Sweet Potato Grits can take your grits to the next level. I’ve paired it with Koren Braised Beef Short Ribs, a recipe I can’t take complete credit for. I do explain it all in the post for the beef short ribs.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Yields: 4 to 6 servings
Equipment: 1 (4-quart) sauce pot with lid, measuring cups, whisk, wooden spoon, 1 rimmed baking sheet pan, alumimum foil. Tupperware bowl with lid

Ingredients For Sweet Potato Grits:
2 large sweet potatoes
4 cups of water
1 cup of uncooked fine-ground white cornmeal (white grits)
2 teaspoons of Himalayan pink salt
2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
3/4 cup of half-and-half
3 tablespoons of butter, unsalted

Directions For Baked Sweet Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 375-degrees F.
Rinse the sweet potatoes to remove and dirt and then prick with a fork. This release any steam from the potatoes and prevent them from exploding during cooking. Wrap each of the sweet potatoes in aluminum foil. Depending on how large the sweet potatoes are, bake anywhere from 1 to 1 hour 15 minutes. Gently squeeze the potatoes to make sure they are soft all the way through. Allow the potatoes to cool slightly before scooping out the flesh. Transfer to a Tupperware bowl with lid to stay warm until needed.

Note: The fine ground white grits will cook quicker then the coarse ground variety. Do not walk away from the pot, continue to whisk.

Directions For Sweet Potato Grits:
Place 4 cups of water and pink salt into a heavy bottom sauce pot. Bring to a boil over hight heat. Once the  water reaches a rolling boil, whisk in the uncooked white corn meal. Whisk until it comes back up to a boil (this will happen retatively quickly and the grits will start to sputter), immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting, continuously whisking, cook for 5 minutes or until all the water is absorbed and the grits thicken and become smooth.

Still over very low heat, add the fork-crushed sweet potatoes, whisk until well combined. Switch to a wooden spoon, add 1 tablespoon of butter, half-and half, maple syrup, and brown sugar, stir until smooth. Finally add the remaining butter, place the lid on and allow the butter to melt and pool on top. Before serving, stir in the melted butter.

Serve hot.

Note: Grits vs. Polenta
Polenta is also made from boiled dried cornmeal. Unlike hominy grits, the corn used for poenta is not treated in an alkali solution to remove the hull. Polenta is also often made with Italian flint corn instead of American dent corn. However, yoiu can cook grits and Polenta in the same way, and both are interchangeable in this recipe. There you have it, my Sweet Potato Grits.

https://lindalouhamel.com/2021/11/29/korean-inspired-braised-beef-short-ribs/