Creamy Vegan Polenta With Mushrooms and Kale Recipe (2024)

Made this exactly as the recipe called for except had to use baby portabella since that’s all that was available. Used the 19 Crimes “the punisher” red wine. This meal did NOT disappoint!! Couldn’t find medium or coarse ground cornmeal either so used the standard fine meal that you can find in standard stores. Turned out perfectly. Perfect Sunday night meal after a long day of rain, I think I’m ready to take on Monday!!!!

For NA households: veg bouillon and a dash of balsamic.

Pomegranate juice with a bit of vinegar would work well.

No need to miss the flavor of Parmesan! Try this super easy vegan "walmesan" (based on recipe from Rich Roll's wife Julie Piatt)1 heaping cup raw walnuts1 small garlic clove, finely minced or grated on a microplane2 T nutritional yeast, or more to taste1/2 tsp sea saltBig pinch, a good half teaspoon or so of grated lemon zest (provides the tang of Parmesan)Put everything in a mini food processor and process until it's fine crumbs but not yet walnut butter. Good on absolutely everything.

Really delicious -but I've made it a few times and there's always waaaaay more polenta than mushroom mixture. It's fine as long as you have other plans for the polenta. But be aware that the mushroom mixture is a little sparse; barely served three of us and at least one is a pretty light eater. Next time I'll double the mushroom part.

How could I maintain the rich flavor without the red wine? We are an NA household

i made it with the wine but i think would have been better without, maybe more tomato paste and broth instead at that step

A tip for polenta with no lumps: Stir constantly with a dough hook or whisk- not too vigorously- and always in the same direction. I make a lot of polenta and this always works

Great flavor!! Can easily skip the vegan butter for less oil — didn’t miss it at all.

A shake of liquid smoke make this dish perfection in our house. Will definitely cook again.

I used 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar instead of the red wine (I didn’t have any wine). I also added six vine tomatoes, quartered, when I added the Swiss chard. It was absolutely delicious.

This was excellent - no notes. Made it exactly as written and I wouldn't change anything.

I have loved almost every recipe I have tried from the NYT. This, however, was very disappointing. Both my husband and I found it bland, and not worth the time and effort. We will not make this again.

This was excellent. Soaked the polenta for an hour and then baked it covered for an hour at 400 degrees. No stirring, no lumps. The leftovers made a fantastic lunch the next day. As others did, I upped the amount of mushrooms. Will make this again.

We loved this. Bobs Red Mill polenta with bit of Grana Padana, lg creminis, Better than Bouillion no chicken broth and dry red wine. Had baby rainbow chard from farm mkt. Followed recipe and created a very tasty quick and hearty dinner. Keep the mushrooms in big slices! Bet portobellos would work. I’d like to try a fried egg on top next time.

This is delicious - especially with Nora Mill White Speckled ("Georgia Ice Cream") Grits as the base.

I used 1/2 lb mushrooms, crispy cooked (per Alison Roman, this site, Farro+Crispy Mushrooms) and added 1/2 lb tofu in 1/4" dice for protein, plus 1 diced carrot and red pepper, per suggestions here indicating need for more bulk. Didn't have kale, so I used frozen spinach. Very good, but easier if you break it into steps. I prepared everything a day ahead by leaving the polenta to soak overnight so it cooks faster (see Serious Eats), and prepping/cooking the vegetables through Step 4.

This vegan recipe looked absolutely delicious - so naturally I added bacon (sorry not sorry?) and it was simply glorious. Used mixed mushrooms and Swiss chard, big spoonful of Parmesan in place of the nutritional yeast, which I didn’t have. Will be making on repeat!

Guests at Christmas dinner rated this their favorite dish. Shocking since they were the meat eaters! Some even ended up taking leftovers home. Ended up not having as much kale as the recipe called for but there wasn’t much of a loss for this.

I made this with mixed baby greens and sun dried tomatoes. Very good.

Loved the flavor but missed the meat!

Better if you double the mushrooms and Swiss chard.

Interesting to see that No Alcohol households want to avoid cooking with wine. The heat of the cooking evaporates all the alcohol in the wine, leaving only the non-alcoholic flavor components. Perhaps there's another issue I'm not familiar with. I can imagine that Muslim households may be prohibited from keeping alcohol in the home. Families with a recovering alcoholic may need to keep an alcohol-free home to eliminate temptation. What else?

This was very disappointing. A lot of work for a distinctly bland result.

Sub olives and bell peppers for mushrooms

Did not add vinegar. Delicious. Did double mushroom veg part for amount of polenta!

Took some tips from other commenters and halved the polenta while keeping the same “mushroom mix” amounts. Didn’t have kale but subbed for collard greens, keeping everything else exactly to the recipe. We loved it!!! It’s going into our regular rotation, especially when our farm share is overloaded with greens and mushrooms. Super flavorful and hearty without the caloric guilt!

i loved making this but i went ahead and added some vegan pesto, a balsamic fig vinegar my grandmother gifted me, and some garlic oil- a new comfort food i crave every so often !! i think they really help to brighten the dish a little !

De-veganized the grits with dairy butter, pecorino, a little cream. Wine braise sauce was great, would make again.

This was excellent. Soaked the polenta for an hour and then baked it covered for an hour at 400 degrees. No stirring, no lumps. The leftovers made a fantastic lunch the next day. As others did, I upped the amount of mushrooms. Will make this again.