Fish-Fry Favorite Southern Hush Puppies
If you’re looking for homemade southern style hush puppies that cook up golden and tender every time, this scratch-made version is as easy as it gets. Using sweet creamed corn, sliced green onions, and seasoned cornmeal mix, you can have a fresh batch ready to eat with your fried catfish in just 20 minutes!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Hush Puppies, Southern-style
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: self-rising cornmeal mix, self-rising flour, onion powder, black pepper, cream-style corn, milk, 2-3 chopped green onions, vegetable oil
- Why You'll Love It: This Hush Puppies, Southern-style recipe features a crunchy cornmeal coating, fluffy & flavorful inside, plus corn kernels and chopped green onion.
How to Get That Authentic Fish-House Taste at Home
If you grew up eating hush puppies, you know the disappointment of biting into a golden ball only to find a dry, heavy lump of fried cornmeal inside. Traditional hush puppy batter relies heavily on plain cornmeal and milk, which can dry out quickly in hot oil if the proportions aren’t exact.
The simple fix I like to use is replacing plain corn with a full can of cream-style corn, liquid and all! That thick, silky corn starch binds to the self-rising cornmeal mix, creating a soft, almost custard-like center that stays incredibly moist without turning doughy. The whole corn kernels popping throughout each bite give you a sweet burst of texture that contrasts perfectly with the salty, crunchy crust.
To balance that sweetness, onion powder and fresh green onions work in tandem. Onion powder seasons every grain of the cornmeal batter from the inside out, while thinly sliced green onions add a fresh, mild bite that mellows out as it fries. The only thing that makes these better is a tall glass of homemade Arnold Palmer!
Ingredients For Southern Style Hush Puppies
- Self-rising cornmeal mix
- Self-rising flour
- Onion powder
- Black pepper
- Cream corn
- Milk
- Green onion
- Vegetable oil
Expert Tips from My Kitchen
- Don’t drain the canned corn. That thick, starchy liquid in the can of cream-style corn binds the coarse cornmeal without needing extra eggs, keeping the interior light and custard-soft instead of dry and crumbly.
- Let the batter rest for 5 minutes before frying. Cornmeal is a thirsty grain that needs a few minutes to soak up the milk and corn liquid. Letting the bowl sit on the counter for just 5 minutes while your oil heats allows the meal to hydrate, which prevents gritty bites and stops the hush puppies from crumbling apart the second they hit the hot oil.
- Keep a small bowl of cold water next to your stove. The secret to getting smooth, round balls that drop cleanly off your spoon without sticking is water. Dip your spoon or mini cookie scoop into the bowl of cold water before each scoop of batter. It’ll glide right into the oil without leaving stringy batter trails that burn in the pan.
- Control your pan temperature with batch sizing. If you crowd the saucepan with too many hush puppies at once, the oil temperature drops dramatically, causing the batter to absorb oil like a sponge instead of searing the crust. Just like you would with crispy mac and cheese balls, fry in small batches of 4 to 5 at a time so the oil stays hot enough to give you that deep golden, shatter-crisp exterior.
“Wonderful hush puppies!”
“…the hush puppies tasted wonderful and had a great texture!” – Missy
How to Make Southern Style Hush Puppies
1. Whisk the Dry Ingredients
Place the self-rising cornmeal mix, self-rising flour, onion powder, and black pepper in a medium bowl and stir until evenly combined.
2. Mix the Wet Batter
Add the entire can of cream-style corn (liquid and all), milk, and chopped green onions to the bowl.
Stir gently until well combined into a thick, scoopable batter.
3. Heat the Oil
In a medium saucepan, heat about two inches of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Drop a pinch of flour into the oil; when it sizzles immediately, the oil is hot and ready!
4. Fry Until Crisp and Golden
Carefully drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Allow them to cook, turning occasionally with a slotted spoon, for 2 to 4 minutes until deep golden brown on all sides.
5. Drain and Serve
Remove the cooked hush puppies from the oil and transfer to a rack or paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, serve hot, and enjoy!
Southern Style Hush Puppies FAQs
Dense hush puppies usually happen if the batter was overmixed or if the oil wasn’t hot enough. Make sure to fold the wet ingredients in gently, and always verify your oil is hot before dropping in the first scoop so the batter puffs up fast.
