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    Home » Savoury baking

    Published on: September 21, 2010 by Janice; Updated on: October 8, 2021 16 Comments

    Jalapeño hush puppies

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    If you like cornmeal fritters, you will love these spicy jalapeño hush puppies. They are crispy on the outside and soft and light on the inside, and you can make them with any chilli pepper or even chopped red Bell pepper (if spicy isn't your thing)!

    This jalapeño hush puppy recipe comes from Bon Appetit. The original recipe calls for stone ground cornmeal, but I've also tested it with a combination of coarse cornmeal and fine cornmeal, and I've also tried a combination of coarse cornmeal and fine semolina (to replace the fine cornmeal when I don't have any). Both work!

     
    I like to mix fine and coarse cornmeal in the hush puppy batter because the coarse cornmeal adds a lovely crunch to the hush puppies, while the finer cornmeal helps bind the batter so that it doesn't fall apart when you scoop and fry the hush puppies. Fine semolina also works to bind the batter together and replace the fine cornmeal, if you have that on hand!
    Bottom photo: The 2 corn meals
    Top spoon: Maïs moulu moyen
    Bottom spoon: Sémoule #2

    Making hush puppies at home is very simple: mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, add the wet to the dry, along with the cheese and chopped chilli pepper (jalapeño or a red chilli pepper, in this case). This two bowl method is one of the easiest mixing methods for making batter. No special equipment required.

    Top: Perfect hush puppies
    Bottom: Not-so-perfect hush puppies made with a batter that was too loose to fry
     

    The type of chilli pepper to use for this recipe

    I've tested this recipe with cherry peppers, red chilli peppers, and jalapeño. I find the jalapeño peppers that we get in Quebec aren't always very spicy. So I opted to try peppers with more kick. I've enjoyed adding red chilli peppers to these chilli cheese cornbread muffins.

    According to my local grocer, a jalapeño is a 2 (not very spicy) on a scale from 1 to 8, while the cherry pepper is a medium spiced pepper, scoring a 5 on the scale (for reference, a habanero is an 8—use with caution!). Avoid using a chilli that is too spicy for your tastebuds. And if you hate spicy food, incorporate chopped red Bell pepper into the batter instead. It'll be just as great!

     

    These hush puppies are crisp on the outside and light on the inside. Not at all oily. The key is to use a thermometer so that you can monitor the temperature of the hot oil to make sure that it is hot enough before dropping dollops of batter in it. Also, I only fried 3 or 4 hush puppies at a time so that the oil temperature would remain constant.

     

    Print Pin

    Jalapeño hush puppies

    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Make these jalapeño hush puppies with corn meal or semolina with lots of goat cheese for a fine texture that can't be beat!
    Course Appetizer
    Cuisine American
    Keyword jalapeño hush puppies
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 20 minutes
    Total Time 35 minutes
    Servings 18 fritters
    Calories 80kcal
    Author Janice

    Equipment

    Shop now
    OXO whisk
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    ¾ oz scoop
    Thermoworks DOT probe thermometer
    DOT thermometer

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup (159 g) cornmeal medium
    • ½ cup (80 g) fine cornmeal or semolina
    • 1½ tablespoon (17.5 mL) bleached all-purpose flour
    • 1½ tablespoon (17.5 mL) granulated sugar
    • ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
    • ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) baking powder
    • ¼ teaspoon (1.25 mL) baking soda
    • ½ cup (125 mL) buttermilk (1 % fat)
    • 2 tablespoon (30 mL) beaten egg
    • ½ jalapeño seeded, and finely chopped (or you can use your favourite chilli pepper depending on how spicy you want it)
    • 4 ounces (115 g) goat cheese coarsely crumbled, about 1 cup
    • canola oil for deep-frying

