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Cornmeal Onion Patties

A thick buttermilk cornmeal batter packed with finely chopped onion, shallow-fried crisp at the edges and tender through the middle.

Prep
10 min
Cook
12 min
Rest
5 min
Makes
Makes 8 patties
Jump to the recipe
Three golden fried patties flecked with green onion on a white plate
Photo: Alex Bayev / Pexels

Everything that decides whether these are good happens before the batter hits the pan, in two measurements most recipes wave at: how thick the batter is, and how hot the oil is.

Thickness first. Cornmeal drinks liquid slowly — much more slowly than flour — so a batter that looks right the second you stop stirring will be stiffer five minutes later. Mix it, let it sit those five minutes, and judge it then. What you want is a batter that mounds on a spoon and slumps reluctantly when you push it into the oil. Too thin and it runs out into a lacy pancake with far more surface than interior, which browns fast and absorbs oil the whole time. Too thick and the outside is done long before the center stops tasting of raw cornmeal.

Oil temperature is the other half, and it is not a comfort setting. Frying works because water inside the batter turns to steam and pushes outward hard enough to keep oil from moving in. Below about 325°F (163°C) that outward pressure is too weak, oil seeps in, and the patties come out heavy and greasy no matter how long you drain them. Above roughly 375°F (191°C) the crust sets and darkens before the inside has cooked, and you get a brown shell over wet batter. Aim at 350°F (177°C) and adjust the burner between batches, because cold batter drops the temperature every time.

Without a thermometer, there are two reliable tests. Stand the handle of a wooden spoon upright in the oil: at the right heat a steady stream of fine bubbles rises around it, not a lazy trickle and not a violent fizz. Or drop in half a teaspoon of batter — it should sizzle immediately, rise to the surface within about two seconds, and take roughly a minute to turn golden. If it sinks and sits, wait. If it browns in twenty seconds, pull the pan off the heat for a minute.

Chop the onion; do not grate it. Grating ruptures the cells and floods the batter with onion juice, which thins it in exactly the way you spent five minutes avoiding. Chop fine — pieces bigger than about a quarter inch will still be sharp and crunchy when the patty is cooked through, since three minutes in oil is not long enough to soften raw onion. Fine pieces go sweet in that time.

The baking powder matters more than its quantity suggests. It puts gas into a batter that has no other lift, and that open structure is what keeps the middle tender rather than dense and sandy. Use a fresh can; cornmeal is heavy and stale powder will not move it.

Half an inch of oil is enough. This is shallow frying, and the patties should sit on the pan bottom, not swim. Flip once, when the edges have gone from pale to lace-brown and the top has lost its wet shine, about three minutes in.

Drain on a wire rack, never on paper towels — a patty resting flat on paper steams its own underside soft in about a minute. Salt them the moment they come out, while the surface is hot enough for it to stick.

Good beside anything saucy: homemade barbecue sauce and pulled pork, or as a second fritter next to German potato pancakes. They also earn their place next to a creamy chicken casserole, which needs something crisp on the plate far more than it needs another soft side.

A board of coarse yellow cornmeal beside winter squash
Photo: BARBARA808 / Pixabay

The patty recipe, in short

A thick buttermilk cornmeal batter packed with finely chopped onion, shallow-fried crisp at the edges and tender through the middle.

Batter, onions and the frying oil

For the batter

  • 1 cup (140 g) yellow cornmeal, medium grind
  • ½ cup (65 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 large egg
  • ¾ cup (180 ml) buttermilk, plus more to loosen
  • 1 large onion (about 1½ cups / 170 g), chopped fine

For frying and serving

  • Neutral oil, enough for ½ in (1 cm) in the skillet
  • Flaky salt
  • Sour cream or hot sauce, to serve

Mixing, resting and frying the patties

  1. 1 Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
  2. 2 Beat the egg into the buttermilk, pour it over the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry patches remain. Fold in the chopped onion. Leave the batter 5 minutes to hydrate.
  3. 3 Check it now: it should mound on a spoon and slump slowly. Loosen with buttermilk a tablespoon at a time if it holds a stiff peak, or stir in a spoonful of cornmeal if it runs.
  4. 4 Pour ½ in (1 cm) of oil into a heavy skillet and heat it to 350°F (177°C). Test with the handle of a wooden spoon — a steady stream of fine bubbles should rise around it.
  5. 5 Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil, flattening each slightly with the back of the spoon. Fry 4 at a time with space between them; a crowded pan drops the oil temperature and the patties soak it up.
  6. 6 Cook about 3 minutes, until the edges are lace-brown and the top has lost its wet shine, then flip once and give the second side 2 minutes.
  7. 7 Lift onto a wire rack and salt immediately. Let the oil come back up to temperature before the next batch — it falls about 25 degrees each time.

Cornmeal swaps, add-ins and keeping

  • Self-rising cornmeal mix: use 1½ cups (210 g) of it and leave out the flour, baking powder and salt.
  • No buttermilk: ¾ cup (180 ml) milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice, rested 10 minutes. The acid is what activates the baking powder, so do not use plain milk.
  • A finely chopped jalapeño or ½ cup (60 g) grated sharp cheddar both fold in without upsetting the batter. Corn kernels do not — they release water as they heat and make the centers wet.
  • Batter can be mixed 1 hour ahead and refrigerated; it will thicken further, so plan to loosen it before frying.
  • Leftovers keep 2 days and come back properly in a 375°F (191°C) oven for 6 minutes on a rack. A microwave makes them limp.
  • Doubling is fine, but fry in the same small batches. The only thing that gets you greasy patties faster than cool oil is a full pan.

Oil temperature and batter problems

The oil was too cool, almost certainly because the batch was too large or the batter went in straight from the refrigerator. Steam pressure from inside the patty is what holds oil out; when the oil drops below about 325°F (163°C) there is not enough of it and the patty absorbs instead. Fry four at a time and let the heat recover between batches.

Either the oil was too hot or the mounds were too thick. Both set the crust before heat reaches the center. Keep each patty under about half an inch deep, and if the first one browns in under a minute a side, take the pan off the burner for a minute before continuing.

Not with this batter. It is loose enough to spread, and without hot oil holding its shape it flattens into a crisp wafer. An air fryer version needs a stiffer, scoopable dough and is a different recipe.

Medium-grind yellow cornmeal. Fine grind or corn flour makes something closer to a pancake, with no texture at all. Coarse stone-ground stays gritty in the middle unless you rest the batter a full 20 minutes so the grains can soften.

Once or twice, if you strain it while it is still warm and store it sealed. Cornmeal leaves fine sediment behind, and that sediment burns on the next heating and gives everything a scorched taste.