.
I was very excited for this recipe. Followed it exactly & kept getting burn notices no matter how well I stirred. Ended up having to cook the grits on the stove.
Jeffrey
So strange. Shouldn’t have happened. What size pot?
Kristi
6 qt. Same for me!
Deborah Hafer
Me too don’t understand
Jeffrey
Yes. As it states in the written recipe and the video (when in doubt, watch the video)
Eric w.
I got a burn warning, too, with this recipe, but that didn’t surprise me. I just cancelled to timer and started timing 15 minutes from that point (10 minutes for the cooking plus the 5 for the natural release part). It worked just fine. I think maybe I should have used the lower heat setting? I don’t know.
Whatever, it turned out delicious and my Texan/Louisianan husband loved it. I may experiment with using the pot-in-pot method next time to see if I can get the grits to cook right that way. It’ll take longer, but it can’t burn that way. 😉
Thanks, Jeffrey!!
David F.
I also received the burn notice several times. The Instant Pot managed to cook for almost five minutes on my third try when I received the burn notice and decided to try it your way. Thanks for that! It worked fine and we are having a great dinner tonight.
Kindra
I want to make sure I’m reading this right…3 cups of plain water AND 3 cups of broth for 6 cups total? Thanks!!
DBDM
Nothing wrong with using yellow grits–just make sure they are coarse ground and not fine ground. They taste the same and with the cheese you added (which is FINE) they would look the same too. White grits are “propper” for color when served traditionally but yellow grits are FINE too (as long as they are coarse ground).
Donna P.
This was absolutely delicious! Easy and quick, too.
Eddie Gray
We made these tonight. Followed directions to a “T”. They turned out great! Awesome way to cook stoneground grits. Shrimp was cooked perfectly.
John M Lorenz
I am anxious to try this out. One issue I see is when to add the shrimp. The video says before adding shrimp before the soft cheese but the written instruction says soft cheese first, then scrimp. I am going to add shrimp first, but do not cook thoroughly before adding the soft cheeses. Do not add the hard cheese until fully cooked, which should be a minute or so. Do not overcook the shrimp.
About the burn issue I keep seeing. A simple solution. Pot in Pot. I use this for smaller amounts of rice, which comes out perfect every time. Put 1 Cup of water in the IP. Place a trivet in the bottom of the IP and put an oven proof bowl on the trivet. Place all of the initial ingredients (grits, water, etc) into the bowl and proceed as in the recipe. After cooking the first group of ingredients (grits et al), return them to the empty IP to add the remaining ingredients. Caution- You may run into some capacity issues. An 8 quart IP will handle a pyrex bowl large enough for a full recipe of grits. My 6 quart will only handle a bowl large enough for a half recipe, which I intend to make anyway as it is just my wife and I. If making a full recipe, just divide the first group in half and make it twice. Return both to the empty IP and finish as stated.
John M Lorenz
I (we) made this for dinner tonight. If I had it in a restaurant, I would be ordering it again, fer sure. I had some Brie on hand to use up so I used that in lieu of the other soft cheeses. We added some Penzeys Spices Cajun Seasoning to the cooked grits, 1/8 tsp for a half batch but will use 1/4 tsp the next time. I am not a fan of spicy heat. Cooking wise, we cooked the liquids, olive oil and Grits (Stone Ground White Grits from The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, TN) using the pot in pot method. We cut everything in half as this is enough for 2 of us. The Grit mixture was cooked for 10 min at full pressure and NR for 5. It was runnier than expected so the next time the NR will be increased to 10, like I found in another IP recipe for grits that uses P in P.
After the initial cook, dump the cooked contents into an empty IP set on Saute and bring up to simmer. Add shrimp and the soft cheese at the same time. About the time the soft cheese melts most of the way the shrimp is cooked. As soon as the shrimp is almost cooked, continue adding the rest immediately as the shrimp will finish on its own. Add everything else in the order listed. We added thinly sliced green onion along with the cheddar cheese in the last step. It was garnished with fresh parsley and chives. I will be making this again soon.
Jeffrey
Wonderful, John! I’m thrilled you enjoyed it!
Joy A.
Oh, my oh my, Jeffrey!! If you are a southerner from the southeast, you definitely didn’t learn how to make shrimp and grits there. Just google a few recipes!
Shrimp and grits has a shrimp, sausage, bacon gravy base with lots of seasoning, onion, etc. that is mostly brownish in color that is put over cheese grits that have been cooked separately. Sorry, it’s nothing like what you made here.
Now, after my scolding, 😜 your other recipes are the best. Just made your pot roast today, and oh my goodness, was so good.
Love the Zuppa Toscana, except I use kale instead of spinach.
Keep the recipes coming – instant pot is this old ladies favorite!!
Jeffrey
What a fabulous comment!
Patty Owens
I just made grits for the first time. I decided to try a little bacon in this, and had some good slab bacon I needed to use up. I diced up a couple strips and sautéed in the Instant Pot. Then did the rest of recipe. Next time, 4 strips instead of two, the bacon was great. I skipped Boursin, and cooked the shrimp separately so I could use to top bowls. It was marvelous. My southern husband enjoyed.
Ashley
This is so delicious! I have made it 3x. I never liked grits until I went to Nola in November and now I’m a believer.