These sweet hush puppies are crisp on the outside, soft, light and airy in the inside. Cornmeal, green onions, red onions, flour and milk are some of the ingredients in this recipe. The batter is deep fried until golden brown.
They are bite sized, delicious and easy to make! Save this recipe for your next fish fry or make it anytime with fried whiting fish or crispy tuna patties! Today I will show you how easy and quick it is to make this popular southern snack!
I’m continuing with a recent foray into southern comfort food today after [last week’s] buttermilk coleslaw and the week before last, mashed potatoes with delicious sweet hush puppies recipe.
They are so light and airy and a tad sweet. I can easily eat several of them. It's possibly the only southern food I enjoy more than cornbread.
They go well with all your favorite comfort foods including mac-n-cheese, collard greens and barbecue.
You may as well double this recipe because you and your family or friends are going to gobble these up with the quickness. We can't stop eating them.
WHAT ARE HUSH PUPPIES?
Also spelled hushpuppies, are deep-fried golden colored balls of cornmeal. There is some debate between them and corn fritters.
Some of the internet seems to think the only difference is your zip code, others think that fritters are sweeter and flatter. Regardless of what you call them, I think we can agree that “hush puppies” is way more fun and much cuter to say. Am I right?
There are many stories about the origin of them too. One goes like this. Fishers were frying up their catch for the day, they'd throw scraps of fried cornmeal to their howling dogs while saying, "hush puppy!" Interesting huh?
HUSH PUPPY INGREDIENTS
Cornmeal (the main ingredient in this hush puppy recipe) salt, sugar (optional), flour, baking powder, milk, egg, ground red pepper (cayenne), garlic powder, oil, red onions, and green onions are basically what I used in this recipe.
I like to use sugar in mine but feel free to eliminate the sugar or add half the called amount. I don't think they are sweet though. The sugar helps to balance out the flavors.
HOW TO MAKE IT
1. This recipe consists of frying up balls of thick batter. The first step in making them is to combine the dry ingredients – flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and garlic powder in one bowl. (photo 1)
2. Stir in the milk and beaten eggs into the dry mixture, along with red and green onions. Mix until just combined. Set to the side for 10-15 minutes. ***See notes below in the recipe.**
Fail 🤦🏾♀️ fyi, I forgot to take a pic of the green onions in the mixture below then when I added them to the batter, I forgot to snap the pic again...🙈 #bloggingwhilemoming (photos 2-3)
3. To fry up, in a large cast iron pan or dutch oven, heat 1 quart of oil to 365°F. Drop 5-6 tablespoon sized balls into the oil. To make dropping the batter into the oil easier, I recommend an ice cream scoop with a spring release.
Let the batter fry until it becomes golden brown, turning for even cooking.
Remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towel. Repeat until you’re out of batter. **See note below in the recipe card for more detailed important tips. (photos 4-6)
WHAT TO SERVE WITH HUSHPUPPIES?
They are most commonly served with fried seafood or bbq. Traditionally they are served with catfish. We love to them with fried whiting fish.
Hushpuppies Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cornmeal
- ½ cup flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ tsp red pepper
- ⅛ tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup milk
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ¼ cup minced red onions
- 1 quart vegetable oil
- 3 green onions Minced (only the green part)
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients – flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and garlic powder in one bowl. Stir in the milk and beaten eggs into the dry ingredients along with red and green onions. Mix until just combined. Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes *See notes.
- In a large deep cast iron or dutch oven, heat 2 quarts of oil to 365°F. Using a tablespoon sized ice cream scoop with spring release, drop 5-9 balls into the hot oil. *See notes
- Fry until golden brown, turning consistently for even cooking. Remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towel. Repeat until you’re out of batter. *See notes*
Notes
If you make this sweet hush puppy recipe I’d love to know! Leave a comment below!
Make sure to save this recipe to your Pinterest board for later and while you are there, follow me!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE THESE OTHER SOUTHERN RECIPES:
Casandra Harrison
I always use this recipe it's the best one I have tried .... I add precooked bacon and 1/2 can of whole kernel corn it brings it to a whole new level
April
Bacon and corn is a great addition. Thank you so much Casandra!
Brenda Brooks
Great hushpuppies. I was going to cook fried shrimp for supper and didn't have my usual hushpuppy mx, Used this recipe and will not use the store mix again. My husband and I loved them. Easy and you normally have most of the ingredients at home.
April
I can understand using the mix in a pinch. I do it sometimes but homemade is easy and like you said, you'll most likely have all the ingredients at home. Thank you so much Brenda!
TC
I made these back to back; the first time with sugar and the second without. (Mom asked why I didn't bring any over and she's not into sweetened hush puppies. Lol). I made these in the morning and reheated them at lunch. They got s bit tough but were still good. The second batch was light and fluffy and even though my mom didn't eat them hot, she enjoyed it and dad did too. Thank you for the recipe. It was quick, DELICIOUS, filled a craving and worked great using my oat milk.
April
Thats so great to hear TC! Thank you so much! Glad your mom enjoyed them too!
Cindy
I really liked this recipe a lot! I’m going to add a bit more salt and a tad bit more cayenne pepper next time, as that’s how my family likes it!!! We all enjoyed these with our baked fish!
April Wright
Thank you so much Cindy!
Beth
I’ve never made hush puppies before and this recipe was great! I didn’t have a scoop so I just took a spoonful and used another spoon to kind of roll it out - it made my hush puppies more oval but that was fine. I’m so surprised at how much they puff up when you cook them!
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
April
I'm glad it worked out for ya! Thank you so much Beth!! Take care!
Anonymous
These hush puppies are THE BEST! I lost a recipe I once used and have tried to make hush puppies a number of times using a variety of recipes; the hush puppies were never quite right. These were even better than the long lost recipe ones. I didn’t have green or purple onions, so I used ~3/4 C finely chopped yellow onions. Everything else was exactly the same. YUM!
April
That's a great compliment! I'm sorry you lost your recipes but at the same time I'm glad you were able to replace it with this recipe 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words!
Amanda Bay
Can you make the batter ahead of time then freeze the balls?
April
Hi Amanda. Sorry I'm late but yes you can make them ahead of time. When you're ready to bake them, preheat to 425 F. Place the frozen fried hushpuppies on a baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 or until warmed through. After about 7 or 10 minutes turn once.
Stephanie Simmons
I didn't know hush puppies were so easy to make - thanks for breaking it down in this recipe!! We loved these delicious bites of heaven
Geetanjali Tung
This sounds so good and easy-to-make. I have never had this before. But I am sure this would be a hit a my place. I will definitely try this. Thanks for the share☺
Geetanjali Tung