Back when I first started Southern Plate, I had an email from a reader asking if I could do a recipe for fried okra. Well, y’all know I’ll eventually get to everything and here it is!
Fried okra is a truly delicious side dish. It seems no matter the time of year, whether it be frozen or fresh, okra always adds that “fresh from the garden” taste to any meal. Around these parts, you can find it pre-breaded in the freezer section and some places even sell cups of it hot alongside chicken nuggets and such at lunch. Although I have no complaint if I am getting okra (no matter how it is prepared), my all time favorite form of okra is prepared at home, with this recipe.
Funny Story About Okra:
When we were teens, my parents used to go out of town on the weekends a lot. I was about seventeen when they were gone to Nashville for the weekend. In my teenage wisdom I decided I would invite all of my friends over and have a dinner party.
This was before my cooking days had really taken off and my experience didn’t reach beyond cracker dumplings and frozen pizzas. So I decided that spaghetti would be a good choice (seemed easy enough, right?). I used store bought sauce and put it on first thing in the morning, adding plenty of ground beef. However, the sauce didn’t look appealing or labor intensive enough. I wanted to fancy it up a bit and impress everyone with my grand culinary skills. I remembered my home economics teacher telling us that we should serve food in a variety of colors in order to have a more appealing meal. Well that made sense, I’ll just add some more colors to the sauce! So in went some corn and okra.
That evening, my friends were quite surprised (and I was confused that they weren’t as impressed as I thought they would be) when I served them spaghetti with okra and corn in the sauce! We still laugh about that and shake my head at my seventeen year old self. God love her, she had good intentions.
What Is Okra?
For anyone that isn’t from the South and used to making Fried Okra you may be wondering what the heck is it? Some people are surprised to hear it’s technically a fruit not a vegetable like our friend the avocado. Okra is the fruit of the Abelmoschus esculentus plant which is a member of the Mallow family Now isn’t that a mouthful! If you are interested in ready more about Okra here is an overview.
Ingredients to Make a Recipe for Fried Okra are:
- Eggs
- Cornmeal (self rising or plain, either is fine)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Fresh or frozen okra (I am using frozen), If using fresh okra, go ahead and slice it up into bit sized pieces.
- Vegetable oil
Full printable recipe at bottom of post
How to Make A Yummy Fried Okra Recipe: Step by Step Instructions
Add eggs to a medium sized bowl
Add buttermilk to the eggs
Mix them up real good.
Combine dry ingredients (salt, pepper, cornmeal) in another medium sized bowl and mix that up.
Coat the okra with the egg/buttermilk combo
Then transfer to the dried mixture and coat until covered
Place about 1/4 cup oil in skillet and heat over medium heat for three to five minutes.
Add the vegetable oil in the pain and heat up until you add a piece of okra and get some sizzlin’. Then you know its hot enough to add the coated okra.
With a slotted spoon add the rest of the okra
Keep skillet on medium heat (if in a hurry, you can cook this on medium high heat, just watch it a bit closer).
Stir it occasionally (every two or three minutes) for about twenty or twenty five minutes or so, until crisp and browned.
Remove cooked okra with a slotted spoon and place into serving bowl.
DEVOUR with some Comeback Sauce! (This is the good stuff!)
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup cornmeal self rising or plain
- Approx 4 Cups Okra fresh or frozen, sliced
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Thaw okra. Combine eggs and buttermilk. Combine salt, pepper and cornmeal in separate bowl. Coat okra with egg/buttermilk mixture and then transfer to dry mixture and coat. Heat approx. 1/4 cup oil in skillet until hot. Dip okra from bowl with slotted spoon into oil. (Leave the extra cornmeal in the bowl and throw away.) Stir occasionally and cook until okra is brown and crisp. Take out of oil with slotted spoon.
Nutrition
You may also enjoy these Southern recipes:
Southern Biscuits Recipe A Classic With Only 3 Ingredients
Southern Cubed Steak and Milk Gravy
Hoe Cake Recipe Southern Style From Mama
What a great bunch of recipes. Mother, and her 4 sisters, all “country cooks from Alabama”, added a little flour to the cornmeal. They said it helped the cornmeal stick. Love okra, but you need to wear LONG SLEEVES when you pick it.
Thanks! I’m just starting out cooking and make a homemade meal for my boyfriend once a week. Tonight menu: turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and okra! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
That sounds fabulous VJ!!! I know he is so blessed to have you for a girlfriend!!
Try dicing up a couple of potatoes and a small onion and frying with the okra just as described. Soooo good!
Yummm!!
I add a little flour tom
My cornmeal as well. When I want to cook it like my great grandmother I leave out the fliur, use little oil and it has to be in a cast iron skillet. If it isn’t a little loose and slightly charred it isn’t southern okra. Love the recipes
🙂 Grandmothers always make it best!
My hubby could eat okra everyday, no kidding. It is his favorite food. I use frozen okra that has been thawed and salted. I pour on some yellow plain cornmeal, stir and stir to coat it. I use a Fry Daddy fryer, carefully just putting in the coated okra. I cook it til it is brown and crunchy. I tried using the skillet method, but liked the fryer better. I like to eat the little pieces I call the nubbies.
He has good taste, as also seen in his choice of a wife!!!
Just found your site think I will enjoy it and the okra is just the way my mother and grandmother made it and I love it looking forward to seeing future posts thank you.
Welcome to Southern Plate Della!!! I am so glad you joined us and look forward to getting to know you!
I usually use a brown paper lunch bag to toss my eggy okra into…but this recipe is “Boom Shaka Laka”!!
thanks so much Sharon! I love the Boom Shaka Laka comment 🙂
As much as I love fried okra, I have never had a real recipe on how to fix it. Thanks so much for sharing this with me. I can’t wait to try. In fact, my mouth is watering now.
Let me know how it goes! Can’t wait to hear 🙂