It’s best to fry the batter right after mixing. Because self-rising mixes rely on quick-acting leaveners, letting the batter sit on the counter for too long will cause it to lose its lift, resulting in flatter, denser hush puppies.
Skip the microwave; that only makes the crust soft and chewy. Instead, pop leftover hush puppies into a 375°F oven or air fryer for 3 to 5 minutes. This brings back the original crispy exterior while keeping the center tender.
Similar Recipes
If you love classic, comforting Southern sides, be sure to try a pan of Southern cathead biscuits or some good old Southern skillet spoonbread!
Give these quick hush puppies a try with your next fish fry, and let me know how they turned out in the comments below!
Ingredients
- 2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix
- 2 tablespoons self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 can cream-style corn 15 ounces, liquid and all
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2-3 chopped green onions
- vegetable oil enough for about 2 inches in the pan
Instructions
- Place the cornmeal mix, flour, onion powder, and black pepper in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the entire can of corn, milk, and onions to the mixing bowl next. Stir until well combined.
- In a medium saucepan, heat two inches of oil over medium-high heat. When you drop a pinch of flour in the oil and it sizzles you'll know the oil is ready.
- Carefully drop spoonfuls of the hush puppy batter into the oil and allow to cook, turning as needed, until golden brown on both sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat until all batter is used.
Notes
- Use the whole 15-ounce can of cream-style corn, liquid included. The thick starch binds the batter and creates a soft, tender center without extra eggs.
- Give the dry cornmeal mix a few minutes to absorb the liquids before frying. This prevents gritty bites and keeps the batter from breaking apart in hot oil.
- Keep a small bowl of cold water near the stove and dip your spoon or mini cookie scoop before scooping batter so it glides right into the oil without sticking.
- Avoid overcrowding the pan so the oil temperature doesn’t drop. Frying 4 to 5 hush puppies at a time ensures a deep golden, crispy crust without absorbing excess oil.
I loved this warming story. Its also wonderful when things you’ve learned are confirmed by other people who feel the same way and can put your same feelings into words.
On another plane, do you have a recipe for home made cornbread mix? I live in Argentina and we don’t have anything like that over here. Thank you!!
Wonderful hush puppies! I made this recipe tonight but I halved it. I’m not sure why but it took more milk than the recipe calls for just to get the meal to not be dry. Anyway, the hush puppies tasted wonderful and had a great texture!
I was wondering if you could note how many servings and what the serving size is with your recipes. It helps more accurately determine how many calories to enter when entering the info in the app I use as I’m trying to lose weight.
Thank you, Missy! Yeah, sometimes (often depending on the meal, weather, and how you hold your pinky toes) you will need to up the milk in things like hush puppies and cornbread. It helps to know what it’s supposed to look like so you can add the right amount and sounds like you did just that! I don’t include serving sizes since that is all relative. A 9×13 casserole at my house may feed six, but it may only feed four at someone else’s home. When you are entering recipes for calorie counts you can decide for yourself how much you’ll eat and thereby dictate your own serving size – and if you don’t like that calorie count you can always adjust the serving accordingly 🙂 By the way, Myfitnesspal.com is really handy and the site I use for things like this, just in case you haven’t happened upon it already – and it’s free.
Due to their upbringing, some folks love the best way they know how. They may be able to break one cycle of abuse but not another. Too often we try and make it about us when it’s not about us at all. We need to give grace and take a bit of harshness out of both our lives.
Well said Sandra!!
These look divine!! I can’t wait to try them. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Thank you Tracie, I hope you get the chance to try them soon!!
I will have to try these hush puppies. I love good hush puppies but haven’t seen too many recipes that sound good to me. I like to just barely cook done and lightly browned.
I hope you like them Donna, can’t wait to hear back!!
Hush puppy sounds great, thanks.
Thank you Mary, I hope you get the chance to give them a try!!
I love this at the end: The heart that loves in return learns to translate. That isn’t easy to learn for those of us with selfish tendencies. Meaning myself. I believe it’s worth learning, though. My hushpuppies are made with eggs and milk but your version looks so good! I’ll have to try it with the creamed corn.
I agree Aileen, it is definitely worth learning! Let me know how you like the hushpuppies if you get a chance to try them 🙂