    Instructions

    • Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
    • Whisk together the buttermilk, egg in another bowl.
    • Add the goat cheese, the chopped jalapeño to the dry ingredients, along with the wet ingredients. Stir well to form a thick batter.
    • Preheat a medium–large saucepan, filled half-way with canola oil, to 350°F.
    • Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into the hot oil (carefully!).
    • If the batter is too loose and spreads in the oil, add to the remaining batter 2 tablespoons more of fine cornmeal to the bowl and stir. The batter should be thicker.
    • Once you get the right consistency, you can fry 3–4 hush puppies at a time.
    • Fry them for about 3 or 4 minutes, until they are golden brown. Make sure to turn them a couple times as they fry to be sure that they are evenly cooked.
    • Serve for breakfast with coffee or as an appetizer or a fun snack!

    Notes

    You can vary the cheese in this recipe and you can vary the type of chilli pepper. The fritter is your base and you can get creative with what you add, as long as whatever you add isn't too wet because that would mess with the consistency of the batter.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @bakesomethingawesome or tag #bakesomethingawesome!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 80kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 148mg | Potassium: 68mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 89IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg

     

    « Old-fashioned peach custard pie
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    Comments

    1. ravienomnoms says

      September 21, 2010 at 1:54 pm

      What unique hush puppies! They look so good.

      Reply
    2. Torviewtoronto says

      September 21, 2010 at 4:50 pm

      looks soft and delicious

      Reply
    3. Mother Rimmy says

      September 21, 2010 at 1:34 pm

      These look like the perfect football season appetizer. Yum!

      Reply
    4. Evan @swEEts says

      September 21, 2010 at 8:58 pm

      Well now I know what recipes to make in my BA magazine! 🙂 I'm pretty sure I already had both of those marked.. man I love hush puppies..

      Reply
    5. Sara says

      September 21, 2010 at 9:58 pm

      No joke - goat cheese is my absolute favorite cheese. Do you suppose you could add more of it to this recipe? Hope to try those hush puppies soon!

      Reply
    6. Sydney says

      September 21, 2010 at 6:48 pm

      Looks great! Definitely going to have to try this one.

      Reply
    7. Victoria K. says

      September 21, 2010 at 7:02 pm

      LOVE hush puppies! These look great!

      Reply
    8. Jan says

      September 21, 2010 at 10:09 pm

      @SaraDefinitely! I think there was room for a little more cheese, and a little more cherry pepper 🙂

      Reply
    9. Heather says

      September 23, 2010 at 5:32 pm

      Beautiful job!

      Reply
    10. The Mom Chef says

      September 25, 2010 at 2:18 am

      Bravo! I've been carrying around this issue of BA trying to decide whether I'm going to go through it or not. If I do, you just mentioned two recipes that I had planned to make. You did a GREAT job with the hush puppies!

      Reply
    11. creampuff says

      October 04, 2010 at 2:41 am

      Oh! Sounds so good ... love the goat cheese and pepper combo!

      Reply
    12. at Gooseville Cottage says

      October 04, 2010 at 1:58 pm

      Great job. Isn't it fun when you are forced to adapt and it works! The adage 'necessity is the mother of invention' often applies. I have an old recipe for traditional hush puppies from Miss Alice in South Carolina. She called for 1/2 cup of pancake mix where you added the semolina #2. That works too.

      Reply
    13. Anonymous says

      November 10, 2010 at 8:19 pm

      I wish I found http://www.blogger.com before ! Your site is very informative, thanks.

      Reply
    14. Anonymous says

      November 11, 2010 at 7:11 pm

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      Reply
    15. Anonymous says

      December 08, 2010 at 4:38 am

      Hi there

      Awesome blog, great write up, thank you!

      Reply
    16. Anonymous says

      December 23, 2010 at 9:43 pm

      I'm really Glad i found this blog.Added kitchenhealssoul.blogspot.com to my bookmark!

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Janice! I am a baking-obsessed recipe developer with a PhD in Chemistry who writes about baking and the science of baking.

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