We have just returned from the North Carolina coast. The seafood there as usual was outstanding. We had some wonderful Tuna, Grouper, Flounder, Shrimp, and Soft Shell Crabs.
However, I have yet to find a restaurant that makes Hush Puppies the way they should be made. Most of the Hush Puppies that we get in restaurants are heavy and not anywhere close to the light fluffy ones that mom taught me to make.
The recipe is pretty simple.
One cup of self rising cornmeal
One half cup of self rising flour
One teaspoon of sugar
One finely chopped small onion
One cup of milk
Mix all the ingredients together.
Heat in a small heavy sauce pan three inches of Wesson oil until it is hot
Fill a coffee mug with cold water
Take a soup spoon, wet it in your coffee mug of cold water, dip it in your mixture so you have about enough mixture to cover about one third of the spoon lengthwise.
Carefully let it slide into hot oil. If your oil is the correct temperature, there will be lots of bubbles around the hush puppy. If you take a long handled metal slotted spoon and touch the just dropped hush puppy which will sink to bottom of the pan, it should rise to the surface easily.
If the oil isn't hot enough, just keep trying. When the oil is the proper temperature, the dropped mixture will bob to the top of oil with very little encouragement. Turn the hush puppies until they are golden brown and place them on a platter with paper towels.
It takes a little practice, but it isn't that difficult. They are best done in small batches. You're working with very hot oil so be very careful and keep kids away from the cooking. Don't be surprised if for the first few minutes, the hush puppies keep disappearing. The recipe makes enough for a huge crowd, probably four dozen or more hush puppies. It does make something of a mess, but the good hush puppies are worth it.
Hi, what kind of milk do you use? thanks Trish
Posted by: Patricia Glass | January 29, 2007 at 05:38 PM
According to my wife, we use whatever kind of milk we happen to have. In our case that would be skim or 2%. My mother probably always used whole milk, but I can't tell the difference between her mix and ours.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | January 29, 2007 at 10:28 PM
Thank you so much for sharing your family recipe for Hush Puppies. I've just made my very first batch and without a doubt this is THE recipe to use. The light texture instead of the usual heavy texture in most recipes I've tried is simply outstanding! We have one restaurant that serves an excellent hush puppy. I've been looking for a recipe to equal theirs for sometime; this one certainly is as good as if not better. I'm tossing all the other hush puppy recipes! I've tried the rest....now, thanks to you, I've got the best!!Thanks again!
Posted by: Pat | July 09, 2007 at 07:37 PM
I notice that your recipe doesn't call for an egg. Every other recipes for hush puppies that I've ever seen has an egg in it. I'm excited to try your recipe, but just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything.
Posted by: Mary Beth | August 05, 2007 at 10:13 AM
No egg required
Posted by: ocracokewaves | August 05, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Have you tried adding corn to your receipe? Do you think it will work if I add a can of cream style corn?
Posted by: thenume | August 24, 2007 at 12:06 AM
We have never tried adding corn. My guess is that you might loose the light texture, but I don't really know.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | August 24, 2007 at 06:36 AM
I must admit this is the absolute best hush puppy I have ever tasted and my mother agrees likewise. I did add some cream style corn and they were still light and fluffy. Thank you very much for sharing your family recipe.
Posted by: thenume | August 25, 2007 at 10:25 PM
add a little jalepano to this..cut the peppers and take out the seeds and chop the pepper. otta site
Posted by: Leroy | December 23, 2007 at 02:11 PM
going to try your hush puppie. 1 question can you add about anything as long as it chopped fine to them, thank you patrick
Posted by: patrick | February 03, 2008 at 07:12 AM
As far as I know it should be okay. I know people have added different kinds of peppers.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | February 03, 2008 at 07:17 AM
I wonder if you can use buttermilk for this recipe? My Mother always used buttermilk in hers.
Posted by: nancy | February 18, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Great recipe! Yellow or white cornmeal both do well. Had to use a stronger onion to get the taste I sought. Comes real close to those at 'Carolina Barbeque'.
