Southwestern Corn and Crab Fritters with Sriracha Lemon Aioli

Remember how I said I hate to fry things?

So true.

Yet after making the Asian Orange Chicken the other day I still had fresh oil hanging out in my skillet that I didn't want to waste and honestly I'm just not the kind of person that likes to keep up with keeping old oil around for frying.  I don't fry nearly enough for something like that.

So I had this oil on my stove.  I also had a recipe that had been screaming for me to try it from the  Cans Get You Cooking collection on Allrecipes, the same place I found that tasty Beet and White Bean Salad recipe I made earlier this month.

So of course you know what I did- heated that oil up to 265° and got cooking!

My favorite thing about these fritters isn't the corn.  It isn't the green chiles.  It isn't even the crab.

It's how delightfully light they are.  Just fluffy little pillows of air studded with corn, green chiles, and crab.

Ok, side note- I was super cheap when I made this.  I saw the price of crab, even canned crab, and thought I'd go cheap since I wasn't sure how good this recipe was going to be.  I bought the little $3 can of flaked crab rather than the lump crab.  The crab flavor absolutely came through in the fritters but the texture was totally lost in the mix.  I think if I made these again I'd spring for the lump crab.  :-)

One other thing- the original recipe included a lemon aioli.  I really wasn't a fan, but if that sounds like it might be up your alley give it a try for sure.  I ended up doctoring it until it was- in my humble opinion- the perfect dipping sauce for these babies.

There aren't many recipes that get made more than once in my kitchen, but this one absolutely will be made again- frying and all.

Southwestern Fritters with Sriracha Lemon Aioli

Modified from Allrecipes.com

Fritters:

1 Tbsp butter

1 small white onion, finely chopped

1 (11 oz) can corn, drained

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained

1 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

2/3 C whole milk

2 large eggs

1 (6 oz) can crab meat, drained

1 C vegetable oil for frying, or as needed

Sriracha Lemon Aioli:

2/3 C mayo 

2 tsp sriracha 

1 Tbsp lemon juice 

3 cloves garlic 

1 tsp Worcestershire 

1/4 tsp chili powder 

1/8 tsp garlic powder 

1/8 tsp onion powder 

1/8 black pepper