Grilled corn fritters are a great way to use up all that fresh summer corn and a great, new way to eat it too!
I don’t know about you but I consume so much sweet corn in the summer time that I could probably be a stalk of corn.
Just last week Jason and I went to the store and bought eight ears of corn and we each devoured two that evening and the evening after.
They’re just so cheap (4 for $1 at our store) and so easy to make.
Oh, wanna hear a funny story about my first corn cooking experience? Of course you do.
Last year, when Jason and I decided to have corn one evening, I was like “oh man, but this is going to take forever to cook, we should’ve started earlier.”
He was like, “huh, what? It only takes like 3 minutes to cook corn” and I was like “um no, it takes like 40 minutes.”
He looked at me like I just said I wanted a divorce or something.
Yeah, so I learned then that my parents had been cooking corn completely wrong my entire life and I inherited that.
My parents have since changed from 40 minutes to 3 minutes for corn cooking – don’t you worry!
How to make corn fritters
You’ll obviously need corn.
You can use fresh corn if it’s in season or you can use thawed corn kernels.
Then you create a batter out of flour, cornmeal, and milk.
I’ve heard of others making the batter with pancake mix and I suppose it could work too but I’ve always made it this way so I can’t attest to how the pancake batter would work out.
I like my batter because it’s not too thick so it covers the corn kernels just enough and it’s not too much batter.
I hate corn fritters that are all cakey batter. The point of a corn fritter is to taste the fresh, summer corn!
One thing I should mention: these are egg-free! It’s totally possible to make corn fritters with no eggs.
If you choose to use pancake batter then they won’t be egg-free; read the label!
Can you freeze corn fritters?
I wouldn’t suggest it. These are best eaten right after you make them!
If you need more ideas on how to use up corn (besides these grilled corn fritters), here are some corn recipe ideas:
- Corn and avocado salsa
- Mexican street corn off the cob
- Harvest corn and pumpkin chowder
- Corn and black bean quinoa salad

Grilled Corn Fritters
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (53 g) yellow cornmeal
- ¼ cup (31 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Handful of parsley, finely chopped
- ⅓ cup (81 g) milk
- 2 cups (308 g) grilled corn , (or if you don't want to grill yours you can use regular corn kernels)
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Add milk and mix together with a wooden spoon until thick and thoroughly mixed through. Add the grilled corn and mix well with the flour mixture until all the kernels are well-coated.
- Heat up a skillet over medium high heat and add some vegetable oil to the pan.
- Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop corn mixture out and place into the skillet, gently pressing the mound down so it's flattened. Cook for 5 minutes on one side, or until it's browned, flip, and cook another 5 minutes, or until it's browned. Remove and repeat for all the other corn fritters.
- Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
NUTRITION FACTS
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The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.
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Natasha
Wednesday 8th of November 2023
These are so good! I used frozen corn and cooked it in the pan with oil until brown. I am a student and the fact that this recipe pretty much only uses pantry staples is amazing! Didn't have to buy anything. Also really appreciate the metric conversions as I am from New Zealand. Will make again, thank you :)
Jana
Wednesday 19th of May 2021
Absolutely AMAZING!! I made mine with canned corn, drained of course. Put a tiny bit of creamed corn in there too and WOW. Cannot wait to make these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Sheri
Thursday 6th of May 2021
How come no one talks about the fact that the kernels pop and explode oil everywhere??? My arm is dotted with burns!
Jennifer Jodrey
Friday 30th of July 2021
@Sheri, it did that to me as well. But I found that as I was getting to the last couple of batches it stopped doing that. I think it was because I had less oil in the pan for those final fritters. I will use less oil next time. Super scary though when there's oil flying everywhere with the corn pops!
Anne Dykstra
Wednesday 9th of September 2020
Soooo good! Though I admit I altered the recipe somewhat. First off, know that it takes a while to grill corn so I'd advise getting that done the day before or earlier in the day. Then, I double the recipe because I had a lot of corn. I substituted pureed roasted corn for 1/3 cup corn meal (being the first time ever making corn fritters I didn't want to sub out the entire amount of corn meal though I could next time). Then I added about (sorry I don't do a lot of measureing I go on my gut) 1/3-1/2 cup graded white onion and some of the juice -not all of it. I had fresh spinach I needed to use so I chopped that up and threw it in and because it was "Meatless Monday" I wanted to add protein so I threw in some crumbled tofu. I saw that the mixture was quite wet so I added additional flour and additional spices to balance it out. I used grape seed oil for the frying and got the oil "dirty" before adding the first batch. I used a 1/3 c measure to scoop out the portions, then slipped them into the hot pan. I made an aioli sauce and guacamole to serve with these, although these fritters didn't need them. I served a tomato, red onion, garlic, basil salad on top of lettuce and cucumbers with this and the meal was OUTSTANDING! I'd never had corn fritters before so I didn't have a point of reference but had always thought they were doughie and too starchy. I used this recipe and combined a technique from Americans Test Kitchen to make these fritters the main dish rather than a side and it they turned out better than I imagined.
Lisa Pilgrim
Friday 27th of March 2020
I love that these are egg free.