These Vegan Baked Oil-free Hush Puppies are baked, not fried, oil-free, gluten-free and absolutely to-die-for delicious! They are soft, buttery, moist and like little clouds. You will become obsessed with them!
VEGAN BAKED HUSH PUPPIES
That’s right, today we are eating some Vegan Baked Oil-Free Hush Puppies! Sayonara grease bombs, hello healthy, but-still-delicious, hush puppies. My husband said something the other day that cracked me up. He said he hated hush puppies growing up because they were so greasy, that after one bite your whole face would break out into zits. Hahaha!
Well, here ya go folks, zit-free hush puppies! Ok, now I’m cracking myself up….that sounds gross, sorry. However, I’m not sorry that these little hush puppies are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and baked….making them healthy and guilt-free!
If you are not from the south, then you may have no clue what the heck these are. Well, they are basically super popular where I’m from (Texas) and also very popular in Louisiana (where hubby is from). Basically, they are a cornbread type of ball that is deep fried in a bucket of oil. Kind of nasty, right, but really delicious, haha. They have chopped onions and sometimes corn inside them and a mild heat to them, I made mine very mild. They are really delicious and I’ve missed them, so I created a non-greasy version and they are still delicious, soft and full of flavor. Typically they are served with seafood, but I found myself VERY content just eating these all on their own!
USING CORN FLOUR TO MAKE HUSH PUPPIES
For these I used corn flour, not cornmeal. It is superfine and gives such a better, wonderful soft texture. I tried them with coarse cornmeal first and was not a fan at all. In case you are wondering, no, Bob is not paying me to share this product with you. I just happen to love it, found it at my local HEB and can’t wait to use it in other baked goods. Sooo cheap too, only $2 if you get it off Amazon. Awesome stuff.
These look a bit different on the exterior once baked up because they didn’t take a bath in grease like traditional ones. Since these hush puppies are baked and not fried, that means absolutely zero oil. So, to avoid these being as dry as a cotton ball, I used an unconventional ingredient that probably has never been used in a hush puppy before, almond meal. The almond meal does 2 things, it gives moisture and a wonderful texture, it also makes these gluten-free, where as most hush puppy recipes contain white all-purpose flour.
I kid you not, my 3 year old daughter ate 6 or 7 of these in one sitting. I asked her if she thought they were pretty okay. Her response, “Mommy, these aren’t okay, these are very yummy!” I was shocked she liked them so much, since they aren’t like a muffin or cookie.
Awesome golden brown exterior with a wonderful, soft interior. These are so good. Using a corn flour and almond meal coating for their exterior, helps them form a bit of a crispy shell. SO GOOD.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these Vegan Baked Oil-Free Hush Puppies!
Vegan Baked Oil-Free Hush Puppies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon (7g) ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup (130g) corn FLOUR, NOT cornmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill Corn Flour)
- 1 1/4 cups (125g) almond meal (I used Trader Joe's, it has a superfine texture, not gritty)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (really gives depth of flavor, don't omit)
- 4 teaspoons coconut sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped white onion
- 3/4 cup "lite" canned coconut milk (shake the can well prior to measuring. Or sub with another creamy milk like soy or cashew, creamy is best
- Optional: 1/4 cup corn kernels I didn't add any to mine, but I know some people like corn in their hushpuppies
COATING
- 2 tablespoons (15g) corn flour
- 2 tablespoons (14g) almond meal
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- These hushpuppies use corn flour and almond meal for their base. It gives them a wonderful soft texture and keeps them moist so they are totally oil-free. Neither one of these flours can be subbed!
Instructions
- Mix your flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water and warm for 20 seconds in the microwave. You want the water very warm, this will help the flaxseed mixture to gel up really well and act as an "egg". Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, almond meal, baking powder, cayenne pepper, coconut sugar and salt and whisk everything really well until mixed. As always, for accurate results, use a kitchen scale to weigh your flours. When measuring the almond meal, scoop it up with your measuring cup and lightly pat down and then level off with your finger.
