Sundried Tomato Polenta
This easy Sundried Tomato Polenta is flavored with savory Italian herbs and sweet-tart sun-dried tomatoes. When you make it in your Instant Pot, it’s mostly hands-off—just measure the ingredients, pressure cook, and stir in a little butter at the end.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Flavored with Italian herbs and bright, tart sundried tomatoes, this easy recipe is a lovely, flavorful change from your everyday side dishes.
This polenta has a mild Italian flavor with a lovely creamy consistency. It would be delicious with our Whole Chicken or Sous Vide Steak or any meat cooked on the grill. We generally serve it alongside a tossed salad and sourdough bread with butter.
Updated: We’ve had this Sun Dried Polenta recipe on the site for 9 years, adapted from a pressure cooking classic: Vegan Under Pressure: Perfect Vegan Meals Made Quick and Easy in Your Pressure Cooker by Jill Nussinow.
Since our original publication, more powerful models of electric pressure cookers have been released which have caused the burn notice for some readers. Therefore, we’ve updated this recipe to a pot-in-pot cooking method, which ensures this won’t happen no matter what model of pressure cooker you’re using.
INGREDIENTS for Polenta with Herbs and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Made with mostly ingredients you have on hand, add a few additional items to make this side dish that pops.
- Polenta: Polenta is an Italian corn porridge with a grits-like consistency that is a gluten-free. This recipe calls for coarse polenta like Bob’s Red Mill Yellow Corn Polenta.
- Olive oil: We always use extra virgin olive oil. We have been happy with Bertolli; if you want to get a fancier brand, look for one with the NAOOA Certification.
- Dried herbs and spices: For convenience, we switched from using fresh to dried in this recipe. For best flavor and quality, make sure you’re replacing your dried herbs regularly (every 1 to 3 years).
- Salt: We just use standard Morton table salt in this recipe.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: Sun-dried tomatoes generally come packed in oil or dry. You can use either in this recipe. If you’re using oil-packed, drain and pat dry before dicing with a knife. For the dry sundried tomatoes, I actually like to just use kitchen shears and cut them into bites.
- Broth: We used vegetable broth in this recipe to keep it vegetarian, but you could easily substitute chicken broth. We always use reduced-sodium broth in our recipes.
- Butter: We prefer unsalted butter in our recipes, but you could sub salted butter. You might want to reduce the amount of salt you add.
- Optional garnishes: If you’d like, you can garnish this dish with fresh basil or parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
How to Make Sundried Tomato Polenta in an Instant Pot
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
When making this sundried tomato polenta recipe, it’s particularly important to spray a 7-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray before cooking. Then add the ingredients to the pan and gently stir together.
Don’t forget to put a cup or water in the cooking pot, along with a trivet. Then use a sling to lower the cooking pot onto the trivet.
Select High Pressure and set the cook time for 8 minutes, with a 10 minute natural release..
After the polenta cooks, remove the bay leaf, then add the butter and stir until the polenta is creamy and lump-free.
Frequently Asked Questions about Sundried Tomato Polenta
Yes, you can use grits instead of polenta; just know that the texture will be a little different. Grits tend to be looser and more variable in size than polenta, but the flavor is quite similar.
Absolutely! It’s delicious with fresh herbs; we just changed it to dried for convenience.
In place of the dried herbs and spices, use 1/2 cup finely chopped onion and 2 teaspoons minced garlic and saute them in 1 tablespoon olive oil before adding to the polenta. Pour this into the 7-inch pan. Then add 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley. Add the other ingredients and proceed with the recipe as directed.
Your polenta is creamiest immediately after cooking. As it cools, it will harden and start to become lumpy. Leftovers won’t be as creamy, but you can store it in an air-tight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. Before reheating, add a little liquid, then heat and add a little more butter to improve consistency.
MORE Instant Pot Side Dish Recipes
Looking for more flavorful Instant Pot Side Dishes? Try one of these next!
- Lemon Rice: This Instant Pot recipe cooks up quick and easy, featuring long-grain rice, chicken broth, and plenty of lemon.
- Au Gratin Potatoes: Cook thinly-sliced potatoes in the Instant Pot, then whip up a rich, creamy, cheese sauce, and finish them in the oven with a crispy panko breadcrumb topping.
