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Whether you’re firing up the backyard grill or cooking indoors on a griddle, these egg-free corn fritters are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. They make an incredible side dish to complement any summer BBQ spread, but are tasty enough to take center stage as a vegetarian main course.
Corn is most definitely the quintessential ingredient that announces “summer is here.” There’s nothing quite like taking that first bite of corn on the cob for the season! The sweet juicy kernels just bursting in your mouth; I swear it transports me back to childhood and the carefree days running around at sunset with my neighborhood friends and smelling everyone’s grilling in the air.
Corn fritters are a fun and delicious way to use up fresh corn (also check out making corn dip and cornbread with all your corn). When it’s peak season, corn fritters allow you to make the most of those sweet, juicy kernels. This recipe, unlike many out there, is completely egg-free which means that if you or anyone that has an egg allergy can enjoy these worry-free!
How to Make Corn Fritters
- Grill the corn or brown the corn. Turn your outdoor grill on high and grill your corn until nice and charred on the outside, about 2-3 minutes, rotating occasionally. Allow cool enough to touch then slice off the corn kernels. Alternatively, if making on the stove, slice the corn kernels off the cob and toast the corn kernels until golden brown on the stove.
- Make the batter. Whisk and stir together ingredients for the batter (cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, parsley, and milk).
- Assemble the fritters. Add the corn kernels to the batter and mix until well-combined, the corn kernels being covered in batter.
- Cook the fritters. Place cast iron skillet over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add a little oil to the skillet then once hot, use a large cookie scoop and scoop corn fritter batter and gently drop into the skillet. Fry corn fritters like pancakes, once you see the top bubbling and when one side is cooked and browned, flip to cook the other side. Place cooked fritters onto a paper towels to drain. Repeat until all the batter has been used.
- Serving suggestions: Corn fritters are a blank canvas for delicious toppings and dips. Of course, plain grilled corn fritters are delicious on their own, but they’re also the perfect vehicle for everything from zesty salsas and creamy dips to flavored aiolis or compound butters. A dollop of sour cream is also pretty tasty!
Corn Fritter Variations
- Add zucchini. Another popular variety is to add shredded zucchini into these corn fritters since zucchini are so plentiful in the summer as well! I’ve got a corn and zucchini fritters recipe just perfect for this addition!
- Spice it up. If you’re looking for some spice, add some cayenne pepper to the batter to spice it up!
- Make it cheesy. Adding freshly shredded cheddar cheese to the batter would make this creamy and cheesy!
- Optional add-ins. Prefer green onions over parsley? Add in thinly sliced green onions to the batter. Want some garlic flavor? Sprinkle some garlic powder into the batter. You don’t want to use minced garlic as if some of the garlic is on the exterior of the fritter, they’ll burn.
FAQs
The biggest culprit is too loose of a batter. The batter in this corn fritter recipe is supposed to be thick, not loose. If you find that you added too much liquid, add in a little more flour or cornmeal to bind it back up.
I haven’t tried this myself but you might be able to if you add more flour and cornmeal to help bind it together.
Storage Instructions
For any leftovers, wrap fritters tightly in plastic wrap or place them into an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. To reheat, reheat on the stovetop or toaster oven until heated through. Fair warning: they will be a little dense and tough reheated so these are definitely better eaten fresh.
Corn Fritters
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (308 g) corn kernels
- Vegetable oil, for frying
For the batter:
- 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
Instructions
- Turn outdoor grill to high and grill corn on the cob until corn is charred and cooked. Allow to cool enough to touch before slicing the kernels off. Alternatively, if you're doing this on the stovetop, slice the kernels off the cob then toast the kernels over medium-high heat (be careful, they pop!) until golden brown.
- 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.
- Heat up a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and add some vegetable oil to the pan.
- Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup or large cookie scoop, 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.
Nutrition
Photographs by Meg McKeehan Photography
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 :)
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!
How come no one talks about the fact that the kernels pop and explode oil everywhere??? My arm is dotted with burns!
@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!
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.
I love that these are egg free.
With this recipe work just as well if you make them round like nuggets instead of flat
Yep, just might take a little longer to cook