Harvest thyme corn fritters are a beautiful showcase of Autumn’s corn, whisked into a savory fritter batter of thyme and smoked paprika, lightly sautéed to a crispy perfection.
Corn Harvest
While corn is grown in just about every state in America, even if it’s a home gardener wanting their own sweet crop of corn, much of the corn is grown for animal feed and less for consumption by us corn loving humans.
Corn In My Kitchen
It just so happens that I live in Maryland where a great deal of corn is grown, for a rather small state.
I grew up roasting corn on the grill in the summer.
What corn didn’t get eaten, the smokey kernel got shucked and added to Fresh Corn Summer Salads and other delicious dishes.
Corn that didn’t get roasted on the grill, was shuckedand dropped in boiling water to both cook the corn and bring out its sweet juicy, sugary flavor.
Sweet corn makes the absolute best Corn Ice Cream, by the way!
Cornbread
Cornbread is made in so many different ways, depending on where you are from. As for me, I like it baked into a quick bread and not fried.
Many of my corn bread recipes are baked in a muffin shape so they are easy to pack in kids lunches or a great to-go bread in a picnic.
Corn muffins, both sweet, or savory with a little heat, such as my Jalapeño Corn Muffins or my scary Halloween Pepper Bacon Cornbread Skeletons are made from freshly shucked corn.
Equally easily made from frozen corn in the winter months, and perfect with chili, soups and stews.
Not Enough Thyme
Many of you already know I am a late bloomer in the ‘home gardening’ department. I had other interests growing up and gardening wasn’t one of them.
Fast forward to single mom years, when I started to take an interest in being that nerdy mom that grew food and cooked everything from scratch, there simply wasn’t enough time to grow, though I did make everything from scratch.
Now, in the ‘seasoned’ years of my life, I have time to grow thyme! I never realized how intense the flavor of freshly picked Thyme was until I started growing my own.
Now I am always looking for recipes to put it in, especially since it grows in my greenhouse in winter as well as balcony pots in the summer.
Thyme in these corn fritters is absolutely a bright herb to add to my savory corn fritters.
The use of spring onions in this recipe is a perfect marriage to compliment the thyme.
Fritters Fritters and More Fritters
While fritters can be made from a variety of veggies, meats or seafood, the corn fritter has become my favorite fritter.
Corn fritters are a great side dish for a variety of meals, and adding cheese to them makes them almost better than the main dish!
Fritters, which simply mean to fry, often have a negative reputation for those particularly interested in a healthy lifestyle.
Why? Fried! Lots of flour in the batter, dropped into crazy hot oil; often leaving the batter oily in a way that detracts from the flavors inside the fritter.
Fritters Don’t Have To Be FRIED to be fritters!
Sauté them! Just like you would cook a pancake or a Crab Cake.
And no, I do not fry our Maryland crab cakes, I simply sauté them until both sides are golden and the inside is hot.
Making Thyme Corn Fritters
It was Thanksgiving. I wanted to serve some of the freshly harvested corn I had tucked into my freezer from summertime.
Since I am not a ‘casserole’ kind of cook (didn’t grow up with them), I wanted something fresh tasting yet warm.
I also wanted both corn fritters the kids could eat and a few spicy hot corn fritters for the jalapeño loving adults!
An easy to pick-up corn fritter was the answer! The little ones could pick them up and nibble, while the adults could easily fork them.
The batter came together quickly. Freshly chopped spring onions, the whisk of eggs, a little flour to bind and baking powder to puff them slightly.
The batter is dolloped onto a hot pan, just like pancakes, flipped over and kept warm in the oven until ready to serve.
These fritters can be made in advance and rewarmed in the oven before serving. Since the fritters are not ‘fried’ they do not get soggy when rewarmed!
Ingredients Needed
- Corn
- Eggs
- Milk
- Butter
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Smoked paprika
- Thyme
- Spring onions
- Grated Cheese
- Jalapeno
- Sunflower oil
Equipment Needed
- Mixing bowls
- Large cast iron frying pan
- Slotted spatula
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- Whisk
- Baking sheet pan
- Stovetop or burner
- Oven
Harvest Thyme Corn Fritters
Equipment
- Large non-stick saute pan
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cooked Corn
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 3 tbsp Butter melted
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp Smoked paprika homemade
- 1/2 tsp Dried or Fresh Thyme
- 3 Spring onions stalks finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Grated Cheese
- 1 Small Jalapeño finely chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup Sunflower oil or other cooking oil
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the cooked corn, eggs and milk. Blend without breaking the corn kernels. Mix in the melted butter.
- Over the corn mixture sprinkle the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, paprika and thyme. Gently mix.
- Add the chopped spring onions, grated cheese and jalapeño, if using. Blend.
- In a non-stick saute pan, drizzle a little sunflower oil. When it starts to smoke, place heaping tablespoon size dollops of the corn batter. Cook until the underside is firm enough to flip over and takes on a medium gold color, about 2-minutes per side. Flip it and cook the other side. Continue until all the fritters are cooked.
- Keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve, or store in the fridge in an airtight container, and heat in the oven just before serving.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
