This recipe is incredibly easy to make, low calorie and a great way to incorporate more veggies into your diet! Golden brown and crispy on the outside with a similar texture to hash browns, zucchini fritters are the perfect vegetable side or snack!
I’ve converted non-zucchini lovers with these fritters. They’re that good. This is a perfect mid summer recipe for when zucchini is in season. During the summer months, backyard gardens and farmer’s markets are absolutely bursting with this inexpensive and very versatile summer vegetable.
Zucchini really is a miracle veggie. It can be transformed into so many different things, often going undetectable in many baked and fried treats. It’s one of the sneakiest veggies! These fritters make a great breakfast, light vegetarian lunch or appetizer for dinner. I highly recommend topping them with a dollop of my Herbed Greek Yogurt Dip or just some good old sour cream. This recipe makes 6-8 fritters which is a light meal for two or appetizers for three to four people. There’s never a wrong time to have a zucchini fritter…or 4.
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Ingredients
All you need is zucchini and a few simple pantry ingredients to make fritters.
- Zucchini
- Flour – binds it all together. To make these gluten free, I would suggest substituting 1:1 gluten free flour.
- Baking powder – helps them rise a bit
- Parmesan cheese
- Egg
- Garlic – fresh minced or powder
- Scallions
- Salt
Method
These fritters are super easy to whip up in a few minutes.
Shred the zucchini with a box grater, add to a large bowl and stir in a few pinches of salt. Let it stand for about ten minutes while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
After about ten minutes, there will be quite a bit of water in the bowl. Using a clean dish towel, squeeze as much water as possible out of the zucchini shreds. Add the rest of the ingredients to the squeezed zucchini shreds and combine with a fork until everything is well incorporated.
In a large skillet over medium high heat, add a few tablespoons of avocado or other neutral oil and add ¼ cup sized amount of batter for each fritter and gently flatten. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy.
How to make crispy zucchini fritters
The key to getting crispy zucchini fritters is making sure to get the most water out of the zucchini as possible. Sprinkling salt over the shreds and letting it stand draws the moisture out and makes it easy to squeeze out most of the water. If you skip this step, you will have soggy vegetable pancakes and no one wants that!
Storage and other tips
The batter must be cooked right away. Cooked fritters keep well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat in a skillet over low heat or in the toaster oven or air fryer until warmed through and crispy.
It’s also fun to make zucchini fritters in the waffle iron!
More delicious zucchini recipes
Zucchini is such a versatile veggie that can be incorporated into so many dishes. Here are just a few of my favorite zucchini recipes.
- Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Fries
- Grilled Corn and Zucchini Salad
- Garam Masala Spiced Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Turkey Burgers
Crispy Vegetarian Zucchini Fritters
Ingredients
- 3 cups grated zucchini about 3-4 small
- 1 large clove of garlic minced, or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 scallions white and green parts thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 2-3 tbsp neutral high smoke point oil avocado, vegetable, canola
Instructions
- Sprinkle salt over grated zucchini in a large bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Squeeze out as much moisture as possible from zucchini with a clean dish towel.
- Return squeezed zucchini to bowl and stir in remaining ingredients except oil
- Heat 2-3 tablespoons oil in a heavy bottom skillet or griddle
- Carefully spoon ¼ cup size portions of batter onto the hot oil and gently flatten with a spatula.
- Fry on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Middlebury Farms
One of my favorite recipes! Sharing this one again this season with all our CSA members!
Alexandra Farren
So crispy and delicious – especially with with herbed greek yogurt dip!