Corn Fritters

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Corn Fritters are the most delicious little fried cakes to use up fresh corn in the summertime. Top with a sprinkle of fresh chives!

July 16th is National Corn Fritters Day! Of course you must celebrate by making this recipe for corn fritters. Make them as a side dish or to go with breakfast. Then make our Lemon Chess Pie to have for dessert! Share your corn fritters creation on social media today using the hashtags #NationalCornFrittersDay, #CornFrittersDay and #RecipesForHolidays.

Be sure to check out our July Food Holidays page so you never miss a food holiday in the month of July!

“Each morning they rose at dawn and, while Tate percolated coffee, Kya fried corn fritters in Ma’s old iron skillet—blackened and dented—or stirred grits and eggs as sunrise eased over the lagoon.”

–Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

The History of Corn Fritters:

There are savory and sweet versions of corn in the origins of Native American cuisine. Native Americans were very familiar with maize (corn), but they mostly ground it up to cook it (and it wasn’t fried).

The word “fritter” comes from the Latin word “frigere,” which means “to fry.” Fritter applies to anything that is either prepared in batter, fried or baked.

The first historical record of fritters dates back to 1665. Samuel Pepys, and English member of Parliament, noted in his diary: “Up, and to my office, where busy all morning. At noon, at dinner, it being Shrove Tuesday, had some very good fritters.”

Corn fritters were invented in the Southern part of the United States- where lots of foods were fried (like fried chicken). Since that time, many other cultures have come up with similar recipes.

Corn fritters are similar in appearance to (and are often mistaken for) Johnnycakes.

Ingredients needed:

• corn on the cob
• eggs
• all purpose flour
• salt and pepper
• cream of tartar
• white sugar
• vegetable oil
• fresh chives

The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees F. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Grate kernels from corn cobs into a bowl using the large holes of a box grater. Using the back of a knife, scrape any pulp remaining on the cobs into the bowl.
2. Whisk egg yolks, flour, salt and pepper into the grated corn. Using a handheld mixer on medium-low speed, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar in a medium bowl until foamy. Increase the speed to medium-high, gradually add sugar, and whip until glossy, stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter until combined.
3. Line a plate with paper towels. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Drop 6 heaping tablespoons of the batter into the hot oil, then flatten each into a circle roughly 2 1/2 inches in diameter using the back of a spoon. Cook until puffed and golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking.

Transfer the fritters to the prepared plate and let drain briefly, then transfer to the prepared sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining 5 tablespoons of oil and remaining batter in 5 batches. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

Corn fritters are also really good with a spoonful of sour cream on top.

Or you can skip the chives altogether and make these a breakfast item with warm maple syrup drizzled on top.

This recipe comes from the One-Hour Comfort cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen. This is a book full of great meal ideas that all take less than one hour to make.

Fun Facts About Corn:

• Corn is grown on every continent except Antarctica.
• Corn is America’s largest crop- with family farmers growing 90% of America’s corn.
• One bushel of corn weights 56 pounds.
• It takes about 1300 kernels to make one pound of corn.
• Corn is used in many non-food products such as hand soap, Windex, paper and spark plugs!
• The largest corn fritter was 4-feet in diameter, and it was with from 30 cobs of corn.