My family loves cornmeal porridge! Growing up in Guyana this was a staple in our home. On cooler mornings and evenings you were sure to have a cup of cornmeal porridge to warm you up. For this easy cornmeal porridge recipe I use the really fine cornmeal, often called corn flour here in the US. It makes the best cornmeal porridge. So smooth and creamy. It's comfort in a bowl.

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Simple Ingredients, Big Flavor
What I love most about cornmeal porridge is that requires just a few simple ingredients: cornmeal, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg is all I add to my porridge. Don't skip the nutmeg! It really gives it a great aroma and taste. Freshly grated nutmeg is one of my favorite smells. Of course you can add other spices like cardamom and maybe some vanilla essence/extract if you like but I prefer to keep it simple.
No-Stir Easy Cornmeal Porridge
Traditionally, you make cornmeal porridge by adding the cornmeal to a pot of boiling water then stirring quickly and constantly while it cooks. The main issue with this method is that the cornmeal is the temperature of molten lava! It starts to bubble up furiously. There are so many close calls with 3rd degree burns. So I tried making this porridge on a low simmer and it works perfectly well. With my easy cornmeal porridge there is no standing over the pot constantly stirring. After I add the cornmeal to the pot of boiling water, I give it a quick stir with a whisk to incorporate the ingredients, then I reduce the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes it is perfectly cooked, smooth and creamy! Easy Peasy!
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My family loves having cornmeal with a side of plait bread tawa toast. Have you tried my plait bread recipe? It's really easy to follow! Cornmeal Porridge also goes really well with pot bread!
The Easy Cornmeal Porridge Printable Recipe:
Printable Recipe Card
Easy Cornmeal Porridge
Ingredients
- ½ cup of fine cornmeal
- 5 cups of water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon of whole cloves
- About 1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 can of coconut condensed milk or regular condensed milk to taste
- ½ cup of coconut milk may use evaporated milk or other milk to taste
Instructions
- To a saucepan add 4 cups of water and all the spices and bring to a boil on medium heat
- Continue to boil for 10-15 minutes or until the water changes to a brown color
- Then combine the remaining water and the cornmeal and mix together well, ensuring there are no lumps
- Using a sieve, you may scoop the spices out of the boiling water or you can leave them in
- Then add the mixture of water and cornmeal to the boiling spiced water and with a whisk stir vigorously to incorporate ensuring there are no lumps
- Then reduce the heat to low, cover and let simmer for about 3-5 minutes
- Next add the coconut condensed milk and coconut milk and mix together well.
- Serve hot!
Sisiscarlett says
This seems so easy and delicious
Angelicque Eastman owhoka says
The smoothest creamiest cornmeal. Thank you.
Althea Brown says
Yesss. Thank you so much
Marissa says
I made this recipe with the recommended amount of water and cornmeal and it was very runny. I think it should be 2cups of water in the beginning for a thicker cornmeal. What’d you think?
KRob says
Are the cook times correct, should they be switched? Surely you don’t mean to boil water for 10-15 minutes and and only simmer the cornmeal for 2-3 minutes. Just doesn’t seem right. LOL
Aj says
Just tried this and yes the water is a bit much..I also didn't add as much condensed milk. Adjusted the spices a bit but overall very yummy