The following is the traditional recipe for kutia (bahata kutia), consisting of wheat grains, poppy seeds, walnuts, raisins, and honey. It can easily be transformed into a generous kutia (schedra kutia) by cooking the wheat grains in milk instead of water and adding some butter.

The following recipe shows how to make kutia with rice, which is believed to be a modern invention. Other than in Poltava, rice-based kutia is made in the Lugansk region where they make it with sugar, in Odessa they add halva and peanuts, while in the Donetsk region it is made with canned cherries or berries.

Based on barley, this kutia also includes frozen berries, cherries, and raisins. Regionally, barley-based kutia is made in the Zhytomyr region, where it is enhanced with wine, in the Poltava region where they add uzvar liquid which gives this dish a soup-like texture, while in the Cherkasy region they prefer adding various berries.