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–+ servings
4.95 from 19 votes

Dottie’s Hush Puppies

Inspired by Dorothy Dandridge, these vegan hush puppies, with my herby ranch or Sriracha maple sauce, are the ultimate comfort food.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Servings: 50 hush puppies
Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the dry ingredients:

  • 2 cups cornmeal
  • ¾ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 Tbsp red onion, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp green chiles

For the wet ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp butter or Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, cold and cubed
  • 1 flaxseed egg, (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water)
  • 1 cup milk of choice

For frying:

  • 48 oz canola oil

For the Sriracha Maple sauce:

  • ¼ cup sriracha
  • 3 Tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ tsp garlic powder

For the Herby Ranch sauce:

  • ½ cup Vegenaise, or mayonnaise
  • 2 Tbsp milk of choice, just don’t use a flavored milk, like vanilla or sweetened almond milk, for instance. It will add a sweet flavor to the sauce and be weird. I prefer to use unsweetened almond milk here.
  • 1 Tbsp parsley, minced
  • 1 Tbsp dill, minced
  • 1 Tbsp green onion, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

Make the sauces

  • I like to make the sauces first so that the flavors can develop and deepen while I make the hush puppies.

Make the Sriracha maple sauce

  • For the Sriracha maple sauce, simply whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl. If it’s too spicy, you can add an additional tsp or two of maple syrup.
  • Sriracha maple sauce is done, set aside.

Make the herby ranch sauce

  • For the herby ranch sauce, whisk together the Vegenaise (or mayonnaise) and milk together in a small bowl.
  • Now add in the diced herbs and garlic. Mix until well combined.
  • Add a pinch of salt, mix until incorporated, and taste. If it’s not salted enough, add a little more.
  • Herby ranch sauce is done, set aside.

Make the hush puppy batter

  • Start by making the flaxseed "egg." In a small bowl, whisk together the water and flaxseed meal. Let the mixture sit until it gets goopy, about five minutes, while you prepare the rest of the batter.

Mix the dry ingredients

  • Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until all the dry ingredients are evenly distributed.
  • Add the butter/Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
  • Now add the cubed butter/Earth Balance Buttery Sticks to the dry ingredients. Use your fingers to cut the butter into the dry ingredients (as if you're making pie crust) until it is pretty well distributed and the hush puppy batter looks a little shaggy and clumpy.

Add the milk and flaxseed “egg”

  • Now add the milk and flaxseed “egg” to the batter. Mix until completely combined.
  • Hush puppy batter is done. Now it’s time to fry.

Heat the oil

  • To a large soup pot, add all the canola oil. You want the oil to be at least two inches deep.
  • Heat the oil over high heat until it looks like the oil is separating in the pot, about five minutes.
  • Turn the heat down to medium-high.

Fry the hush puppies

  • Each hush puppy should be about the size of 1 teaspoon.
  • Using a 1 tsp measuring spoon, measure out 1 tsp of dough. With your fryer skimmer, lower the dough, loosely shaped like a ball, into the hot oil.
  • Make two more hush puppy dough balls, and lower those into the hot oil as well. I prefer to fry 3-4 hush puppies at a time, but I lower them into the oil separately to avoid them sticking together in the pot.

Fry for 2-3 minutes

  • Fry the hush puppies for 2-3 minutes, until they turn a golden brown color on the outside.
  • Note: if the hush puppies are cooking faster than 2-3 minutes, simply lower the heat a bit to cool down the oil. And if the oil gets too cold, simply turn the heat back up. You will have to adjust the oil as you fry.
  • Once the hush puppies turn golden brown, take them out of the oil with your fryer skimmer, and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
  • If a cooled hush puppy is not cooked all the way through when split open, simply put the hush puppies from that frying batch back in the oil, and fry for a minute longer.
  • Repeat the process until you've fried all the dough.

Serve and enjoy!

  • Serve these vegan hush puppies and sauces as a snack or appetizer.
  • You can also make them a meal by using one of the sauces as a dressing over a bed of spinach, and putting a few hush puppies and black beans on top.

Notes

These hush puppies are vegan and vegetarian.
These hush puppies can easily be made gluten-free by substituting the all purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend, such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.