- Elimination
- Reintroduction
- Maintenance
- Snack
- Side
Crisp Rosemary Polenta Chips
Crisp outside, soft in the middle, and safe in a category where almost nothing else is. The waiting is all unattended.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Serves
- 6
Published
Ingredients
Makes 6 servings. Each ingredient is labelled with its FODMAP status at this quantity.
- Low FODMAP
1 litre onion-free and garlic-free stock, or water
The polenta absorbs every bit of this, so a standard onion-based stock cube would carry straight through into the finished chips.
- Low FODMAP
200 g coarse polenta or cornmeal
Coarse here, unlike in cake — you want the structure.
- Low FODMAP
60 g parmesan, finely grated, plus more to serve
Hard aged cheeses are effectively lactose-free. Low FODMAP at 40 g.
- Low FODMAP
30 g butter
- Low FODMAP
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- Low FODMAP
3 tbsp olive oil, for roasting
- Low FODMAP
1 tsp flaky salt
- Low FODMAP
to taste black pepper
What the labels mean
- Low FODMAPSafe at the serving size listed.
Method
Step 1: Bring the stock to a simmer in a heavy pan. Pour the polenta in a thin, steady stream with one hand while whisking constantly with the other — dumped in at once it forms lumps that never disperse.
Step 2: Turn the heat to low and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the polenta comes away cleanly from the side of the pan and holds a ridge when you drag the spoon through it.
Step 3: Beat in the butter, parmesan, half the rosemary and plenty of black pepper. Taste and season properly now — once it sets you cannot correct it.
Step 4: Scrape into a lined 20 x 30 cm tin and level the top to an even 2 cm. Cool, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight until completely firm.
Step 5: Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F fan. Turn the set polenta out and cut it into batons about 2 cm wide.
Step 6: Toss the batons gently with the olive oil, the remaining rosemary and the flaky salt, spread them out on a hot tray with space between each one, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until deep gold and crisp at the edges. Finish with more parmesan.
Notes and swaps
- The refrigeration step is not optional. Warm polenta will not cut into batons and will slump into a single sheet on the tray.
- Space matters more than time. Chips touching each other steam rather than crisp — use two trays rather than crowding one.
- The set slab keeps three days in the fridge, so make it on a Sunday and roast a portion whenever you want them.
The snack and side aisle is where this diet gets most tedious. Crisps are usually seasoned with onion or garlic powder even when the flavour on the packet suggests otherwise. Oven chips are frequently dusted with wheat flour. Anything battered is out, and most dips start with garlic.
Polenta sidesteps all of it, because corn is one of the very few starches with no FODMAP ceiling at all.
Why the two-stage method
It looks like a lot of steps for chips. It is really one step, a wait, and a second step, and the wait is unattended.
Wet polenta is a porridge. To get a chip you have to set it into a solid slab first, which requires cooking it stiff enough to hold and then chilling it properly. Once it is cold it cuts cleanly into batons that hold their shape in a hot oven.
That structure is also what gives you the texture worth making these for: a crisp, almost crackly exterior with a soft, custardy interior. Frying them gets you there faster, but the oven version is close enough and much less trouble.
Coarse, not fine
This is the opposite of what a polenta cake wants.
Fine polenta makes a smooth, dense slab that turns slightly gluey when baked. Coarse polenta keeps distinct grains, which is what produces the rough surface that crisps and the interior that stays light. If the bag says “instant” or “quick-cook”, it will work but the result will be softer.
Stock again
Same warning as every other savoury recipe on this site, and it applies with unusual force here.
Polenta absorbs its entire cooking liquid. Nothing is drained off, nothing is discarded. Whatever is in the stock ends up concentrated in the finished chips at full strength.
A standard chicken or vegetable stock cube is largely salt, onion and garlic. Use a certified low-FODMAP stock, homemade stock, or plain salted water with an extra tablespoon of parmesan to make up the savoury difference. Water works better than people assume — the cheese, butter and rosemary are carrying most of the flavour regardless.
Read next
Guide
What Is the Low-FODMAP Diet? A Plain-English Guide
9 min read
The orientation guide. What the acronym means, what the evidence supports, and — most importantly — what this diet is not meant to be.
Read more
Guide
The Elimination Phase, Week by Week
12 min read
A week-by-week walkthrough of the strictest phase — including the hidden ingredients that cause most apparent failures, and when to stop.
Read more
Low-FODMAP Elimination Phase Starter Kit
A 14-page PDF: the full safe-foods list, a two-week meal plan, a printable symptom tracker and a shopping checklist you can take to the store.