Mom’s Southern Hush Puppies are a simple side dish (fried till crispy, served hot with butter) to accompany a favorite soup or chili.
I grew up eating hush puppies. My East Texas born and raised Mom made them every couple of weeks for our family, and they were always served with a big pot of spinach and turnip greens.
As a kid, I never quite developed a love for the “greens” part of that meal, however… give me a few hot, crispy hush puppies with soft butter on them! Now THAT spoke to me… ha ha!
Growing up our family didn’t have a lot of money, so that simple meal could be made quite inexpensively, yet fill all five of us up! I have wonderful memories of watching my Mom lovingly fry a batch on our old kitchen stove. She made them like her own mother made them.
Hush Puppies are a classic Southern staple dish and are made with fairly common ingredients. There are a LOT of ways to make them. There’s also a LOT of history and myths detailing the origin and legends about them, which you can read here. It’s pretty interesting.
Some hush puppy recipes include corn, jalapeños, or green onions, and fried in small balls until really brown. My Mom’s recipe is for basic hush puppies, with minced brown onion and are a little more disc shaped.
They are fried until crispy and lightly browned on the outside, but amazingly soft on the inside. They are so delicious and easy to make. Here’s how:
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe At The Bottom Of The Page
What Ingredients Do I Need?
Seven ingredients (plus vegetable oil for frying) are what you will need to make a dozen hush puppies. The ingredients used are cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, minced onion, an egg, and milk.
I try to always keep a box of cornmeal in our pantry. If you’ve never bought it before, it can usually be found on the flour aisle in most grocery stores. Very basic ingredients, right?
How To Make Hush Puppy Batter
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl and then add the minced onion. In a separate dish, lightly beat the egg with a fork, and then add the milk, and stir to combine.
Pour the egg and milk mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
Stir the ingredients until fully blended together. The batter for the hush puppies will be fairly thick. Once that’s done, you are ready to fry some of Mom’s Southern Hush Puppies!
Frying Mom’s Southern Hush Puppies
Heat enough oil in a large skillet to cover the bottom with 1/2 inch of oil. Heat the oil on medium heat until it is REALLY hot but not smoking.
I like to use a cast iron skillet when I make hush puppies, but it isn’t necessary. Plan on a skillet large enough to cook about 6 at a time.
Drop by generous Tablespoons into the hot oil, leaving space between each hush puppy. The batter should sizzle when it hits the oil. Do not move them once they hit the hot oil.
Fry them until you see the bottom edges turning brown all the way around. This usually takes 2-3 minutes. You may need to fry the hush puppies in a couple of batches. I fry about six at a time, so I don’t overcrowd the skillet.
Use a spatula and a large spoon to CAREFULLY turn the hush puppies to the other side. Lightly press down on the hush puppy with a spatula to flatten the top slightly. Be careful… that oil is very hot.
Continue cooking until the hush puppies are golden brown on the bottom again. Depending on how brown you want them, you can cook the second side longer, if desired.
When Mom’s Southern hush puppies finish frying and are browned and crispy on all sides, remove them from the skillet and place on several thicknesses of paper towels.
The paper towels will quickly absorb any leftover grease, which is a good thing.
Serve Mom’s Southern Hush Puppies HOT!
Serve Mom’s Southern hush puppies hot! Slice them open, spread them with softened butter, and dig in! The finished hush puppies should be really crispy on the outside, and delicious and soft on the inside.
They are such a simple side dish… if you enjoy the flavor of cornbread, it’s pretty certain you will like these, too! Once you’ve gobbled down a hot hush puppy with butter, it’s hard NOT to grab another… and another!
I hope you will have the opportunity to try my Mom’s Southern Hush Puppies recipe. They really ARE easy to make. We love them and hope you will, too!
Thank you for stopping by and I invite you to come back again soon for more family friendly recipes. Take care, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.
Looking for More Cornbread-Inspired Recipes?
You can find ALL of my recipes in the Recipe Index, which is located at the top of the page. I have several cornbread-inspired recipes to choose from, including:
- Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread
- Marie Callender’s Cornbread (copycat recipe)
- Instant Pot Cornbread
- Quick Easy Cornbread Stuffing
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Original recipe source: My Mom gave me her recipe about 45 years ago
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
Mom's Southern Hush Puppies are a simple side dish (fried till crispy, served hot with butter) to accompany a favorite soup or chili.
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons brown onion finely chopped
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ cup milk
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl, and then add the minced onion. In a separate dish, lightly beat the egg with a fork, and then add the milk. Pour the egg/milk mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir the ingredients until fully blended together. The batter for the hush puppies will be pretty thick.
Heat enough oil in a large skillet to cover bottom with about 1/2 inch of oil. Heat oil on medium heat until very hot, but not smoking. Drop batter by generous Tablespoons into hot oil, leaving space between each. Batter should sizzle when it hits oil. Do not move them once they hit oil. Fry until bottom edges turn brown all the way around (about 2-3 min.).
CAREFULLY turn hush puppies to the other side (use spatula).. Flatten top slightly with spatula. Be careful... oil is very hot. Continue cooking until hush puppies are golden brown on the bottom again. When done, hush puppies should be very crispy, and browned on all sides.
When hush puppies finish frying and are browned and very crispy on all sides, remove them from the skillet and place on several thicknesses of paper towels. The paper towels will absorb any leftover grease. Serve hot; slice open and spread softened butter on them. Enjoy!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!