- Roasted Red Potatoes: Another pressure cooker–broiler recipe, where you pressure cook the potatoes, then coat them in butter and herbs and crisp them up under the broiler.
- Instant Pot Brussel Sprouts: You’ve never had brussels sprouts like these—soft in the center and bright green, with sweet-tart flavor from dried cranberries and savory grated cheese on top.
- Mexican Street Corn Salad, from our friends at InstaFresh Meals, is a must-try easy salad flavored with spices and lime juice, topped with a tangy dressing and queso fresco.
Sundried Tomato Polenta with Herbs
Ingredients
- 1 cup coarse polenta
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup finely diced sun-dried tomatoes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Fresh basil or parsley for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Spray a 7-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add polenta, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, basil, parsley, salt, and sun-dried tomatoes, and stir together until well combined. Add the vegetable broth and bay leaf.
- Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the cooking pot, and place a trivet at the bottom. Use a sling to carefully lower the polenta pan into the cooking pot.
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 8 minutes cook time.
- When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- Use the sling to carefully remove the pan of polenta from the cooking pot. Remove the bay leaf.
- Add the butter and stir until melted, whisking to remove any lumps. If desired, garnish with fresh basil or fresh parsley and parmesan cheese. Fluff the polenta and serve immediately.
Nutrition
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Not like olives? Who can not like olives? I love both black olives, green olives, Greek olives and any olives for that matter. I’m thinking one could use green olives, black olives or any olives in the recipe.
I’ve always loved olives, especially black olives. When I was a kid and we had dinner at my aunt’s house my mom knew how many black olives I’d eaten because she saw the pits piled up on my plate and chastised me for all I’d eaten. From then on, my aunt only served pitted black olives so my mom wouldn’t know how many olives I’d eaten. Had to love Aunt Tillie!
I tried this recipe three times, following the instructions closely. Each time, the Instant Pot had a burn error. I’m so disappointed. The house smelled amazing, and I know this would be delicious. Any advice?
Hi Katherine – are you getting a good seal on your pressure cooker? Do you see lots of steam releasing around the edges of the lid as you’re pressure cooking? Are you having troubles with other recipes and getting the burn error. Are you stirring in the polenta? You could try it pot in pot https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/how-to-use-the-pot-in-pot-method-in-your-pressure-cooker-instant-pot/
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for the quick response. I’ve got a brand new instant pot, so the seal is good. I haven’t noticed any steam leaking. I did not stir in the polenta. I carefully sprinkled it over the top. No other burn errors, but it’s still very new so that doesn’t say much! Your recipe was at the top of my to-try list!
I will try the pot-in-pot method. Crossing my fingers!
Katherine
I made your recipe this evening. The first time I’ve cooked with polenta. I use the instant pot.
I put everything in except for the olives. I used 4 cups of water. Low sodium for me. And when I opened the lid, there was water on top. However I stirred it around the edges really well and it soaked the liquid up just fine. It was very good in my mouth. Tasted well too! I used a whole small onion.
One thing I’ve learned recently, is to saute your spices before you add any liquid. It blooms their flavor exponentially. Oh and I didn’t have any lumps. I sprinkled the polenta on top of the water and presto! It was perfect. Thank you! I’ll be using polenta in the future.
Thanks for sharing David! Glad it was a hit.
Nope, too much liquid! Ended up with a hot mess that I had to finish cooking on the stovetop. Polenta package from Bob’s Red Mill only calls for 3 cups liquid to 1 cup polenta. There’s no way the mix-ins were going to soak up the extra cup. Did not care gor yhe taste.
Hi Francis – everyone’s tastes are different. Perhaps you used quick cooking polenta?
Didn’t have vegetables stock I used low sodium chicken broth turned out very good
Question: what do you do with the other half of the basil & parsley?
Hi Christine – after pressure cooking. I’ve updated the recipe. Enjoy!
This is right in my wheelhouse. I grew up in an Italian family eating lots of polenta. It’s a favorite of mine to this day. I usually make it plain and have something over top….never have made it with added goodies. I’ll be following your lead and leaving out the olives since we aren’t big fans of them either. Will have to see if I have any sun-dried tomatoes in the cabinet.
I know it wouldn’t be the healthiest thing in the world, but a little freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese stirred into this just before serving might be pretty tasty. 🙂