Homemade Air Fryer Hush Puppies

Just wait until you take your first bite of homemade Air Fryer Hush Puppies. There’s a good chance that you’ll never buy them ready made again. Cooking hush puppies in Ninja Foodi is one side dish that everyone is going to love. 

Air Fryer Hush Puppies Jiffy

I’m pretty much obsessed with using my Ninja Food for this air fryer recipe because it literally cooks the small balls perfectly. You can use our Jiffy hush puppies recipe, or the one below.

If you’re craving a simple side dish that is light, crisp, and fresh, I can’t wait to hear what you think once you make your very first batch. (Trust me on this one…it’s definitely won’t be your last!)

Air Fryer Hushpuppies From Scratch

Best Air Fryer Hush Puppies

What I like about this recipe is that you can tweak the ingredients to have it be gluten free or not. I also love that with a few eggs and milk and dry ingredients, it’s a fast recipe that has a ton of great flavor.

Make certain to jump to recipe at the bottom to get the exact measurements and directions. 

The other really great part about cooking the hush puppies in the air fryer is that the cooking time is minimal as well. This is good because when I want my hush puppies, I want them as fast as I can possibly get them. 

I still remember the first time that I had these homemade hush puppies. The kids weren’t quite sure what they were but I’ll never forget how their eyes lit up once they had their first bite. I knew that I’d officially converted my household to be hush puppy fans and that made me super excited! 

Frozen Hush Puppies in the Air Fryer

Is there nothing that the air fryer can’t cook? Even though I’m a fan of making my hush puppies from scratch, you can actually put frozen hush puppies directly into your air fryer too.

It would be similar to how we made air fryer corndogs kinda’. First I would microwave them until the centers are no longer hard. Then put into preheated basket at 400 F for about 4 minutes.

This would be super helpful if you meal prep and make up a batch of hush puppies to freeze for later. Then, when you’re ready to eat them, you can just grab them from the freezer and add them right into the air fryer. Pretty simple, right? 

Buying hush puppies from the store is fine but there is NOTHING quite like the taste of a homemade hush puppy. Nothing.

Hush puppies in air fryer

Every time I talk to people about how much I cook with an air fryer, I always have people ask if I still have to use oil to crisp up the food. While there are a few recipes out there that require a tad bit of oil, a lot of them don’t, which is nice.

• You can easily use cooking spray to spray the air fryer basket if you’re worried that your food is going to stick.

I do not like to use parchment paper even though it does make your clean up a breeze. Reason being is it inhibits the hot air flow around the food. Just use a bit of olive oil spray instead.

Air Fried Hush Puppies

The other really great thing about making hush puppies in your air fryer is that it gives you that ability to play with the flavor and taste. Everyone knows what a traditional hush puppy recipe tastes like but what about once that you maybe aren’t familiar with?

Adding in some onion powder can give them a nice kick of flavor without it being too overwhelming to enjoy.

You can also mix in some cayenne pepper before you cook them in the air fryer to add in a bit of heat. If you’re a fan of spicy foods, you can quickly make these hush puppies hot! 

Homemade Hush Puppies in air fryer

Ninja Foodi Hushpuppies

Another big thing to remember is that you want to eat them while they’re hot! This is when they’re going to have the most “crunch” when you bite them because they’re just coming out of the fryer right then and there.

• You can serve them with fish (our fave) or on a cheap charcuterie board with the crackers as a fun twist.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t reheat leftovers and be just fine. Just know that there’s a good chance that you’re not going to have that crisp outer shell the next day because they’re had time to cool down and lose that “fried” texture. 

Regardless, I’ll admit that leftover hush puppies are still delicious and shouldn’t be missed. You can reheat at 400 F for about 2 min. easily. I personally don’t think that there’s a wrong way to eat them! 

Air Fryer Hush Puppies

The next time that you’re craving a fun side dish or even an appetizer before your meal, make up a batch of these hush puppies in the air fryer. The taste and texture of this easy Ninja Foodi recipe is spot on and truly does deliver some great flavors and taste. 

1. In a bowl mix together cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Incorporate diced onions into mix and then pour in milk and egg.
2. Combine it all into a nice thick batter. Cover and allow it to sit for 5 minutes total. Then preheat your air fryer to 350 for 5 minutes.
3. Spray inside of air fryer basket with some non stick spray. Place small dollops of batter into basket with a little room in between each. Make sure they’re the same size so they cook evenly.
4. Spray tops of batter dollops with olive oil very lightly. Close basket and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Open and flip each one over carefully. Continue cooking for 3 minutes or until browned as you’d like and cooked thru to the center of each.
6. Everyone’s “dollops” will be slightly different sizes. Once total of 6 minutes is done, break one in half and ensure the middle of largest one is cooked through and not still wet.

Looking for other yummy air fryer appetizers? We have a bunch. Our favorites are probably this air fryer cornbread served with orange chicken. A close third would be air fryer cauliflower which would serve as a good vegetarian duo with these.