Fried Okra is a Southern staple. So simple to make, it makes the perfect side dish. Get this heirloom family fried okra recipe that you’ll love.
Fried okra is one of my favorite foods in all the land – if it’s done right. This is the best fried okra recipe and a family favorite for generations!
And by done right, I mean cooked with the perfect amount of crispy coating on the outside while being smooth and tender on the inside. You’d think that would be easy enough, but when I was first married I wasn’t exactly sure how to make it. I managed to have more burnt crisps of okra because I couldn’t figure out the perfect balance of how to make it just right.
Finally, like every good Southern girl, I called my Mama. She knew just what I was doing wrong and set me straight in my fried okra making ways.
Fried Okra Recipe
I had been trying to get the perfect fried okra on the stove top alone. The secret, as Mama told me, was the combination of the stove top AND the oven! It’s how her Mama taught her and her Mama before her.
Hallelujah! It was if I could hear the angels singing when she told me how to make it.
How to Make
To make this fried okra, start by preheating oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then, mix together the okra, corn meal, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make sure the okra is well-coated.
In the meantime, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Then add okra to skillet once oil has reached the point where if a drop of water is added to the oil, it will sizzle.
Allow okra to brown on one side, which will take about 3 minutes, before gently stirring. Once both sides of okra have browned, about 3 more minutes, place into preheated oven.
Cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Then serve and enjoy!
We love to eat this delicious okra with so many other favorite dishes, such as Easy Mashed Potatoes, Pinto Beans and Southern Cornbread.
Since my Mama shared cooking tip with me, I’ve been making it perfectly for over 20 years.
I’m so thankful for her tips! The world just wouldn’t be the same without good fried okra.
Here’s my family’s Fried Okra recipe. It’s a tradition.
Fried Okra Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds okra, sliced
- 3/4 cup corn meal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup Canola or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Mix together okra, corn meal, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl, making sure well-coated.
- In the meantime, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add okra to skillet once oil has reached the point where if a drop of water is added it will sizzle.
- Allow okra to brown on one side, about 3 minutes, before gently stirring. Once both sides of okra have browned, about 3 more minutes, place into preheated oven. Cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I’m southern through and through, this is exactly how I cook my okra, except I add a pinch of sugar as well.
Looks like my okra when I do it right. I usually add a little sliced onion to my recipe and it’s really good. I’ve never finished it in the oven though. Neither did my mother.
The picture looks just like my Mom and Grandmother made.I made it for my kids and started adding potatoes in it .Cut them about the size of okra and mix them with okra .dip the potatoes and okra in your mixture.Every time I made this ,it went fast could never make enough.
A friend at work told me of adding the potatoes to the okra but she also included chopped onion to the skillet. It is wonderful and I have been doing it ever since. I’ve never put mine in the oven but will try it next time. I also always coat my okra with an egg before adding the flour mixture. Nothing better!!
I use potatoes,onions,squash,peppers,green tomatoes and okra and roll all of this in cornmeal. You cook this the way I have it laid out. Potatoes are harder to cook so they go in skillet first. you may have to experiment with this. But this is a meal.
We call your recipe Four Square when we use okra, squash, onion and potatoes. Those are main ingredients and can add green peppers if you wish. To make it a complete meal I have added smoked sausage but add it after potatoes start to soften up.
Do you drain the oil before placing in oven?
There usually is not enough oil left after browning on the stove to drain off before placing in the oven, but if for some reasons yours does have a good bit of oil remaining, I would drain it.
Sounds easy enough….this may seem like a blonde question, but do you mean you put the whole pan of oil and frying okra in the oven? Or do you transfer it to a cookie sheet or something?
I just place the skillet into the oven straight from the stovetop – no transferring of ingredients needed. Hope you enjoy it!
You might want to remind everybody that you are talking about cooking it in an iron skillet otherwise you will melt the handles on your skillets. I also soak my cut up okra in milk or half &half prior to dredging it in the cornmeal to help the cornmeal stick to the okra better. Thanks for sharing
Oh yeah! One less thing to clean!
I had the exact same question. 🙂 Oh, and I’m a brunette so it wasn’t just you.
Do you start with fresh okra or frozen? It looks like my Mamaw’s okra!! Cant wait to try it!
I generally start with fresh, but you can absolutely use frozen. Hope you enjoy it!
I do everything except putting it in the oven!
