Corn Fritters

These golden gluten-free vegan corn fritters make a delicious savory breakfast, a comforting side meal or snack, or even a burger patty. They combine the sweetness of corn with some smokiness (cajun style!), a hint of "cheesiness", and are otherwise packed with flavor.

I used cajun seasoning in this for simplicity, but it can easily be made at home from spices you probably already have on hand. We make our own cajun spice blend at home, which is basically a mix of smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne, oregano, and thyme. My husband started making this blend based on Emeril's creole mix recipe many years ago, and we sort of stuck with it, except we omit the salt (since I prefer to adjust the salt in the recipe myself).

You can buy ready made cajun seasoning though -- it's a pretty common spice. And it's delicious on most things (we love it in vegan cheese sauces, on avocado, in salads, etc.). Some commercial blends come with varying amounts of salt in them, so if you use one that contains salt, you might want to use less salt in this recipe here, to taste.

And speaking of spice, for a variation, these are great with a bit of fresh jalapeño in them.

This recipe can be baked or fried. We much prefer the baked version over the fried, but I included both options in the recipe card below, so you have choices.

The baked version is a little bit more dry (which actually works nicely in this recipe) and sturdy. Works great as a veggie burger. It's more portable too: not messy or oily, so can be treated as finger food with a dip. They have a lovely snackish flavor to them.

The fried version (which uses oil) comes together a little faster and has a softer consistency reminiscent of a soft hashbrown. These to me seem more like a breakfast food, less of a snack.

The fried version can be seen in the photos below, the baked in all the photos above this paragraph.

If eating these as a side or snack, they're great on their own or with a dip of some kind. Our favorites are ketchup or a vegan cheese sauce (my preference!).

Corn Fritters

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 review

These gluten-free vegan corn fritters make a delicious savory breakfast, a comforting side meal or snack, or even a burger patty. Can be baked or fried.

• Author: Audrey @ Unconventional Baker
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 23 minuts
• Total Time: 53 minute
• Yield: ~ 11 fritters
• Category: Savory, Breakdast
• Method: Baked, Fried
• Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 ⅔ cup corn kernels (frozen and thawed out, or fresh)
• ½ cup rice flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk (or another plant milk)
• 2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
• 2 shallots, rough chopped
• 20 basil leaves
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp cajun seasoning*
• 1 tsp salt
• oil for frying (if using the frying option; baked version is oil-free)

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Instructions

1. IF BAKING (for fried version skip this step): Preheat oven to 420F. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Process all ingredients into a chunky paste in a food processor. The consistency should be something like this (you don't want to over-process it -- should still see some visible chunks of corn, etc.):

3.  BAKING INSTRUCTIONS (skip to next step for frying): Use a cookie scoop with a release trigger (or just use a spoon) to grab uniform amounts of this mixture (about 1 ½ - 2 tablespoon at a time) and place it onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing the mixture a few inches apart. Press down gently with the back of a spoon (can wet the spoon very lightly to prevent sticking) to flatten each "blob" of the fritter mixture a little. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, then flip the patties and bake 8 minutes further until the fritters are nice and golden. Remove from oven and cool on a rack a few minutes, then enjoy!

4. FRYING INSTRUCTIONS (see step above for baked alternative): Heat up some oil on a skillet on medium high heat. Use a cookie scoop with a release trigger, or a spoon, to grab uniform amounts of the mixture (about 1 ½ - 2 tbsp) and place on the frying pan. Flatten the top lightly with the back of a spatula. Fry for a couple of minutes, then flip and fry a few minutes longer on the other side. Remove onto a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat the process with the remaining mixture. Enjoy!

Notes

*For the cajun seasoning, we usually make our own cajun spice blend at home and we make it salt-free -- my husband started using Emeril's creole mix recipe many years ago and we sort of stuck with it, but have been omitting the salt. If you use store-bought cajun seasoning, some of them do contain varying amounts of salt -- in that case you might want to lower the amount of salt in the recipe here to taste.

Keywords: Corn Fritters (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Oil-Free Option)