Fresh sweet corn fritters are for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Mix up a simple dipping sauce and enjoy. There are buckets of flavor here.
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These fritters are so tasty and I think they’re a neglected side dish or appetizer. They are so easy to make with fresh sweet corn and corn is still readily available. If you can’t find fresh, then frozen corn will work too.
Sweet Corn Fritters
This is a recipe with simple ingredients and they all work well to produce slightly crispy fritters that hold together well when shallow oil fried. There are just enough binders to make them easy to fry, but the corn is still the star of the show.
Ingredients are:
- fresh sweet corn
- cornmeal
- flour
- egg
- milk
- baking powder
- chopped parsley
- green onions
- salt
- vegetable oil
The sweet corn needs to be stripped off of the ear. I find that it’s easiest to place a ramekin or small bowl into a large bowl. Use a sharp knife to cut off about a quarter-inch-deep strip of corn from the ear.
I stripped 3 ears and these late-season large ears produced 3 cups of kernels.
Making The Fritters
Since the corn is fresh, start by cooking the kernels in a skillet with a little olive oil. Keep the skillet on medium heat and stir the corn every 30 seconds or so until some of the kernels start to brown. Mine took 5 minutes.
Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to cool a bit before mixing it with the batter.
Mix the rest of the batter ingredients together and you can use the large bowl that you used to strip the ears. You’ll end up with a fairly stiff batter. The dry batter makes for crispy, not soggy, fritters.
Once the corn has been cooling for 10 minutes or more, start by adding a spoonful of kernels to the batter. Starting with a small amount at a time will temper the egg so it doesn’t get cooked by the still-warm corn. Once all the corn has been added you are ready to fry the fritters.
For frying, place enough vegetable oil in a skillet to have it about 1/4″ deep. Turn on medium heat so the oil is around 350°. You can use a laser or instant-read thermometer to check this.
Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the fritter batter and carefully place it into the oil. I used a #24 cookie scoop (#ad), which is just shy of 1/4 cup. Flatten the fritter with the back of a small metal spatula or similar tool. Spray the spatula with cooking oil so it doesn’t stick to the batter. Fry 3 or 4 corn fritters at a time but don’t overcrowd the skillet.
Fry for 2 minutes or until the fritters are nicely browned, turn to the second side, and fry for another 2 minutes. Remove the fritters from the pan and place them on a paper towel-lined sheet pan. Place the cooked fritters in a 170° oven to keep warm. Continue with the remaining batter.
Dipping Sauce For The Fritters
If you have a favorite store-bought sauce or dressing you can use that. I made a couple of sour cream dips: one with sriracha and the other with chili powder. The hot sauce was my favorite.
Ranch dressing powder mixed into sour cream or yogurt would be good. Or, blue cheese dressing with crumbles. Plain old ketchup wouldn’t be bad either.
Serving And Saving Corn Fritters
Serve corn fritters for breakfast with fried eggs, bacon, and toast. For lunch with a salad or sandwich. And for dinner with about any meat as a side dish. They are also great for a snack or tasty appetizer.
Store leftover fritters in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Wrap tightly in a freezer bag or vacuum food saver to freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheat the fritters in the oven, toaster oven, or in a dry skillet. Don’t microwave them because they will end up soggy and limp.
You might also be tempted to eat them right from the skillet while they are being made…and that would be totally okay.
If you liked this recipe, here are a few more to explore:
- Caribbean Salt Cod Fritters
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Easy Chicken Enchilada Skillet
- Easy Crab Dip Recipe
- Creamy Shrimp Scampi
- Spaghetti Carbonara
Fresh Sweet Corn Fritters
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh corn kernels, 3 large ears sweet corn frozen corn can also be used
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup Quaker yellow cornmeal
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1/3 cup fine chopped Italian parsley
- 6 tbsp whole milk 1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Place a small bowl or ramakin into a large bowl and cut the kernels off of the sweet corn ears using a knife.
- Heat a skillet on medium to medium-high heat. Add the 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the corn and grill, stirring occasionally, for about 4 to 5 minutes until starting to brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Mix the milk and egg together in the same bowl you used to strip the ears. Then stir in the remaining ingredients to form a stiff batter.
- Once the corn has cooled slightly, start slowly adding the corn to allow the egg to temper and not cook.
- Turn oven on to 170°.
- Wipe out the skillet and add vegetable oil to cover the bottom by 1/4 inch, keeping on medium heat. Heat oil to 350°.
- Use a #24 scoop or 1/4 cup measure to add the corn batter to the hot oil, being careful not to splatter oil. Flatten the batter with a small metal spatula or the bottom of the 1/4 measuring cup. Fry 3 or 4 fritters at a time but avoid over crowding the skillet.
- Fry for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes until browned, turn and fry for another 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Turn the heat down if the fritters are spitting and browning too rapidly.
- Place patties on a paper towel-lined sheet pan to soak up excess oil and place in the oven to keep warm. Continue to fry the remaining batter.
- Serve warm with a dipping sauce or dressing.
Ellie
These are DELICIOUS! And such a hit with my family and friends. Thank you for sharing this recipe! Corn is under appreciated
Lynn
I used shredded zucchini, carrots and corn, white onions, couple dashes of cayenne, reg flour last time (YUMMY!) Will try my hand at veganizing the recipe (which seems very forgiving)to bring to a party by using egg substitute, soy milk, corn starch, same veggies- totally squish the water out- to get the crispiest result… We ate the last batch right out of the pan! I will try cornmeal too!
Josie
These sound so good! Going to make them soon! Great post!
MaryJo
Yummmm, these make a fun snack with a dipping sauce and the beverage of your choice. Try ’em!