- In a separate small bowl, add the white onion and coconut milk (shake can first) and stir well. Add the reserved flaxseed mixture and stir until well mixed. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until it all comes together into a thick, sticky batter. It should be soft and sticky. Now, you could roll them into balls now if you like, but they will be a bit sticky to deal with, so place the batter into the fridge for one hour and then proceed.
- After the batter has chilled, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Mix together the "coating" ingredients well into a small bowl with a whisk. Roll all the dough into 16 balls about the size of golf balls. Put a little corn flour on your hands to combat the stickiness. Coat each ball well with the coating mixture, shaking off any excess. After I coated each one, I rolled into my palms again to keep the round shape. Place them on the prepared pan and bake for 8 minutes, flip them over and bake another 7 minutes (15 minutes total), so they get a nice golden brown color on each side.
- Let them cool just 10 minutes on the pan, then devour! These are best eaten immediately the day they are made, as they tend to dry out later. Eat them on their own or dip them in ketchup or mustard or even my Lemon Pepper Cream Sauce.
The hush puppies are so quick and easy to make. They are delicious. Another fabulous recipe from Brandi. Our favorite blogger💗
You are the sweetest, thank you so much Ann!
Hi! I am planning on making these for Thanksgiving and was wondering if I could make the dough the day before, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and bake the rolls the next day. Just trying to save time on Thanksgiving day! Thanks, can’t wait to try them!
I’ve honestly never tried that so I can’t say if it would work just as good or not. A lot of times, leaving batters to sit in the fridge overnight, won’t work well. My thinking is it won’t because of the corn flour. Corn flour is highly absorbent and will likely make the batter too stiff and make the balls dry. If you want to do a trial testing it before Thanksgiving, I would suggest that. Or, one thing I like to do to save time on holidays is prep all the dry ingredients in a bowl the day before. Whisk the next day and add the liquids and bake. This recipe is extremely fast to put together, so it’s not very time-consuming at all.
Hi Brandi! These look amazing!! I can’t wait to make them for my kids! Can the uncooked balls be frozen and used for a later date?
nutritional information?
Hi Cindy, it has been added to the recipe card now!
It was good. I did add garlic powder, because, seasoning. I sifted the flours and measured with measuring cups and it turned out I needed more wet ingredients; I added more and it was fine. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. This one is a keeper. Thank you.
Weighing will always give the best results! We all measure differently with cups. Glad you enjoyed it!
Can you fry them in oil
If you could respond before tomorrow will be appreciated. I plan on cooking tomorrow
Hi Cassandra, you can certainly try it, but I’d be careful, not sure how they’d hold up! They work so well baked! But maybe half baked and then half fried, not sure! let me know if you try them fried!
Thank you!
This is an affront to all southern cooking. This is literally a cookie. If you don’t want to eat fried food just don’t eat hush puppies or just don’t do this, this is not the way.
I create oil-free recipes for a living for people trying to eat healthier and improve their health. I’ve been doing it on my blog over 10 years and what my blog is known for. Nobody is telling you that this is what YOU have to eat. So I will create what I want, how I want for myself and my readers. We all make our own choices and it shouldn’t bother you this much. Eat your fried hushpuppies. This is not “literally a cookie”. I’ve never had cookies with onions and hardly any sugar in them, have you? I grew up in the south in Texas eating these so I’m full aware of what they are. These are not fried, but very delicious, as many readers who’ve left reviews above agree with. Lastly, I removed your 1 star rating, because your opinion on a recipe has no relevance on actually making the recipe and rating it (which is the point of the rating system).
Hi! This came up in my 2022 memories on fb!! I am SOOOOOO GLAD it did ♥️♥️♥️
I didn’t pin it & I don’t know why⁉️⁉️⁉️
I love hush puppies and can’t get the mix here in Florida! Yours is way better ‼️. Once again, thank you ‼️‼️♥️♥️♥️♥️