I will do the oven Nxt. Time
Janice
I hope you enjoy it that way! It makes for a crispy outside and tender inside. Goodness, I love it!
I add onion slivers, green tomato, jalapeno and red bell pepper to my fried okra. It is great. I usually use fresh okra but have used frozen.
I like to add a green tomato and a pod of hot pepper (sliced/chopped). I’ve never tried using the oven. I brown mine like the recipe and then put a lid on and simmer on low. Don’t think I’ve ever added flour either – just corn meal. Will definitely try this recipe though.
How much oil in the pan? Is it deep frying or just pan frying?
Cover the bottom and then some extra. Pan fried, not deep frying. But some cooks here DO deep fry.
I love fried okra, sounds like the best way to cook it. Thanks so much.
Okra- What would you set the Temp of the Oven?
it says 350 degrees in the recipe
I’ m a born & raised Yankee who never ate ocra until I moved to VA and married into a family from TN . My mother-in-law taught me how and ever since I have been the one to make the ocra for family dinners. Like others , I only use the stove top method. I also use corn oil and only self-rising cornmeal, salt and pepper. I cut up stewed tomatoes, cover them with the cornmeal and fry them in with the ocra. I start with enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet and add more as I need it. I just clear a spot, pour in the oil, and let it heat before moving the ocra to that spot again. Make sure to use lots of salt & pepper. I guess the cornmeal soaks up the slime, cause I’ve never had a problem with it after it’s done.
Sounds great, but you know in the long time I have been doing this….I was always taught to add an egg before the cornmeal now they say put in the oven?
I’m a Georgia girl….been eating okra all of my life and I’ve never heard of putting an egg in it! Wondering how do you cook it with the egg…do you mix the egg with the cornmeal? We always put it in the oven for a few minutes to cook it through and give it a crisp, oh and we don’t use canola, we use vegetable oil….I like Wesson.
You beat the egg well and pour it over the okra before you coat it with the cornmeal. It just makes the cornmeal stick to the okra better for a better crunch. I have tried it with egg or buttermilk. Results are about the same.
My grandmothER and mother and now I crack an egg in a small bowl, whisk it with a fork and pour it out over orca that’s done and stir it around until it’s done. That’s the only way I cook ocra. Try it!!
Okra no c in it.
Thank you for the correction of the spelling of okra. I saw orca, too, like the whale.
Thank you for spelling “Okra” correctly,Southern born and bred!
You put it FIRST in beaten egg, then flour, THEN cornmeal. Then it is fried in oil with a touch of bacon drippings. THEN it is topped with homemade tomato relish made with tomatoes, lots on onion, sweet peppers, vinegar and sugar. THAT”s the way it is done. YUM.
I was taught to slice it ahead of cooking and let it sit for a while until it gets gummy – this will
help the cornmeal cling to it. Cook in hot bacon grease.
I was taught to cook okra with corn meal, salt, and then fry on top of stove until done. (Crispy).
If you put it in the oven, do you put it in the pan tbat you were frying it in on the stove, and for how long?
You cook it I. An iron skillet if you are cooking it inside the oven
Slice the Okra, soak the Okra in Buttermilk, drain, coat the Okra thourghly with Zatarain’s, New Orleans Style, Crispy Southern, Fish Fri seafood breading mix. Fry in Fry Daddy, drain on paper towels, season with sea salt to taste. Turns out great every time.
Make mine this way except I coat (and sometimes double coat) with self rising flour.(you MUST use SR) makes the coating puff out when deep fried and makes a delicious crunchy coating that turns out great every time. When I take to gatherings it is sometimes literally fought over and I have had numerous people who tell me they do not like okra but after eating mine they can’t get enough.
Cut up okra put in egg then roll around then put in flour and corn meal and fry. It is,battered and batter will stick to it better.
I too am a stove top plra cooker.
O ise bacon grease in stead of oil.
Old family recipe.
Okra and corn meal.
Add salt of needed after cooking.
Bacon greasealways has enough
salt to make added salt is not needed!
Always use an iron skellit for the best results.
I just deep fry mine so I don’t have t turn it .
Thanks for all the suggestions of how to cook the Okra. I think I will try Peggy Wamplers style with the added stewed tomatoes and batter it the way Shirley suggests with the Zatarain’s, New Orleans Style, Crispy Southern, Fish Fri seafood breading mix. That just sounds like a yummy twist to and old time favorite. Gumbo style.