Stoke have struggled on their Premier League travels this season, were without a win on the road since a 1-0 victory at West Ham in August and looked set for more away-day misery at Villa Park when Christian Benteke fired Villa into a fifth-minute lead.
However, Hughes' men came roaring back as Peter Odemwingie, Peter Crouch and Steven N'Zonzi all found the net before half-time. Geoff Cameron added gloss to the scoreline in the final minute.
For Hughes, it was a pleasing victory after such a torrid run away from home and means Stoke are unbeaten in four league games.
"We've been waiting some time for an away win but it was worth waiting for," he told Sky Sports.
"I think the difference (on Sunday) was in other games we've not had that cutting edge and we did and that shows.
"We didn't start brightly but afterwards we showed real personality and real desire to make things happen.
"We're on a good run, confidence is a massive thing in football and we've got loads of it at the moment.
"We can look upwards now and try and achieve things this season, we want to look back on it with pride."
