During the fall, polenta is one of my comfort meals of choice. It's the perfect base for a myriad of flavors and toppings. Sometimes I go vegan, sometimes I go heavy on the cheese. This particular carrot polenta features the carrot puree I just featured as a component. Roasted carrots and garlic pureed together form one of the levels of creaminess (so much so that you could ideally leave this vegan).
Roasted Carrot Polenta with Sage and Walnuts
A creamy and delicious carrot polenta made with bulk-bin polenta and roasted carrots/garlic that have been pureed.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Ingredients
Polenta:
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup dry polenta
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- [url]¾ cup carrot puree∞https://naturallyella.com/roasted-carrot-puree/[/url]
Toppings:
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 4 sage leaves
- ¼ cup crushed, toasted walnuts
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Add water to a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer then pour the polenta, whisking constantly, until combined. Whisk in the salt, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes (see note). If the polenta has thickened too much, add a bit more liquid and reduce the heat to the lowest setting (or burner).
- Once the polenta has thickened and the taste has mellowed, remove from heat and add in the heavy cream ad carrot puree. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
- In a small skillet, heat to medium and add the ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add the sage leaves and let fry until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove and place on a dry towel.
- Divide the polenta into two bowls and top with the toasted walnuts, fried sage, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Notes
Tips & Tricks: This polenta is perfect as a base for other roasted vegetables, legumes, and fried eggs.
For the polenta, I cook it over the lowest setting possible. Cooking polenta for a longer time makes for a better, richer flavor.
Stock up: get the pantry ingredients you will need: polenta, walnuts, sage
Nutrition: see the information.
Nutrition
- Calories: 326
- Sugar: 3.6
- Sodium: 520
- Fat: 18
- Saturated Fat: 9.6
- Carbohydrates: 37.9
- Fiber: 3.9
- Protein: 4.4
- Cholesterol: 37.9
carrot polenta
variations
There's a few different directions you can take with this carrot polenta. It's fairly simple because with the carrot components, it's a fairly hands-off meal. However, you can switch the flavorings and toppings to make it a completely different meal every time.
Vegan: Leave out the heavy cream or make a walnut-cream sauce that you could use in place of the dairy. Use olive oil in place of the ghee.
Flavor: Mix in harissa or romesco (two of my favorites) or try different herbs/spices.
Toppings: This polenta works really well with garlicky greens or spiced chickpeas.
Explore Polenta

Polenta is one of the items that is always in my pantry. It makes for a perfect vegetable base, can be used in different leftover ways, and is light on effort to prepare. As mentioned in the recipe, I prefer this method for cooking polenta and my current favorite polenta is this brand.
Grilled Curried Vegetable and Polenta Kabobs
Pesto Polenta with Chickpeas
Polenta with Roasted Radishes
Sabrina says
another great idea, that is, carrot polenta, thank you for this, great tips too about flavor tweaks, I like your red harissa too!
Megan B says
Could I turn this into cakes or baked polenta? Trying to minimize the toddler mess 🙂
Erin Alderson says
Yup! I think cakes would work well!