Posted by: Ron Focht | March 10, 2008 at 09:32 PM
By far the best hush puppy recipe I have ever tried. We recently moved to North Carolina and I fell in love with Hush Puppies when we went out to eat (our first experience with Hush Puppies). But, every recipe I tried, since we moved here, was heavy and not nearly as good as this recipe. There was one restaurant we found that made an amazing Hush Puppy. I've been trying to duplicate that recipe ever since, with no success. This recipe not only is the closest to that recipe -it beats it. I used white cornmeal when I made it and 2% milk. All other recipes I tried called for buttermilk, which I think added to the heaviness. I may add a little garlic powder and a dash of cayenne pepper next time I make this recipe (for a bit more "zing"), but even without out - this recipe is TOPS!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Posted by: Kathy White | April 22, 2008 at 05:48 PM
I never tasted hush puppies in my life. But eager to try. I just don't know if I can find self-rising cornmeal here in Hawaii. Never saw it before. Thanks.
Posted by: Muriel | April 29, 2008 at 09:01 PM
I moved to NC a few years back and find that in this part of the country sugar is regularly added to hush puppies. This is NOT my idea of what they should be. Lots of onion is best, peppers are good...even corn is tolerable, but for heaven sakes leave out the sugar!!!
Posted by: GMaureen | June 04, 2008 at 03:53 PM
Well I guess you are in the minority. These hush puppies are not sweet which you would know if you had tried them.
You do know that a small amount of sugar is regularly mixed with yeast to get bread to rise properly?
If you will read the other comments, you will find that pretty well everyone disagrees with you.
Perhaps your idea isn't what hush puppies are. Corn doesn't belong in them. Peppers don't belong either in a standard NC hush puppy.
If you want a hush puppy from another part of the country use a recipe from there.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | June 04, 2008 at 08:42 PM
am going to try this tomorrow at my salvation army soup kitchen, i am kitchen manager and to this date i haven't found a receipe that my folks like , but i think i just hit the jackpot.thank you souch God bless.
Posted by: stevie.B. | June 05, 2008 at 08:13 PM
How do you make long hush puppies? Yeah I know the typical and the real ones from the South are round. Know a little boy who wont eat them unless they are long.
Thanks
Posted by: Kaye | August 18, 2008 at 06:18 PM
I just made these and my gosh they are completely fantastic! I haven't been able to get a good recipe for hush puppies until today!
They were sooooo good! Thank you so much for the recipe. I will use this recipe from now on!
THANKS AGAIN!
Posted by: Kristen | September 01, 2008 at 04:55 PM
Hi, Just came across your web page, Ive never seen or heard of a hush puppy here in Australia they look and sound very nice, so Im going to try to make them, can l ask what is Wesson oil? Is it better if the batter is made fresh before use or make it the night before use, and is cornmeal the same as cornflour.
Thanks for your help
Aussie Hayden
Posted by: Hayden | July 15, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Wesson oil is just a vegetable oil for cooking. The batter is better used fresh. Cornmeal is a much coarser grind than regular flour. I have never run into corn flour here so it is hard for me to compare. Many kinds of cornmeal are stone ground. Hope this helps. You should just visit the Crystal Coast. http://coastalnc.org/ We are in beach season here. Hush puppies are on many menus along our coast.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | July 15, 2009 at 11:15 PM
These are some of the best hush puppies I've ever tried (and I'm from the deep south)! Very light and fluffy with a great onion flavor. The only change I made was to increase the sugar to 1 tablespoon since I like a little sweetness in contrast with the onion. Thanks again for such a simple and delicious recipe!
Posted by: Daniel | November 24, 2009 at 09:14 PM
how many do you think the receipe above will feed? I want to make them for a seafood fest for 100. You said to make them fresh. can the batter be made the night before, or the morning of?
thanks!
Posted by: jennielynnwas@aol.com | September 02, 2010 at 12:39 PM
The recipe will feed six people. I would make the batter fresh. I think you would loose the lightness of the hushpuppies if you made it the night before. You could try a batch and save part of the batter and try it in the morning.
Posted by: ocracokewaves | September 06, 2010 at 10:42 AM