Fried Grits Balls With Peach Sauce

Fried Grits Balls with Jalapeño and Oregano are the perfect party appetizers.  They are really easy to make and will be a hit at any game day party! I Served with a Sweet and Spicy Peach Sauce for the perfect dipping experience.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mission®. All opinions are entirely my own.

Nobody does grits like the Georgians!

(I see you nodding your heads in agreement!)

Tips for making these grit balls

• You can make these grit balls in advance and re-heat them in the oven when needed
• Serve them with a sweet sauce. I served it with my peach sauce.
• These grit balls can even be air fried! They are really easy to make.
• Use instant grits because they will whip up a batch really fast!
• I like mine spicy so I tend to make them with extra jalapeno. Add your level of spice to it.
• I coated them in a homemade panko bread crumb. You can also use regular bread crumbs or use almond flour to coat them
• Other veggies like peas, carrots, bell peppers or olives. Even sun-dried tomatoes will work in it.
• To make my life and your life easier, I poured the cooked grits into a lightly greased ice cube tray. It really makes a huge difference when it comes to them retaining their shapes during the frying process.

How to serve these grit balls

• Peach Sauce (see recipe below)
• Bell pepper pesto
• Cilantro lime coconut sauce
• Tzatziki sauce
• Apricot dipping sauce

Your guests can just pick them up and dip them in the peach sauce with very little effort.

Preparing these grit balls

1. Bring milk to a boil on low heat (2.5 cups)
2. Add the instant grits to the boiling milk. Keep the heat low. (1/2cup + 1 Tbsp instant grits)
3. Keep stirring it so that it doesn’t clump up
4. Add the jalapeno, oregano and salt to the instant grits. Keep stirring
5. Once it has cooled down, transfer the grits to a ice cub trays (that is lightly greased) to get the perfect shapes. Alternatively, you can even make small sized balls with your hand.
6. Put the ice cube tray in your fridge’s vegetable tray for 5 and a half hours
7. Once they are cold enough, then you are ready to remove them from the ice cube tray.
8. Shallow fry the grit balls in oil and set them aside until they are cool to touch.

Making the peach sauce

Use frozen peaches for best results

• In a strong bottom pan, add the water and peaches.
• Add the sugar, hot sauce and salt.
• Cook on low heat until most of the water has dissipated.
• Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
• Transfer to dipping bowl.

How these grit balls came into existence

They can make them cheesy, spicy, sweet and salty!  Every combination that you can imagine has been thought up by Georgians and made into a delicious recipe!

My first and only taste of grits was during my visit to Atlanta way back in the 90s.  I remember having it as a cheesy breakfast and then, as a lunch item in the form of grit cakes.

It was so well prepared that I can still taste it after over 20 years.  I still remember the smooth and savory taste of each bite!  I would love to go back and taste those grits once again.  There is no doubt in my mind that they would taste a hundred times better than I remember!