Whether you’re tired of eating fresh corn on the cob all summer (yet still have a bunch to use up) or you’re simply in the mood for some of the corn in your pantry or freezer, this recipe is for you. Quick, easy, simple and delicious — a real all ’round crowd pleaser. Let’s make some spicy, herby corn fritters!
feel free to watch these corn fritters being made right here before moving on to reading the recipe
making corn fritters
I used canned corn to make these fritters because fresh corn is hard to come by in my neck of the woods, but please feel free to use whatever kind of corn you prefer or have on hand: raw or boiled corn cut right off the cob, canned corn, frozen corn, or a mix of any of the above should all work great. Note that you can also make the batter for the corn fritters up to a day ahead and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
(a little bit) spicy, (very) herby (delicious) corn fritters
makes approx. 6 palm-sized fritters
INGREDIENTS
- 1 egg
- 60 ml milk (I like to use whole milk, but you do you)
- fine sea salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 60g all-purpose flour
- 10g fine cornmeal
- 1 small chili pepper, finely diced
- fresh chives, coriander & dill (roughly 1 handful’s worth, once finely chopped)
- 165g corn kernels, raw and/or cooked, from a cob or a can or the freezer, brought to room temperature
- vegetable oil, for cooking (I used a 50:50 mix of canola and olive)
- flaky sea salt, for finishing
METHOD
- If you haven’t yet, start by finely dicing the chili and roughly-but-finely chopping up your herbs (chives, coriander, dill). If you aren’t a big fan of spice/heat, make sure to remove both the seeds and membrane from the pepper before dicing it.
- Crack the egg into a medium bowl. Add the milk, season with salt and pepper, then add in the smoked paprika and garlic powder. Whisk together until the egg is well-beaten and everything is well combined.
- Sprinkle the flour into the bowl in three separate additions, whisking in between each addition so as to avoid any clumps. Add the cornmeal and stir again until everything’s smooth.
- Remove the whisk from the bowl, then add the chili, herbs and corn to the mix. Stir gently to combine using a tablespoon, then set the batter aside (for up to 30 minutes on the counter, otherwise in the fridge) until ready to cook — a bit of resting time helps maximise both the flavour and the texture of the corn fritters!
- Bring a frying pan to medium, medium-low heat (carbon steel or cast iron are great, though other pans also work just fine). Pour in enough vegetable oil to shallowly cover the bottom of the pan; you can always add in a bit more later if you find it’s not enough.
- Fry ~2 tablespoons’ worth of batter at a time per fritter, flipping them over once you can see from the edges that the bottom has set and gone golden. Use the first fritter as a gauge to see if you need to adjust the temperature of the pan and/or the amount of oil used.
- Once cooked, remove each fritter from the pan and place on a cooling rack lined with kitchen paper or a clean dish towel. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve as soon as possible. These are best still hot from the pan!
tip: while these corn fritters are lovely on their own, they also go supremely well with a creamy dip — think mayonnaise, sour cream, or yogurt seasoned with salt and pepper, dressed up with a bit of citrus zest and maybe some roast garlic, plus some of the herbs and spices already used in the fritters 🙂
