These vegan corn fritters are the perfect summer meal, made with sweet potatoes, green onions, and cilantro – and all topped off with an aquafaba aioli!
We’ve been getting tons of corn the last few weeks in our CSA, and I love this quintessential summer veggie because there is so much you can do with it. We’ve used it in a white chicken chili, added it to grits with tomatoes and chile peppers, mixed it with beans and tomatoes and seasonings to eat as a ‘dip’ with tortilla chips, and just eaten it straight up on the cob.
I was searching for something new to do with it recently since I love experimenting in the kitchen. Pinterest my standby when I need new ideas – I just type the ingredient in the pinterest search box and see what delicious pictures pop up! One of the first things that came up was corn fritters, and since I had never made them, I thought it would be fun to experiment with developing a recipe.
Since I currently can’t have dairy and eggs for nursing, I decided to create a recipe for vegan corn fritters. We also had a few sweet potatoes on hand, and I figured they would pair well with the fresh sweet corn – and help bind everything given the lack of eggs. Then I mixed in green onion and cilantro to add some savory notes and balance out the flavor!
Everything came together wonderfully and since then I’ve made this many times.
I love this recipe because it’s a bit indulgent given that it’s pan-fried in a little bit of oil (or you can brush with oil and bake them instead), but it’s also packed with nutritious plant-based ingredients. The topping is made with aquafaba, the liquid from a can of beans, which sounds strange but comes out to be quite delicious.
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These vegan corn fritters are perfect served with a nice fresh side salad of lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes – all of which are also in season and available in the summer as well!
Enjoy this tasty summer recipe and be sure to let me know in the comments how you liked it. And if you’re looking for more recipes to use your fresh summer corn, don’t forget to try these tasty vegetarian quesadillas (which can easily be made vegan by skipping the cheese and loading up on more guac!), or for those of you meat eaters – these BBQ chicken spaghetti squash bowls with beans and corn.
These vegan corn fritters are the perfect summer meal, made with sweet potatoes, green onions, and cilantro - and all topped off with an aquafaba aioli!
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 ears of corn (remove corn from cob)
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 Small handful of cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup flour (if gluten free, sub a GF all purpose flour)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or regular milk if you don't have any dietary limitations)
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne (to taste)
- ¼ cup oil, divided in half
- 1/3 cup liquid from a can of chickpeas (or white beans, or cannellini beans (I admittedly don’t usually measure this and just use whatever liquid is in there. Put the beans in a tupperware to use another time!)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup oil of choice (you can use what you'd prefer but it should be a liquid, not solid, oil)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 small handful of cilantro, chopped
- Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork and place them in a bowl. Cover with a wet paper towel and place in the microwave for 6-10 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes and strength of your microwave). Remove when sweet potatoes are tender and let cool.
- While potatoes are cooking, whip up your aquafaba aioli. Place liquid from beans, vinegar, mustard, and pinch of salt in a cup that fits your immersion blender (or a regular blender would work fine too – just more to clean up!). Blend, and then add in oil at a trickling pace while continuing to blend. Add as much oil as you need to get a creamy dressing-like consistency (but thinner than mayo). Stir in garlic and cilantro and set aside in the fridge.
- Combine corn, green onions, cilantro, cornmeal, flour, almond milk, cumin, salt, and cayenne in a mixing bowl. Add flesh from sweet potatoes. Mix until combined.
- To pan fry: Add 1/8 cup oil to a frying pan at medium heat. When oil is hot, shape the sweet potato and corn mixture into patties and place in the pan. I recommend working in two batches – don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook for approximately 2-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Place remaining oil in pan and cook second batch.
- Top sweet potato and corn fritters with your aquafaba aioi and enjoy!
Notes:
- Makes 10 fritters / Serving Size = 2 to 3 fritters per person
- Dietary notes: Vegan Friendly, Dairy Free, Egg Free. Can be made gluten free by using a GF all purpose flour rather than regular flour.
- If you'd prefer to bake to save on calories, simply brush with a little oil and bake at 400 F until the top and bottom are a bit crisp.
Nutrition Analysis (approximate per fritter – does not include aioli*):
129 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 74 mg sodium, 17 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein Vitamin A: 90%, Vitamin C: 11%, Calcium: 2%, Iron:3%
*I didn’t add up the aioli nutrition facts since it varies based on how much oil you add in for the consistency you desire, as well as the fact that I have yet to see a nutrition analysis on just the liquid in the can of beans. I think it’s safe to assume that a tablespoon would be similar to a tablespoon of mayo – about 90 calories. Therefore, each fritter plus a tablespoon of aioli would be about 220 calories.
Share with me: What’s your favorite way to use your summer corn? Have you ever made vegan corn fritters before? If you tried this recipe, what did you think?!
Chrissy Carroll
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This looks so good, Chrissy! I haven’t had potato fritters in such a long time. Reminds me of my childhood. 🙂 Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Sina I hope you try them out and enjoy them. It’s definitely a different texture than what I think of as traditional potato pancakes (you know, where you shred the potatoes in) but these are so yummy! If you test them out, be sure to come back and tell me how you liked them.