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Slap Pap

Creamy South African Breakfast Pap

Slap pap is a soft, creamy South African maize porridge and the kind of breakfast that belongs on cold, rainy mornings. This version is cooked with milk until silky and comforting, then finished with butter and cinnamon sugar. Simple, nostalgic and deliberately indulgent — exactly how breakfast pap should be.

By Ivana Sanshia · Updated Sep 2026

Slap Pap, a South African recipe
Prep5 min
Cook25 min
Total30 min
Serves2
LevelEasy
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Before you start

Get your mise en place ready so nothing catches you out mid-cook.

Method

  1. 1

    Cook the Pap

    Add the water, milk, butter and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.

  2. 2

    Reduce the heat to low. While whisking continuously, slowly rain the maize meal into the water. Keep whisking until completely incorporated and smooth. Adding it gradually is the key to avoiding lumps.

  3. 3

    Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently as the maize meal absorbs the water and begins to thicken.

The rest of this recipe

There’s 4 more ingredients and 4 more steps to go.

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Ivana Sanshia’s note

Don't be shy with the butter and cinnamon sugar. The butter should melt into the hot pap and the cinnamon sugar goes on while everything is still steaming. This isn't the breakfast for trying to make everything lighter — make it the way you remember it.

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Filed under

BreakfastDessertVegetarianAutumnWinterSpring

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